Au revoir, Chuck Strahl and John Cummins

By Aaron Wherry - Saturday, March 12, 2011 at 1:19 PM - 45 Comments

The Transport Minister and the Conservative backbencher will also refrain from seeking reelection. Both were members of the Reform party’s class of 1993.

Since the last election, Jay Hill has resigned, while Jim Abbott and Keith Martin have announced they will not seek reelection. Assuming that all those who remain decide to stand for reelection and are subsequently relected, that class is poised to be reduced to six after the next vote: Diane Ablonczy, Leon Benoit, Garry Breitkreuz, John Duncan, Stephen Harper and Dick Harris.

Is there a doctor in the House?

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, January 5, 2011 at 5:24 PM - 42 Comments

Chris Selley questions the medical wisdom of politicians.

It took some flaming cheek for Mr. Dosanjh and Ms. Duncan to claim that “disregarding experts is a dangerous precedent” in an op-ed that involved disregarding — not to mention disrespecting — literally dozens of medical practitioners and researchers. But precious few politicians are capable of resisting the lure of emotionally charged issues, and the opportunities they afford to care out loud. From this appalling cynicism, there seems very little hope of liberation.

For the record, there are four physicians in the House of Commons: Liberals Carolyn Bennett, Hedy Fry, Keith Martin and Bernard Patry.

The Backbench Top Ten

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, December 12, 2010 at 2:57 PM - 1 Comment

After a week away, our weekly, and wholly arbitrary, ranking of the ten most worthy, or at least entertaining, MPs returns. A celebration of all that is great and ridiculous about the House of Commons. Last week’s rankings appear in parentheses. Continue…

Cause and effect in parliament

By Andrew Potter - Monday, November 29, 2010 at 4:08 PM - 17 Comments

There’s a lot of weird stuff in today’s Hill Times piece retailing Keith Martin’s parting shots at his place of work for the past seventeen years. The least plausible, though, has to be his claim that when he was elected as a Reform MP in 1993, the House was “a place for bipartisan activity” and a place “where you could work quietly with other political parties to advance initiatives for the public good.” Mr. Martin, surely you kid.

But nostalgia is a powerful drug, and bashing parliament is all the rage these days; declaring our democracy “finished” is the sort of thing MPs and affiliated partisans turn to when they aren’t getting their way in the Commons. (Recall that reforming parliament was the centrepiece of the Reform/Alliance agenda when it looked like the Liberals were in power forever. Funny how that went away once they gained office).

The HT piece contains three main claims: that parliament is too rude, too partisan, and too dysfunctional. They are often treated as equivalent, but as Joe Comartin (wisely) points out, they are distinct. Let’s look at each in turn. Continue…

Somebody should do something

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, November 29, 2010 at 12:02 PM - 10 Comments

In the midst of a Hill Times survey of Parliament Hill, Alison Loat notes one of the more salient points in the debate over the state of our democracy.

“I’m always so struck, and I’m still struck from the interviews that he expresses exactly what so many MPs who left before him say. You know, ‘we came into politics because we were concerned about this lack of engagement with the public and with Parliament,’ however they describe it. Many of the MPs describe themselves as being outside of Parliament. ‘I looked at Parliament, and I don’t see myself there. I don’t see my community represented, and so I want to run and try to change that,’ and yet, x number of years later, they’re complaining about much of the same thing that motivated them in the first place. How have we gotten ourselves into that spiral?”

The Backbench Top Ten

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, November 29, 2010 at 12:07 AM - 2 Comments

Our weekly, and wholly arbitrary, ranking of the ten most worthy, or at least entertaining, MPs, excluding the Prime Minister, cabinet members and party leaders. A celebration of all that is great and ridiculous about the House of Commons. Last week’s rankings appear in parentheses. Continue…

Run by children

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, November 22, 2010 at 10:10 AM - 93 Comments

In a wider conversation with CBC radio last week about his impending departure, Liberal MP Keith Martin noted the incredible power of the young and unelected in Ottawa. A rough transcript of his comments.

