So this afternoon, Liberal MPs voted with the Harper Conservatives to pass the first stage of their unpopular HST legislation.
And while New Democrats could be counted on to oppose new higher sales taxes on BC and Ontario families, 28 Liberals failed to show up at all!
They didn’t vote with Michael Ignatieff in favour of higher taxes. But they also didn’t defy their leader to vote with up with New Democrats against the tax hike either.
These Liberal MPs - including 16 from BC and Ontario just didn’t show at all. If they don’t believe Ignatieff is right on the HST, shouldn’t they say so? And if so, shouldn’t they vote against it?
THE 28 MISSING HST LIBERALS
Scott Andrews - Avalon
Navdeep Bains - Mississauga—Brampton South (Ontario)
Mauril Bélanger - Ottawa—Vanier (Ontario)
Maurizio Bevilacqua - Vaughan (Ontario)
Gerry Byrne - Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte
Denis Coderre - Bourassa
Stéphane Dion - Saint-Laurent—Cartierville
Mark Eyking - Sydney—Victoria
Hedy Fry - Vancouver Centre (BC)
Mark Holland - Ajax—Pickering (Ontario)
Marlene Jennings - Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine
Jim Karygiannis - Scarborough—Agincourt (Ontario)
Lawrence MacAulay - Cardigan
Gurbax Malhi - Bramalea—Gore—Malton (Ontario)
Keith Martin - Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca (BC)
David McGuinty - Ottawa South (Ontario)
Dan McTeague - Pickering—Scarborough East (Ontario)
Joyce Murray - Vancouver Quadra (BC)
Robert Oliphant - Don Valley West (Ontario)
Massimo Pacetti - Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel
Bernard Patry - Pierrefonds—Dollard
Yasmin Ratansi - Don Valley East (Ontario)
Geoff Regan - Halifax West
Michael Savage - Dartmouth—Cole Harbour
Mario Silva - Davenport (Ontario)
Michelle Simson - Scarborough Southwest (Ontario)
Paul Szabo - Mississauga South (Ontario)
Bryon Wilfert - Richmond Hill (Ontario)
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4 comments:
Thanks for the list, I'm writing like mad.
If Layton can keep away from the Taliban Jack politics the NDP have a real chance of forming the official opposition.Jack has to keep banging at unemployment,hst gouging,stolen pensions,etc.Aligning the party as an echo of the liberal agenda will be a loosing same old,same old proposition.
@Red Fox: It's worth noting that the current strategy in Afghanistan has shifted toward the suggestions that Layton gave a few years ago that earned him the "Taliban Jack" nickname. I guess he was just ahead of his time promoting cooperation over antagonising the people you're trying to help.
@Horse: Good to see my MP Joyce Murray on the list, although I would rather have seen her break ranks. I think I have one of the most progressive Grits, but she is still a Grit.
Unfortunately, the HST isn't going to define the next federal election. It wasn't going to define the next election whether or not the Liberals liked it because the governments to suffer the most backlash from the public are the Liberal governments of BC and Ontario. It is already in place in the Maritimes and (sort-of) Quebec.
What then, is the point of making provincial taxes the centre of a federal election?
That being said, I don't support an HST nor do I like the idea of it. That being said, it's not worth the political non-firestorm. Iggy is going to stand behind McGuinty and Campbel which is, by de-facto, not getting in the way of the provinces.
Which brings me to the comments of The Red Fox.
Fox, how is the federal NDP going to gain by opposing the HST? Perhaps the provincial ND parties will see some positive growth, but I doubt soft-liberals will change their federal voting to the NDP over this issue specifically. It cannot hurt to oppose it, but it doubt it is a realistic catalyst to send them into Stornoway.
Afghanistan on the other hand...
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