By Jennifer McCarthy
With almost 40 private member’s bills before the House of Commons, Ottawa Centre MP Mac Harb has critics wondering just who he’s trying to impress.
“For an MP to have that many bills, it’s not really worth their while,” says Reform MP Randy White. “Overall he’s sending a clear message that he wants these things changed, but the record this government has of moving private member’s bills through is abysmal. Only one or two in the past six years.”
Harb says whether they are passed or not, his bills are the only way he can stir up debate. “Having a large number of bills means I have all those things on the agenda. Anyone who wants can read them on the Internet, and I get calls from across the country from people wanting to lend support or start a petition on an issue.”
A private member’s bill is a proposal for a new law, or a change to an old one that is introduced by an individual MP instead of the government in power. Currently, Harb has 14 per cent of 266 bills before the House. That’s almost four times the next highest total of 11 bills by Reform MP Ted White from North Vancouver.
Most of Harb’s bills address children’s rights issues, changing the definition of child in various pieces of federal legislation, and removing the term “illegitimate child” from Canadian law.
Every six weeks 10 or 12 names are drawn, and those MP’s are allowed to have one bill debated.
“The bottom line is he’ll only get one passed,” says White. “But for public relations reasons he may want to send the message that he supports these issues.”
“As a government backbencher there’s not a lot of ways of getting attention,” says Mike Whittington, a political science professor at Carleton University. “Private member’s bills are . . . a good way of doing stuff the government isn’t interested in.”
Despite this, Whittington says producing a large number of bills isn’t a very smart tactic. After the lottery, a committee looks at each bill and decides which will be voted on by the House, and which can only be debated. “Harb might not be winning friends on the committee. They could look at this and think he’s abusing the system.”
Ottawa West Liberal MP Marlene Catterall disagrees.
“I don’t believe in members putting in a lot of bills with no thought behind them, but Mac’s were the result of a lot of hard work and a lot of consultation, and I think that makes them extremely valuable.”
But Harb remains optimistic about getting his bills passed.
In the 10 years Harb has been in office, he says he’s had four private member’s bills passed. Three were adopted by the government and the other, which created National Child Day, made it through on its own to a unanimous vote in the House of Commons.
This year, Harb has had two bills adopted by the government. One involves changing the definition of child in the Canada Transportation Act, the other protects retailers and their employees by amending the Competition Act.
“I haven’t had any go to debate yet, but we’re looking forward,” says Harb. “I do know my chances are pretty good. My name’s bound to come up soon, and I’m really committed to getting at least one more passed.”