I think the larger problem is that within leaders’ office, the people around them are unelected, generally very young, tend to be extremely partisan, they’re hired by parties, by leaders, to do the job and they have much more power than members of Parliament do. They control much of what goes on on a day-to-day basis with respect to the tactics and strategy. But these are very young people, for the most part. They’re not terribly experienced in the real world. They may be smart in certain ways, but they haven’t gone and knocked on doors, they haven’t run for political office, for the most part, they are not as connected to the people on the ground, our citizens, as those who have gone through the election process. So the people calling the shots, that rabid partisanship tends to revolve around leaders’ offices, and they basically tell the MPs what to do. And that’s a complete perversion of democracy…

Continue…

The Backbench Top Ten

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, November 21, 2010 at 3:08 PM - 10 Comments

The parameters of a debate (II)

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at 9:07 AM - 6 Comments

Last week—shortly before he announced his impending resignation—Liberal MP and doctor Keith Martin offered some dos and don’ts for health care reform. Yesterday afternoon I received an e-mail from the office of Liberal MP and doctor Hedy Fry, who after seeing those proposals mentioned here, had jotted down a series of counter proposals.

Here then are Ms. Fry’s dos and don’ts. Continue…

The Backbench Top Ten

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, November 14, 2010 at 4:29 PM - 4 Comments

Our weekly, and wholly arbitrary, ranking of the ten most worthy, or at least entertaining, MPs, excluding the Prime Minister, cabinet members and party leaders. A celebration of all that is great and ridiculous about the House of Commons. Last week’s rankings appear in parentheses. Continue…

'The morale has sunk to new lows'

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at 5:20 PM - 44 Comments

Though he won’t officially depart until an election is called, Keith Martin offers a few parting words.

“The morale has sunk to new lows,” he said in an interview Wednesday. “If you want to drive innovation forward Parliament is not the place to do that any more …

“I got into this as a physician, basically to carry a larger stethoscope,” he said. “I was treating individual patients and I thought ‘I’ve got solutions that will help a lot more people.’ And I got into Parliament to implement those solutions … and unfortunately those innovations will not be able to be advanced under the current political climate.”

Au revoir, Mr. Martin

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, November 9, 2010 at 3:42 PM - 55 Comments

Original Reform MP and current Liberal MP Keith Martin will not seek re-election.

“One of the greatest honours a Canadian could have is to serve our nation as an MP,” Martin said. “I am profoundly grateful to the citizens of Esquimalt–Juan de Fuca who have given me their trust and confidence since 1993. ”Canada’s institutions need new blood and new ideas and it is neither sensible nor fair for someone to stay too long.

Eight years ago, after the Liberal government of the day preempted a vote on a private member’s bill of his, Mr. Martin somewhat famously seized the ceremonial mace, held it over his head and declared that Canada was no longer a democracy. He was briefly suspended for his efforts, but the resulting House debate, including Mr. Martin’s explanation for himself, can be found here. Mr. Martin expressed further concern for our democratic process as recently as this past June.

The parameters of a debate

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, November 8, 2010 at 5:04 PM - 150 Comments

Liberal MP Keith Martin sets out his do’s and don’ts of health care reform.

Don’t allow people to pay to jump ahead of the queue in the public system. Don’t allow people to divert taxes to private services. Everyone will pay taxes and ALL will have access to the public system. This is akin to our education system that has private and public schools. People who pay tuition for their children to attend private schools still pay taxes that pay for public schools….

Do allow people to pay for health care services in completely separate private clinics. ONLY private monies would pay for these clinics and services.

Navy Appreciation Day on the Hill

By Mitchel Raphael - Thursday, November 4, 2010 at 6:55 AM - 0 Comments

Defense Minister Peter MacKay addressed a packed room of Navy personnel as part of Navy Appreciation Day on the Hill. The event also celebrated the service’s 100^th anniversary.

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NDP MP Peter Stoffer (centre).

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Continue…

The loneliest campaign

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, October 26, 2010 at 1:55 PM - 0 Comments

As he has been for more than a decade now—here he is saying so in 1999 and again in 2000 and again last year and again last month—Keith Martin continues to plead for health care reform.

