DEBUNKING

The following sentence appeared ina
letter being distributed early on in this
election campaign by my political oppo-
nent Bill Bell.

"The Reform/Alliance candidate has
been quoted as saying that his 15%
attandarice in Parliament does not mat-
ter end the House of Commons Is a ‘dis-

gusting place’.

The claims in Bill's letter are patently
fatse, and the namo of the Canadian
Alliance Party has been deliberately
misrepresented. For these reasons |
decided to set the record straight.

Myth: It is possible te obtain pariia-
mentary attendance records for MPs by
reference to Hansard, either in hard copy of
on the internet.

Truth: - No records of physical atten-
dance in Parliament by MPs is kept by

| Hansard, or even by the polnicat parties
themselves. tn addition, other than on spe-
cific duty days assigned by the parties, the

i vast majority of Members of Parllament are
. Never in the House except during the daily
Question Period. it is not uncommon for
onty two or three MPs to be present in their
seats during the so-called debates, and
‘the only time Hansard records the pres-
ence of a specific MP is if that MP rises to
‘ask a question, to maka a speech or state-

‘ ment, to present 2 petition, or to have his or

her name called during a vote.
_Myth:- My. attendance in Parliament

[was only 1596.

.. Truth:...The rules of the House of
‘Commons define an MP's attendance in
’ Parliament as any combination of the fol-

lowing: (a) Being physically present in the

House of:.Commons or eisewhere on

Parilament Hill, (0) Being physically present

Jn the MP's own Riding, or (c) ‘Travelling

anywhere else in Canada or the world in

“the . performance of, the. business: of
: Parliament.:
: These: rules recognize that an MP's

includes a much wider. range of

» aotivitie:
Parliament Hill. -

“than. found ‘solely on
“Such activities. include

. consulting with: constituents and attending -

sponsibilities. To keep track of nen-par- ,
a bsences, iuetion can not .-

records since the. 1997. ‘election, copies .

‘ofv which are a vailable for examination at

“gusting place".

CANADIAN

:
Soha E

THE ATTENDANCE MYTHS

could be in the Riding, on bereavement or
sick leave, or on committee travel, when
large numbers of votes take place.

An additional complicating factor
occurs when IMPs “pair” with a member
of an opposing party so that neither MP
has to be physically present in the
House to be recorded as having voted.
The Canadian Alliance considers this to be
deception so we refuse to “pair*, but the
practice is very common. Independent MP,
John Nunziata, for example, has a near
100% voting record even though he is
hardly ever physically present in the House.
He achieved this by pairing with a Liberal
Minister.

fn terms of my own voting atten-
dance, selective staiistics have been
used by the Libereis in an attempt to
deliberately misrepresent the true situa-
tion. it is a matter of record that | was out
of Canada on a private matter in December
of 1999, with the approval of the Party
Whip, when the Government decided to
deal with the final votes on Nisga'a. That
471 vote marathon distorted my voting
record for the quarter, but is certainly not
representative of the norma! situation. For
example, a copy of my voting record for
the month of May 16 to June 13 of this year
is posted on my website and shows a
100% attendance at votes. Unfortunately
though, because the Prime Minister
decides when to call votes, and has
never done so unless he knew he could
win, the reality of the situation for oppo-
sition members has been that voting In
Pariiament is of ilitie vatue other than to
“get a position on the record”. Anyone
who tries to claim that under a Liberal
regime the votes of Parliament are actu-
ally meaningful is deliberately attempt-
ing to deceive and to hide from the pub-
lic one of Pariiament's “dirty iittle
secrets". The real issue is not one of vot-

_ ing records, but rather one of how to return

democracy to te House of Commons so
that the votes actually mean something. In
this regard, only tha Canadian Alliance has

‘a policy. which would re-establish free
votes and meaningful debates.

“Myth: | said that Parliament i is a *dis-

Truth: This is a partial ‘truth. | have

=. been: ‘disgusted with Parliament on a num-

ber of occasions, such as the time the
Prime. Minister. forced his: MPs to vote

against a motion to compensate the vic-

tims of Hep C, reducing at leasi three. of
them to tears. Or when 50 Liberal MPs who

‘had: signed’ a-letter asking the Prime
‘Minister to use the notwithstanding clause -
“in connection with a BC court ruling on
child pornography were forced to reverse ]'

their position in a subsequent vote. The

buildings. of: Parliament of course are far |
» from disgusting. ‘ They are a very beautiful
: and majestic part of our heritage, as any

}.° visiter to Ottawa ‘can testify. Unfortunately,

the ‘House,, not all votes: are: recorded. in’

Hansard impossible | to. compute a

‘reliable. figure for. voting’ attendance. : For -
example, ‘there. gre many votes which are.
"On:: Division", -. which simply *

decided
means’ that “an';agreement has been
= reached betwean the parties to deem an
“item to pass or fail without a vote, regard-
ess ‘of who is ‘present in the House. "in
addition, when “clause by clause®. consid-

“T eration of a Bill is taking place in commit-
y: tee it is not unusual for hundreds of votes.

“to be taken without recording the names of |
the: MPs who are. Present. Finally, an MP

‘candidate name is Ted White.

