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__MAIL Box __

advertorial, May 13/1998

REDUCED TO TEARS

N. Shore treaty
talks not sialled

Dear Editor:

I would like <0 respond to
a number of comments made
in Liam Lahey’s April 24
News article, “Local treaty
talks stalled.”

At the April 22 meeting of
the Lower Mainland Treaty

Advisory Committee, during
which the local government
representative to each of the
tables provided a verbal
update on their respective
tables, I provided an update
‘only on the Tsleil Waututh
(Burrard) table, and not on
both Squamish and Tsleil
Waututh as Mr. Lahey
reported.

More importantly, I nei-
ther implied, nor stated, that
treaty discussions “are at a
standstill”; rather, | had said
that there was nothing new
to report.

In fact, in the course of
my update I announced that
on the following day (April
23), the parties to the Tsteil
Waututh: negotiations would
be meeting for a discussion
on the topic of governance.

Although it is not uncom-
mon for the parties to go a
month or more without for-

mal negotiations, over the
Jast several months activity at
all tables in the Lower
Mainland has been particu-
larly slow.

This is based on uncer-
tainties about federal and
provincial responses to the

elgamuukw decision and
on changes of personnel in
both the federal and provin-
cial chief negotiator roles.

However, it is important
to realize that this recent
period of general inactivity at
the Tsleil Waututh table does
not mean treaty negotiations
have stalled.

The three principals to the
treaty process — Canada,
B.C. and the First Nations
Summit — have reaffirmed
their commitment to negoti-
ate treaties; therefore, local
governments will continue to
participate in the process
oth to ensure that the inter-
ests of ‘their respective com-
munities are represented and
to develop better relation-
ships with their aboriginal
neighbors.

Cameron Thorn
Executive Assistant to
NVD Mayor Don Sell

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Gn April 28, 1998 1 watched from not
more than 50 feet away, unable to inter-
vene, as two people were forced to do
something they apparently did not want
to do. Both were women, and they were
reduced to tears as a consequence of
their actions. There had been no turn-
ing back though, and like the men
around them, they did exactly what they
were told, for fear of the consequences.
Some of the men in that same lineup,
while not in tears themselves, bowed
thelr heads, perhaps hoping to avoid
public recognition as the camera
panned by their position.

Where could this have been taking
place? Surely not in Canada you say? Well
here, as they Say, is the rest of the story.

THE 5:30 BELL

Reform MP Paul Forseth and ! arrived
in Ottawa around 4:30 pm that day after
catching the 9 am flight out of Vancouver.
We shared a taxi to Parliament Hill, and
had time to make a few phonecalls before
the bells began ringing for what was to
become one of the most closely followed,
and easily the r:ost emotional, of any vote
in the House in recent memory. !t was the
vote on Reform’s motion asking the
Government to compensate victims of
Hepatitis C contamination of the blood
Supply, not just between 1986 and 1990,
but for alt of the years when screening
tests for Hepatitis C had been available
and were not used. (Judge Krever, in his
report on the blood supply, focussed cn
November 1981 as the point in time when
the Federal Government became aware of
the problem and chose to do nothing.)

The House was unusually quiet as the
Speaker rose to read the Motion, even
though the press galleries and public gal-
leries were almost full, and there were
close to 100% of MP's in attendance. One
Liberal Member had even been called to
the House from hospital, where he was
about to undergo heart surgery, in order to
ensure that every single Liberal seat was
occupied. As is the tradition, because the
Motion originated with Reform, Reform
MPs voted first, every one in favour. Then,
one by one, the MPs from each of the
other opposition parties also voted in
favour, followed by John Nunziata, the ex-
Liberal and tone independent in the House.

Not a single Liberal stood in support,

of the Motion, even though many were
wearing red and yellow ribbons indicat-
ing support for the Hepatitis C victims.

A DEAFENING SILENCE

As the Speaker rose once again, this
time to call for votes against the motion,
the silence became deafening. Would a
Liberal abstain, or would every Liberal MP
vote against the Motion?

First up was ‘he Prime Minister, then
the front bench Ministers sitting closest to
the Speaker's chair, by which time the
silence had been replaced with boos and
yelling from all parts of the Chamber. The
vote then progressed to the second row on
the Government side, and the embarrass-
ment began to manifest itself in bowed
heads, and flushed faces. This was when |
passed a note to John Nunziata, who sits
just a few chairs behind me, asking, What
could the Prime Minister have
threatened which would cause
every single Liberal MP to vote
against this Motion?

Within a minute the note was back on
my desk with John's comments attached.
“Expulsion from Caucus ~ unlikely,”

he wrote, “Refusing to sign nomina-
tion papers at the time of the next
election - most iikely.” In other words,
failure to vote according to the instructions
of the Prime Minister would virtually guar-
antee that the “offending” MPs would be
out of work at the time of the next election.
Like you, most of those MPs probably have
mortgage payments, and families to sup-
port. Torn in two directions they opted for
their own income security at the expense
of Hepatitis C victims. (Note: Several
years ago, the Reform Party
Constitution was changed so that the
Executive Council, a governing body
elected from Party members at large, is
responsible for the approval of candi-
dates. Once approved by Executive
Council, the Leader of the Reform Party
cannot refuse to sign the nomination
papers. This provision is designed to
prevent the situation described above
from occurring within Reform.)

REMOVED FROM THE
GALLERY

As the vote came to an end, silence
once again settled over the Chamber, and
in that silence, a 15-year-old boy, a victim
of Hepatitis C, stood in the Public Gallery
and began a slow clap. For a moment,
nothing happened, then the security
guards moved in to remove the boy.

In a spontaneous display of suppor, the
entire opposition rose to applaud the boy's
protest of the voting result, and remained
Standing, applauding, as several Hepatitis
C protestors were removed from the
Gallery, one by one over a period of sever-
ai minutes. You did not see these things on
television, because the House of
Commons broadcast system is prohibited
from showing general views of the
Chamber, but it was during this time that

Government embarrassment was at its:

peak. The Prime Minister iooked down at
his desk, as did many other Liberal mem-
bers, Sheila Copps looked as if she wished

she could disappear, and the tears began”

to flow in the Government back benches.
A VERY SICK PARLIAMENT
The vote on Hepatitis C was a symptom
of the terrible sickness afflicting our
Parliament, a Parliament made dysfunc-
tional by party contro! of the MPs who are

supposed to represent you.. The Prime }

Minister had arbitrarily decided, contrary to

the Standing Orders (rules) of the House of . j

Commons, to identify the vote on Reform's
Opposition Motion as a “vote of confidence
in the Government.” Ttiere was no need to
take such a position when all of the
Opposition parties had publicly stated that
the vote would NOT be a confidence vote,
30 we can only surmise that he saw the
Hepatitis C vote as an opportunity to
establish solid control over his MPs early in
the mandate, thereby discouraging any
breaking of ranks at a later date.

It you still think that MPs carefully
consider the Bills which come before
Partiament, and that they vote in the
best interests of their constituents and
the country — think again. The vast
majority of MPs are little more than
trained seals, the debates are almost
meaningless, and the voting instruc-
tions come directly from the party
whips. Control and power is much more
important than doing what is right for
the country or for constituents. | wish |
could tell you that it wasn’t that way.

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