Liberals must address 'democratic deficit,' Telegdi says

Waterloo Chronicle
August 28, 2002

By Bob Vrbanac
Chronicle Staff

Waterloo MP Andrew Telegdi said he hopes the next leader of the Liberal party addresses the democracy deficit in parliament after Jean Chretien resigns as prime minister 18 months from now.

It's just one of the reasons why Telegdi thinks it was the right time for the prime minister to announce he wouldn't be seeking another term at last week's Liberal policy caucus in Chicoutimi, Que. He said he no longer appreciated Chretien's top-down management style, and a1l the power held by the prime minister's office.

If anything, Telegdi said, he is one of a number of MPs who wish the prime minister would go sooner so that the party could reinvigorate itself in time for the next federal election.

"He could have gone out in a blaze of glory this fall," he said. "Instead we had what we had."

Telegdi thinks the party needs to undergo some serious reform heading into the next election to give parliamentarians and the people they represent a voice in the process. That process started with the vote taken by the local riding association last week.

Telegdi thinks that straw vote, held last week in advance of the policy meeting in Quebec, was a factor in the prime minister's decisioion. Local members of the federal Lberal party voted 97 per cent in favour of a leadership review this February.

"I think it gave a reality test to those people pledging loyalty to the prime minister," said Telegdi. "It told them what was going on at the grassroots of the party."

He's hoping the vote spurs on further reforms of the system, and the role parliamentarians play in Ottawa.

"We need to look at the way we conduct business," said the local MP elected in the first Liberal sweep of 1993. "I think it's important to make sure that the members of parliament are paramount as far as policy formation goes."

"There has to be a forum for that type of disagreement," said Telegdi, who argued that the ability was lacking under the current party leadership.

Telegdi thinks his fellow members in caucus will assert themselves more over the next 18 months to make sure they play a bigger role in policy formation.

"It takes a long time for these reforms to come to the fore," he said. "I find it particularly offensive that we were whipped to vote against the ethics counsellor reporting to parliament, which was a campaign promise of ours.

When it came for a vote the (government) whipped members to vote against it or abstain from it. In my case, I abstained from it.

How. do you reconcile that when you're out there saying one thing and then doing something else."

It's something Telegdi thinks will change with the next leader of the Liberal party. He makes no secret of his support for Paul Martin's candidacy in the upcoming leadership contest that features the likes of John Manley, Alan Rock and Sheila Copps as early favourites.

He figures that Martin, the former finance minister, will be an agent for change, and has already demonstrated his willingness to buck the system and to do things differently.

That includes consulting more with backbenchers like he has in the past during budget deliberations.

"I think we have to put some limitations on the powers of the prime minister, particularly as they pertain to appointments," said Telegdi.

"I think we should have appointments go before committees.

The prime minister has more power in the (Canadian) parliamentary system than even the British system. I think we have to put the focus back on members of parliament versus faceless bureaucrats."

He admits the next 18 months will be a challenging time to maintain party unity while fulfilling the ambitious legislative agenda that the prime minister outlined last week.

Some of those policy initiatives include ratifying the Kyoto agreement on climate change, and more work towards addressing child poverty in Canada.

It'll be a painful process all the way around," said Telegdi. "I always liked the guy (Chretien), but we've entered a period of renewal and that's what we're dealing with"