Was it the fear of speaking? Blind clan loyalty? A sudden and inexplicable form of aphasia?
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
In 2011, all the hypotheses were examined to understand the extreme respect of the party line by the members of the Liberal Party of Quebec, who all opposed a commission of inquiry on the construction industry despite the almost unanimous requests of civil society.
The journalists hunted down the deputies who were returning from a long lunch, hoping that they would speak in spite of themselves… It was a waste of time.
The episode helps to understand the rare courage shown by Federal Liberal MP Joël Lightbound on Tuesday.
He didn’t just disagree on ideas. He questioned the judgment of his leader Justin Trudeau. He accuses him of having put the interests of the party before those of the country. To have voluntarily sown the division to save his post of Prime Minister. To have been irresponsible during the worst crisis of his generation.
According to the MP for Louis-Hébert, Mr. Trudeau politicized the pandemic by making compulsory vaccination an electoral issue. The measure was thus associated with the Liberal Party rather than the state. Those who did not like Mr. Trudeau therefore adhered less to him.
Mr. Lightbound’s charge weakens a leader who was already vulnerable.
Mr. Trudeau begins another minority mandate without momentum. His vision looks like breathless continuity. He applies himself above all to passing old bills, notably on official languages and the giants of the web, while managing the pandemic with mixed success.
Mr. Lightbound’s exit was applauded by his colleague Yves Robillard. This is not the most credible support – this deputy had been rebuffed after taking family tourism in Costa Rica in December despite the warning of his whip.
Another notable critic: Mark Carney, ex-governor of the Bank of Canada, who affirmed in the Globe and Mail this week that “crises do not resolve themselves”, an arrow against Mr. Trudeau.
But unlike them, Mr. Lightbound does not pose as the savior prince of the party and he has no bitterness. His only ambition was to respect his principles.
What does a deputy do?
In their ridings, MPs do essential work to defend their fellow citizens. But in the House of Commons, their role is less obvious1.
In the morning, they receive their press lines to repeat to the media. Their freedom of speech is limited. In the UK, dissent is better tolerated. In our country, if they dare to express a slight disagreement with their party, the affair becomes a scandal.
During a conference in 2015, Stéphane Dion illustrated a paradox. On the one hand, citizens trust their MP more than their party. But on the other hand, they vote by party first – the individual effect of a candidate is limited to a few meager percentage points2.
In other words, we choose a spokesperson for a party, then we hope that he will act as spokesperson for his constituency with the party.
Difficult job…
Shortly after becoming Liberal leader, Mr. Trudeau promised to upgrade it. I quote: “The Conservative Party and the NDP are led by people who advocate top-down autocratic rule. I believe that MPs should be representatives of their communities, free to express the opinions of their constituents.3 »
A party should not be a sect. Some disagreements are inevitable and even desirable. But this freedom has limits. An MP is expected to share their criticisms internally in caucus.
That’s what Mr. Lightbound did. He tried to stir the cage from the inside. But since it was going nowhere, he broke the silence. Because of the seriousness of the issue.
This dissent does not make Mr. Lightbound a saint.
On the form, the approach was impeccable. As a good deputy, he said he relayed the anger of his fellow citizens. He spoke from his heart and his conscience, with a calm and respectful tone.
But on the merits, several remarks were strange.
“We cannot continue confinements and restrictions without scientific justification,” he said, implying that no study or no epidemiologist supported the health measures. Which is obviously wrong.
He also cites the DD Theresa Tam, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, who suggested reassessing health measures. As if the provinces didn’t do it all the time!
There are limits to embodying virtue while caricaturing the walk of those doing the hard work.
Ironically, his announcement was followed a few hours later by that of Quebec’s deconfinement plan.
Nevertheless, Mr. Lightbound will have been useful. The maneuvers of the government have been laid bare. It will be more difficult for him to instrumentalize the pandemic.
Justin Trudeau at least has the merit of not having sanctioned his MP. It would have been absurd. Either way, it is expected that the vast majority of sanitary measures will be lifted by spring.
The political debate will finally be able to move on, but there will remain a crack in the prime minister’s shell. He will have been punished by where he sinned.