Martin leaves Ottawa for Asian trade talks
PM again rejects opposition vote plan Parties agree to fast-track key bills
OTTAWA—
Prime Minister Paul Martin leaves the turmoil on Parliament Hill behind today as he jets off to Asia to talk trade, bird flu and nuclear prolifera- tion with leaders of Pacific Rim nations.
Despite the precarious state ofthe Liberal minority, Martin will be away until Saturday at the annual Asia- Pacific Economic Co- operation ( APEC) summit in the seaport city ofPusan, South Korea.
The leaders of the 21 APECcountries, including U. S. President George W. Bush and China’s Hu Jintao, are hoping toreach agreement to give new impetus to the stalled internation- al talks on dismantling barriersto world trade. The APEC meet- ing will be a stepping stone to acrucial meeting on liberalizingtrade under the auspices of theWorld Trade Organization in Hong Kong Dec. 13 to 18. APEC leaders will also discussNorth Korea’s nuclear programs and developing early warning and information- shar- ing systems in case of avian flu outbreaks. The risk to Martin of being outof the country while his govern- ment is on the ropes appeared todiminish slightly yesterdaywhen the Liberals agreed withthe opposition parties to pushfour pieces of legislation quicklythrough the Commons by the end of the week. Among the four bills being fast- tracked is C- 66, the energyrelief bill that will permit thegovernment to send $ 565 mil- lion to 3.1 million low- incomeCanadians to help them copewith rising heating fuel costs this winter. The other bills dealwith the proceeds of crime, oiland gas exploration and protection of employees in the case of a company’s bankruptcy. The opposition parties want topass this legislation before moving to bring down Martin’s government, which is now expected to happen next week.
If the government falls as expected, the other bills on the Commons’ order paper will die.
They include a proposal intro- duced yesterday that allows law enforcement officials to de- mand personal data from Inter- net and telephone companies — a
bill criticized as too invasive by privacy advocates. Government sources added that other measures such as ap- pointing a replacement for re- tiring Supreme Court JusticeJohn Major will also be delayed.
Led by NDP Leader Jack Lay- ton, the opposition parties areasking Martin to launch an elec- tion campaign in January sothat a Christmas campaign canbe avoided. But they havethreatened to topple the Liber- als in a vote of confidence in theCommons before Christmas ifthe Prime Minister refuses to go along with the request for a campaign early in the new year.
Martin once again rejected Layton’s proposal yesterday, saying it’s not keeping with the rules of Parliament.
“ You either have the confi- dence of the House ( of Com- mons) or you do not have the confidence of the House,” he said. “ There’s no grey zone.”
In the Commons, the Conser- vatives accused the Liberals oftrying to buy votes by proposing$ 30 billion in tax cuts in FinanceMinister Ralph Goodale’s mini- budget. Goodale said he’s beentalking about bring in tax cutsfor months. And the Tories sig- nalled that they wouldn’t blockLiberal attempts to implementsome of the tax reductions rightaway.