Liberals may not have votes to extend sitting of the House
by Romeo St. Martin

[PoliticsWatch Updated 7:45 p.m. June 21, 2005]

OTTAWA  — The Bloc Quebecois and some Liberal MPs opposed to gay marriage legislation suggested Tuesday they may side with the Conservatives in voting against Government House Leader Tony Valeri's motion to keep the House of Commons open during the summer to pass the NDP budget bill and the same-sex marriage legislation.  

Valeri tabled a motion in the House on Monday evening that would extend the sitting of Parliament indefinitely. The House is scheduled to recess for the summer on Thursday. 

On Tuesday afternoon he met with the House leaders of the three opposition parties and said that his plan to extend the sitting was to get the budget and the gay marriage legislation passed before adjournment for the summer. 

Valeri said in a scrum with reporters later that even if he does not get permission from a majority of members in the House that he was considering approaching the Speaker of the House and requesting an extension of the sitting on the grounds of the "public interest."

But cracks appeared in the coalition the government may have to piece together to move the matter through a vote in the House. 

The Liberals held a caucus meeting on Tuesday evening where some of the 34 MPs who voted against the gay marriage bill earlier this year were expected to voice their concerns with Valeri's plan to have the bill passed this summer. 

When asked if Liberals would vote against the government extending hours if it planned to use the time to pass the gay marriage bill, Liberal MP Dan McTeague, who is an opponent of the gay marriage legislation, said, "I think that's a good conclusion if that is the case. I think it's fair to say there will be a few."

Another Liberal MP Raymond Bonin, said that he would have a problem supporting the government's budget bill if extending the sitting was for the purpose of passing the gay marriage bill, known as Bill C-38.

"If the strategy is to combine the two and to blackmail me into voting in favour of extending for C-38 by combining it with the budget, I will have a decision to make," he said. 

He said he would not vote in favour of a motion to extend the sitting of the House to pass C-38. 

However, not all Liberal MPs who are against gay marriage legislation want to wait until fall. 

"The sooner the better," said Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis. 

Meanwhile, Valeri declined a request from the Bloc Quebecois to put in writing that extending the session is contingent upon passing C-38.

That decision means the Bloc will not vote in favour of the motion. 

"It must be written in the motion that C-38 is indicated to be finished at the end of the extension of the House of Commons," said Bloc House Leader Michel Gauthier. "If not, it's impossible for us to be confident that it will be finished like that." 

"When it's not written we have problems. I do not want to have more problems."

The NDP plans to support the Liberals in passing the motion to extend the sitting of the House. 

However, if all MPs show up the Bloc and the Conservatives have 152 of the 154 votes required in the House to defeat the Valeri's motion. 

Independent MP Pat O'Brien would likely vote against Valeri's motion, meaning the Conservatives and the Bloc would only need a handful of renegade Liberal MPs to defeat the effort to extend the sitting. 

Valeri said he told the other House leaders his commitment to call C-48 (the NDP budget bill) and C-38 in the extended sitting. 

He said he wants his motion to extend the sitting voted on on Wednesday. 

"My commitment is to deal with C-38 at all stages," said Valeri. 

However, moving the two bills through the House has been a tedious process as the Conservatives are likely to consider lining up MPs to stand up and speak for 10 minutes in the House on both bills. 

Meanwhile, the Liberals survived another seven confidence votes in the House of Commons as report stage of the NDP budget amendments were passed on Tuesday evening. 

© PoliticsWatch® 2005. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PoliticsWatch content, including by framing, copying, linking or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Public Interests Research and Communications Inc. (PIRCINC). PoliticsWatch is registered trademark of PIRCINC.