Martin writes that instead of “tinkering” with the system, governments must “modernize” the Canada Health Act to allow patients to “pay for care if they wish, in entirely separate facilities funded solely by the private sector.”

Under such a system, writes Martin, Canadians could go to these centres and pay for the medically necessary treatment out of their own pocket or through private insurance they have purchased. ”By leaving the public system, they will be shortening the queues for those who are waiting. People using private facilities from time to time would also be free to access the public system that their taxes are paying for. Private facilities would act as a release valve and would in effect be subsidizing the public system. Physicians and other medical personnel would work in both systems.”

For the record

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, September 13, 2010 at 1:54 PM - 0 Comments

There is apparently some confusion over Bob Rae’s position on federal funding for a hockey arena in Quebec City, so here apparently is his position.

I urged caution. I never spoke to Sun media. I said Harper needed to understand that this is not a “one off” decision. You can’t just dole out money to a commercial arena in Quebec without understanding the implications for the rest of the country.

Liberal MPs Keith Martin and Joyce Murray apparently oppose funding. Marc Garneau has reportedly said the Liberals support the funding.

Those seeking refuge

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, August 16, 2010 at 11:17 AM - 0 Comments

Michael Ignatieff says the government should have been more proactive about the MV Sun Sea, Vic Toews seems sort of to agree, while Keith Martin laments Mr. Toews’ tough talk and proposes a solution.

Martin suggested Canada work with the UN High Commission for Refugees to set up regional processing centres for refugees in Sri Lanka and other Southeast Asian countries.

Canadian immigration officials in those countries could better distinguish a legitimate refugee from a suspected terrorist, Martin said. It would also give refugees a cheap and safe way to come to Canada and strip the profit motive from human smuggling.

Marijuana v. Asbestos

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, April 16, 2010 at 9:52 AM - 20 Comments

As part of a Mark series on what we should ban and what we should legalize, Liberal Keith Martin says decriminalize marijuana, while NDP MP Nathan Cullen says ban asbestos.

Separately, Progressive Conservative Senator Elaine McCoy recently wrote that Canada should consider legalizing marijuana with an eye to the potential revenue generated.

'We must not let it distract us from the great opportunity that lies before us'

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, March 30, 2010 at 4:37 PM - 67 Comments

Liberal Keith Martin takes stock of the abortion debate and offers a solution.

With respect to the thorny issue of abortion, Mr. Harper should embrace the standard medical position championed by the World Health Organization, the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, and indeed previous Liberal and Conservative governments. This position is to support women’s access to safe abortions in those countries where it is legal. Many members of the Conservative government may have their own personal opposition to abortion, and this must be respected. However, they do not have the right to force their views on others when it runs counter to the prevailing scientific consensus…

Mr. Harper can square his opposition to abortion while implementing an effective plan to reduce maternal and childhood mortality by proposing that each G8 country take the lead in one of the inputs required to address this tragic situation. For example, Canada could be the lead nation on training healthcare workers and micronutrients, another country could focus on providing medications, another on access to family planning and safe abortions, etc. In this way, a comprehensive plan that focuses on enabling the world’s poorest to access basic primary care services can be implemented, with the G8 countries dividing responsibilities and target resources.

Idea alert

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 1:27 PM - 8 Comments

As noted by the Crawford Report, one of the dilemmas in funding elite sport is demonstrating that it has some impact on the activity and health of the general public. Keith Martin, who just sits around most days thinking up ideas, actually came up with a way to address this last November.

An elite athlete health ambassador program (EAHAP), created and funded by the federal and provincial governments, could be that legacy. This program would employ our Canadian athletes to adopt a series of schools that they could visit on an ongoing basis. The athletes would teach children how to live healthy, active lives; give workshops on making healthy food choices; improve literacy by encouraging reading; speak about the destructive impact of smoking, illegal drugs and alcohol abuse. As they are young role models, their message would be a powerful one for the students to hear. This program would provide children with the knowledge and encouragement they need to lead active, healthy lives.

