http://www.ottawasun.com/2011/12/16/bob-rae-lacks-a-grain-of-sense
Bob Rae lacks a grain of sense
Instead of realizing there was more chaff than wheat in supporting the Canadian Wheat Board, interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae tried grasping at straws to keep it alive.
It made him look foolish, and the Liberal Party look like a spent force with little hope of recovery.
And this, of course, is no secret.
Rae's most recent journey into fantasy land was his wide-eyed proposal to have Governor General David Johnston refuse to give royal assent to the Harper government's bill, passed by the Senate Thursday, to dismantle the wheat board and end its monopoly on grain marketing.
The precedent for allowing government to legislate its own laws dates back to 1849 when Lord Elgin, then Governor General, put his signature to a bill that he absolutely hated for the very reason stated.
It was an elected government's right to make the law, Elgin decided, regardless of whether the Crown's representative thought the laws were wrong.
Lord Elgin's signing of a bill to compensate French Canadians for losses inflicted during the 1837 rebellion, however, did not go down well.
An angry Tory mob burned the Parliament buildings to the ground, and there were days of rioting in the streets of Montreal.
But the precedent was set.
The fledgling Province of Canada, as it was then known, had the right to make its own decisions without the Queen's representative stepping in to veto its collective wishes.
What had Rae grasping at this straw is a Federal Court judge's opinion, now being appealed, that the bill to disband the wheat board is outside the law because there was no true plebiscite offered to farmers as there was when the board was founded.
And that, to Rae's thinking, was enough to have David Johnston dismiss a 162-year precedent, and stay the passage of the legislation.
But that's not how it works. Governments make the laws, and courts only interpret them.
The end to the wheat board's control over Canadian farmers was long overdue, and the Harper government had every right to bring it to an end.
Our Governor General, being outside political meddling, couldn't tell Rae that, of course.
But we think he would've if he could've.
Bob Rae lacks a grain of sense
Instead of realizing there was more chaff than wheat in supporting the Canadian Wheat Board, interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae tried grasping at straws to keep it alive.
It made him look foolish, and the Liberal Party look like a spent force with little hope of recovery.
And this, of course, is no secret.
Rae's most recent journey into fantasy land was his wide-eyed proposal to have Governor General David Johnston refuse to give royal assent to the Harper government's bill, passed by the Senate Thursday, to dismantle the wheat board and end its monopoly on grain marketing.
The precedent for allowing government to legislate its own laws dates back to 1849 when Lord Elgin, then Governor General, put his signature to a bill that he absolutely hated for the very reason stated.
It was an elected government's right to make the law, Elgin decided, regardless of whether the Crown's representative thought the laws were wrong.
Lord Elgin's signing of a bill to compensate French Canadians for losses inflicted during the 1837 rebellion, however, did not go down well.
An angry Tory mob burned the Parliament buildings to the ground, and there were days of rioting in the streets of Montreal.
But the precedent was set.
The fledgling Province of Canada, as it was then known, had the right to make its own decisions without the Queen's representative stepping in to veto its collective wishes.
What had Rae grasping at this straw is a Federal Court judge's opinion, now being appealed, that the bill to disband the wheat board is outside the law because there was no true plebiscite offered to farmers as there was when the board was founded.
And that, to Rae's thinking, was enough to have David Johnston dismiss a 162-year precedent, and stay the passage of the legislation.
But that's not how it works. Governments make the laws, and courts only interpret them.
The end to the wheat board's control over Canadian farmers was long overdue, and the Harper government had every right to bring it to an end.
Our Governor General, being outside political meddling, couldn't tell Rae that, of course.
But we think he would've if he could've.