Bernier and Simms offer a tale of two whips
MP discipline could hint at party confidence
Francis Urquhart, the fictional chief whip in the original (and the best) House of Cards, described his role thus: “A pat on the head and a biscuit here; a short, sharp shock there — and a good boot up the backside where indicated.”
In recent days, both the Conservative and Liberal whips’ offices have been busy issuing shocks to parliamentarians deemed to have breached party discipline.
Conservative MP Maxime Bernier fell foul of his party leadership by labelling some supporters of his erstwhile leadership rival, Andrew Scheer, as “fake Conservatives,” implying, though not stating overtly, that he was robbed of the crown.
Liberal MP Scott Simms supported a Conservative motion protesting the Liberal government’s changes to the summer jobs program, which the Prime Minister’s Office deemed to be about abortion rights, and was thus a whipped vote.
The cases are distinct, but the response to them is revealing of the confidence, or lack thereof, being felt 18 months out from a federal election.
Bernier revealed to friends months ago that he planned to write a book about his political vision that would touch on his defeat to Scheer.
The response was polite but broadly consensual — no good would could come of it.
As predicted, a firestorm erupted after a chapter of Doing Politics Differently was published earlier this month by The Globe and Mail.
In it, Bernier reiterated his opposition to the supplymanagement system that regulates prices for dairy, eggs and poultry.
He said the dairy lobby signed up thousands of “fake Conservatives” to vote for Scheer and block Bernier’s victory and protect their own monetary interests.
Bernier has faced many difficulties during his time as a politician but popularity in caucus has not been one of them in the past couple of weeks.
The Beauce, Que., MP spent hours collating his musings, so pulping the book, even postponing it, will be painful. But he is a social animal and, by all accounts, the prospect of being shunned by his colleagues was too much.
He told friends he was “feeling a little bit of discomfort” at the prospect and at Wednesday’s caucus meeting he took the microphone to say he’d decided not to publish the book.
The room is said to have erupted into applause.
Both Scheer’s office and sources close to Bernier say that there were frank discussions between the two but that, at the end of the day, it was Bernier’s call.
He said as much in the House of Commons Thursday, after being baited by the Liberals.
Larry Miller, the veteran Ontario Conservative MP, said he thought the remarks in the book chapter were inappropriate and Bernier had done the right thing not publishing it.
“I give Max credit for doing what he did. We’re all in this together, and the only way to beat Justin Trudeau in 2019 is to be united. That unity may be bruised but it’s not broken,” he said.
Scheer’s office appears to have enforced party discipline leveraging nothing more than peer pressure.
Bernier will retain his industry critic role and looks set to continue his parliamentary career without further sanction.
Given the Conservative leader’s strategy consists of little more than standing at the head of a viable alternative ministry, should the incumbents hurl themselves from office, such solidarity is important.
This is a party that has spent a generation putting itself back together.
Only five of its MPs were elected before Stephen Harper led the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative party and the old loyalties have largely died.
For Liberals, the case of Scott Simms is less heartening.
The popular Newfoundland MP was removed from his job as chair of the Fisheries and Oceans committee this week — losing the $11,900 salary increase that comes with the job — because he voted against the Canada Summer Jobs attestation, which requires organizations to indicate they support abortion rights when applying for federal funding.
Simms told the HuffPost that he accepts the decision because it was a whipped vote and he was told beforehand that punishment would follow.
Nevertheless, the sanction suggests a degree of nervousness in Liberal ranks. There have been signs of fidgeting on the government’s backbench over the past six months — concerns have bubbled up among rural MPs about lack of consultation on the firearms bill; worries about the impact of the small business tax package on re-election prospects.
Those jitters have been calmed but there are limits to blind loyalty, particularly if it threatens to end a cushy sinecure that offers subsidized food and accommodation, a warm room and no heavy lifting.
The Liberals won some seats in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and New Brunswick they had no right to take in 2015. Those MPs face the prospect of disappearing into foot notoriety as faceless, single-term backbenchers who achieved little.
Simms’s demotion was a reminder to potential dissidents that, while individual rights are paramount for the Trudeau Liberals, that does not extend to the caucus.
It’s all a long way from the heady fall of 2015 when Trudeau told his MPs that “regardless of party demands,” their first job was to be a strong voice for the people who sent them to Ottawa.
Now they are expected to act like characters from a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta — voting at their party’s call and never thinking for themselves at all.
I GIVE MAX CREDIT … THE ONLY WAY TO BEAT JUSTIN TRUDEAU IN 2019 IS TO BE UNITED.