Idea alert

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, February 5, 2010 at 11:28 AM - 38 Comments

Keith Martin says there’s already a framework for addressing maternal and child health internationally. And, as luck would have it, he helped write it.

Last summer, at the pre-G8 Conference on International Health in Rome, parliamentarians from around the world developed a concrete work plan to reduce maternal mortality called, “Strategic Investments in Times of Crisis.” This was given to the G8 and G20 leaders at their meeting a few days later.

The plan called for strategic investments in people’s access to primary care: basic surgical facilities, medications, a full array of family planning options, diagnostics, adequate nutrition, clean water, power, and most importantly, trained health care workers. With these assets in place, most obstetrical complications could be treated, along with 80 per cent of the medical problems one encounters in the emergency departments of developing countries. This includes major killers like gastroenteritis, which causes 2.2 million deaths per year, pneumonia, 2.1 million, malaria, 2 million, and HIV/AIDS, which claims more than 2 million lives per year.

Idea alert

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, October 14, 2009 at 11:31 AM - 9 Comments

Keith Martin suggests we send the professors to Africa.

His early ideas had focused on getting doctors to developing nations. But Martin, a physician who has been to Africa 26 times, realized medical help alone wasn’t enough: without essentials like clean water, a local doctor’s good work could be quickly undone. So he hit upon the idea of centres for international health and development in universities that could serve as talent pools for the developing world.

He says campuses have the array of talents so often in demand in Third World countries – medicine, nursing, engineering, veterinary sciences, law, business and education. His pitch isn’t aimed at students. Rather it’s targeted at the professors, perhaps those nearing retirement, who are the experts in their fields, have the skills to work unsupervised and at this point in their life, have the time to spend in a developing nation.

Hot-boxing the Agenda

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 11:51 AM - 0 Comments

Keith Martin talks decriminalizing marijuana with Steve Paikin.

Mitchel Raphael on a hill feeding frenzy

By Mitchel Raphael - Thursday, May 21, 2009 at 12:20 PM - 1 Comment

Those people on the Hill sure like free food

The Canadian Pork Council held a BBQ on the Hill (free pulled pork sandwiches!) to publicize the safety of their product in the midst of swine flu panic. It was the longest lineup Capital Diary had ever seen for a Hill reception. The final 30 people did not even get meat—some of them grabbed buns to soak up the leftover liquid in the serving pan. New Democrat Peter Stoffer was one of the few MPs who waited his turn in the endless line, even when organizers tried to pull him to the front for preferential treatment. The line went slower when cabinet ministers like Gerry Ritz (Agriculture) and Jean-Pierre Blackburn (National Revenue) took over from staff to do the serving. Everyone from Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq to Grit Leader Michael Ignatieff was chomping down. Conservative MP Shelly Glover noted she loves ham. “My kids live off of it,” says the mother of five, who was elected in the last election. (She is on leave from the Winnipeg Police Service, where she used to investigate crack houses and went undercover as a sex-trade worker.) Quipped deputy Speaker Andrew Scheer at the BBQ: “This is the good kind of pork on Parliament Hill.”

Who knew Justin had a tattoo?

Last year, Nova Scotia Grit Mike Savage was the lone MP to take up the Canadian Paraplegic Association’s challenge to spend a day in a wheelchair. This year, several politicians participated, including Conservative MP Dona Cadman and senators such as Olympic skiing gold medallist Nancy Greene Raine. They experienced first-hand the challenges of being in a wheelchair—travelling over carpets or hitting inaccessible committee rooms on the Hill. The day ended with wheelchair races. When Justin Trudeau took on his Toronto Liberal colleague Martha Hall Findlay, he suggested she remove her jacket. When she did and it was revealed she was sleeveless underneath, Trudeau, who was already without a jacket and tie, stripped down to his sleeveless undershirt. (A few people were surprised to see a small tattoo of the earth on his upper left arm.) He won for fastest male MP, but beat Hall Findlay only by a slim margin. It should be noted, however, that Hall Findlay had a “wardrobe malfunction.” Her bra straps slipped off her shoulders and she had to pause to push them back up.

Continue…