* what takes place inside is far from some-

thing ‘to be proud of, and is in desperate
need of reform.

Myths ; am the candidate for .the
Refornv/Alliance

Truth: The Party name on the baliot on
Monday will be Canadian Alliance, and the
As my
name Is the last one on the ballot, it will
be easy for you to vote "None of the
Above" “by putting your mark next to my

MAIL Box—————-

World wa
than a bottom

Dear Editor:

To the voters of North
Vancouver:

Some of you are disap-
pointed that [ did not run
again for the Green Party. I
am disappointed too but per-
sonal reasons made the tim-
ing impossible for me_ this
election. In the past I have
run in two federal campaigns
and one provincial campaign
and my participation has been
rewarding for me and, !
believe, important to the
political process.

If I were running, I would
encourage voters to question
this extremely adversarial
phenomenon called govern-
ment. It is based on conflict,
on a win-lose attitude. There
is very little evidence . that
mainstream politicians arc
concerned about the needs of
the people of this country or
its natural environment.
What the heck are we doing
to ourselves?

At this time in history we
need a new paradigm of gov-
ernance. In her 1980 book
The Aquarian Conspiracy,
visionary Marilyn Ferguson
calls for political systems

based on partnership with
nature, ethics, vision, decen-
tralization, respect. commu-
nity values, holistic approach-
es and a deep desire to create
systems that benefit the
whole rather than a select
few. We need to move
towards a synthesis of conser-
vative and liberal traditiuns.
The party system, as it exists
today, pits one ideology
against another and rather
than seek solutions to the
problems in the world, politi-
cians are “duking it out” dur-
ing campaigns and, later on,
in parliament. No one listens;
each party is fighting to get
their own way. A great exam-
ple for our children.

In the meantime, the
homeless are dying of expo-
sure on our streets, children
are being murdered, young
people are turning to violence
and crime, white collar crooks
are robbing us blind with
loopholes and tax shelters,
hospitals are turning away
those in nced, people are in
despair and don’t know what
to do. Our water and air are

luted, the salmon have all

ut disappeared, the. forests

rth mo

are dwindling, plant and ani
mal life are being destroyed at
a horrifying rate, and our
consumeristic lifestyte is turn-
ing the planet into a huge
dump. We've got work to do.

I encourage citizens of
Canada to demand that
politicians begin to work
together to address the issues
that face us.

There is plenty of “com-
mon ground” op which to
build oue governments. As
human beings, we all need to
breathe, to have food and
shelter, to have respect and
dignity, to feel safe on our
streets. The planet needs to
flourish as it is her resources
that support us. We need to
nurture our host. So, who
should you vote for on Nov.
27? I can’t say for sure. f
would encourage you to vote
for the man or woman who
shows a genuine concern for.
all life on this planet, who
wants to work in harmony
with others to create a better
world, and who § sees the
world and its l¢ as more ©
than a bottom Tine.

Peggy Stortz.
West Vancouver

Bully article appreciated |

Dear Editor:

I read, with great interest,
your Sunday Focus,
“Ignoring the school bully
doesn’t work” (Nov. 12). I
am 39 and I can still conjure
up those feelings I felt when
I was in Grade 6. I was bul-
lied by one individual at first.
Bully “one” then manipulat-
ed another to join him. J felt
helpless,: alone, and_ fright-
ened for a good part of
Grade 6. I have no doubt in
my mind that these events
help shape the pi zson I an
today.

Tignored the remarks and

‘torment for avery long time

believing, even then, that

‘these two thugs — one actu-
“ally used to. be

harm. Then again, cuts and
bruises heal. The. mental

anguish I felt was far moxe:
‘damaging and long rast: L

a friend —:..
were cowards and probably |
-wouldn’t do me any physical

sometimes believe that bully
“one” was very aware of this.
! can still see very clearly,
when I remember, the look
on his face. A sick look of joy

_and satisfaction. Of course,

now, I know that it was they
who had the problem.
Thougk I don’t remem-
ber exactly how and when
the bullying ended, ic did
end abruptly. I. suspect my
teacher, or another, put an
end to it, but not because I
told. I kept it a secret from
my . friends, my . family and
the school faculty. .Why?. I

felt embarrassed, ashaned,
“that: there was* "something .

wrong : with me,- definitely

afraid {. should have told. I -
should have told. as: many -
people .who. could help as .
am,"‘today, very
“ sensitive to: this. issue and
» step in where possible when I: :

possible. .

To this day. I don’t know
why this happened. I did .
have the opportunity to find
out ast November. at-.my-

26th high school reunion. v 2

didn’t recognize bully “one”

when he said. hi and shook : :

my hand. He told ime who he
was and I asked him. where :
he ‘was living, nothing else,
and moved on. I wanted to -
ask. him if he: remembered
the way he treated me, arid if

che had children, and: what
- they were like, . but I didn’t.

Still; I wonder if he turned.

-out be be the kind of person. -

who., woul understand

cycle
awareness ..and action. plus

articles such ‘as: the -one: in
our fully help Focus
7. help’. break thi

sce bullying. Je’s our duty as

members of a society.

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