[All] From Globe and Mail

Mon Apr 4 22:13:52 EDT 2011

Comment

How can Conservative senators look at themselves in the mirror?

Gerald Caplan
Globe and Mail Update
Published Friday, Apr. 01, 2011 3:45PM EDT
Last updated Friday, Apr. 01, 2011 3:51PM EDT

Stephen Harper ended Parliament in typical style. He had the trained seals
he's appointed to the unelected Senate (a body he doesn't believe in)
sabotage the clear will of the democratically elected House of Commons with
consequences that will cost the lives of "thousands, maybe millions, of poor
people" in Africa and elsewhere.

The words are those of an outraged James Orbinski, a renowned doctor and
Canadian expert in international health. The issue is Bill C-393, passed by
a large majority in the House to provide inexpensive Canadian-made generic
drugs for people in poor countries dying of easily treatable diseases such
as AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

The role of the Conservative majority in the Senate was to deliberately
stall passage of the bill ensuring it died once the election was called. The
instructions came from the Supreme Puppetmaster, Stephen Harper, speaking
through one of his most reliable dummies, Industry Minister Tony Clement.
The message from Mr. Clement cemented the reputation he warmly earned during
the long-form census fiasco. As Dr. Orbinski noted, Mr. Clement's case to
the Senate's Conservative majority for not supporting C-393 was based on
"distortions, deceptions, lies and scare-mongering." Par for the course, in
other words.

Let me readily acknowledge that for my entire life I've believed the Senate,
a wholly undemocratic 19th century institution, should be abolished and I
have never understood how anyone could accept an appointment to it. But I've
always seen how appealing it is. After all, you're suddenly handed on a
platter one of the great gigs this country offers - a fancy title, instant
status, a minimum $123,000 a year plus expense accounts, air travel, pension
and optional attendance. Or a high-profile forum if you choose to use it, as
a few admirable senators do.

But to whom are senators responsible, if anyone? How do they decide what
positions to support or oppose? They're appointed by the Prime Minister
personally and usually carry his party affiliation but they supposedly serve
the country, or so it's claimed. Do they show their eternal gratitude to
this one man, which would make them simple hacks, or have they a higher duty
to the public good? This is a genuine choice, and Bill C-393 gave us the
pathetic answer when a majority of senators chose to slavishly follow the
party line. All were Conservatives, no fewer than 35 of them appointed by
Stephen Harper in violation of every word he ever uttered about the
illegitimacy of an appointed Senate. But that was before he became PM.

There's hypocrisy upon hypocrisy piling up here. Last November, for the
first time in 70 years, this same Conservative-dominated Senate, without a
hearing or debate, killed a climate-change bill that had been passed by a
majority of elected MPs in the House of Commons. It was a bill Stephen
Harper hated - he's still mostly a global warming denier - and it was at his
command that his senators transgressed against democracy, accountability,
common sense and the future of our children all at the same time. Marjory
LeBreton, Mr. Harper's Senate Leader, airily dismissed the legislation as "a
coalition bill," some kind of conspiracy, apparently, of Liberals,
socialists and separatists.

Killing C-393 last week was a second example of the extraordinary harm a
majority of Conservative senators have been ready aye ready to inflict at
the behest of their master. (Some Conservatives stayed away from the
chamber, apparently to avoid voting with the majority but not prepared to
vote against them, and one, Nancy Ruth, honourably spoke in favor of the
bill.) Have no doubt the majority knew exactly what they were doing and what
the stakes were.

Canada's Access to Medicines Regime was introduced nearly seven year ago as
a proud effort to help people dying of preventable diseases in poor
countries. It is Canada's shame that ever since, under pressure from the
giant pharmaceutical companies, a succession of Liberal and Conservative
governments have sabotaged this project. In the entire period, only two
shipments of drugs have been dispatched to Rwanda. Bill C-393 was the latest
futile attempt to make CAMR work. Now it too has been sabotaged.

Bill C-393 would have fixed the regime by cutting the red tape that has
undermined its very purpose - enabling Canadian generic drug manufacturers
to provide inexpensive drugs to poor countries, where brand-name drugs are
often unaffordable. In the House, besides all members of Ms. LeBreton's
bogeyman coalition, 26 Conservative MPs also supported the bill. It was
endorsed enthusiastically by an overwhelming majority of medical and legal
experts, humanitarian activists, faith leaders, AIDS and international
development organizations across the country and health activists in
developing countries.

Dozens of prominent Canadians immersed in international health issues urged
passage, as did more than 70,000 other Canadians who took the time to sign a
petition or to email and call their MPs and senators. The national advocacy
committee of the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign - 10,000 Canadian
grannies, committed to working with their African counterparts, who had made
this bill their crusade - lobbied vigorously on its behalf; some were in the
Senate audience last week, heart-broken when the Conservatives assured its
death.

None of this mattered to the majority of Conservative senators. A more
perfect definition of Mr. Harper's contempt for Parliament, democracy, the
world and evidence-based policies would be hard to find.

The Conservatives who have again sentenced so many Africans to a miserable
death should hang their heads in disgrace. They make a mockery of being
called "Honourable." There is no honour here. Yet I don't for a moment
expect them to feel the slightest embarrassment, shame or, indeed,
dishonour. Conservatives don't do remorse (except for wrongs committed by
earlier governments against potential ethnic supporters). But they need to
know how many of their fellow Canadians are deeply ashamed of them, and
while this is one of the many vital issues that won't be part of the
election campaign, they should understand how many voters will remember
their role not only on voting day but long after.

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