Ignatieff won't say if he'll discipline N.L. MPs who vote against budget
Last Updated: Friday, January 30, 2009 | 11:24 PM NT
CBC News
MP Judy Foote says her constituents have overwhelmingly told her they want her to vote against the federal budget, unless there are fundamental changes. (CBC)Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has said he will support the Conservative budget, but he won't say whether the party's Newfoundland and Labrador MPs will be punished for voting against it.
A second Liberal MP said Friday he is prepared to vote against the document if it is not amended to resolve what some view as punitive measures against Newfoundland and Labrador.
"Lets not talk about discipline yet," Ignatieff told CBC Radio's The House in an interview to be aired on Saturday.
"If there is discrimination against and broken faith with Newfoundland, we are going to make our position very clear to the prime minister and in the House," according to Ignatieff who said he is still pushing to resolve the issue.
Avalon MP Scott Andrews told CBC News he will "absolutely not" vote in favour of the federal budget unless it is changed to prevent Newfoundland and Labrador from losing $1.6 billion in the next three years.
"No, I have not received permission from my leader to do this. This is something that I've done by listening to what people have said. Listen, I campaigned on this in the last election. I'm not going down the same road as John Efford [and] Fabian Manning. This is the same issue and I was elected to put Newfoundland and Labrador first, period," he said.
Andrews follows Judy Foote, who represents the southern Newfoundland riding of Random-Burin-St. George's.
Foote told constituents in an email that enough people have contacted her office about the budget that she has sufficient "hard evidence" about the feelings of constituents.
Newfoundland and Labrador's six Liberal MPs are being pressured to vote against the budget, should it not be amended to delete language that could mean the provincial government would lose about $1.6 billion in offset payments over the next three years.
"One of the problems in Ottawa is getting people to understand the seriousness of the situation," Foote says in an email sent to constituents.
Foote said the correspondence she has received shows "there is no question the people of Newfoundland and Labrador want their representatives to vote against the budget even if that means sitting as Independents."
Foote and other MPs have been lobbying Ignatieff, who has not endorsed any plans to fight for budget changes that would help Newfoundland and Labrador or other provinces. Quebec Premier Jean Charest has also criticized the budget's changes to equalization.
Williams makes appeal to Ignatieff
On Thursday, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams said he asked Ignatieff to back a one-year moratorium on equalization changes so that provinces could be consulted. He said besides his own province and Quebec, the new budget means losses for the three Maritime provinces and Manitoba.
Newfoundland and Labrador no longer receives equalization payments, having been deemed a so-called "have" province last fall. However, the changes in equalization policy cut into the province's ability to pursue options that had been laid out by the Conservative government in its previous term.
Williams is furious that the province will no longer be able to collect what are called offset payments, generated by the 1985 Atlantic Accord — a bilateral agreement the province negotiated with former Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney.
In her letter to constituents, Foote said she has received plenty of feedback since appealing to hear their views.
"Let me put your mind at ease," she wrote. "For me, doing what is right for our province is to vote against this Conservative budget, which I will be doing."
Meanwhile, prominent Liberal MP Bob Rae has suggested that members of the caucus will help Williams as well as MPs from Newfoundland and Labrador.
"We're going to be demonstrating solidarity with our colleagues in Newfoundland and Quebec and elsewhere by making it very clear that we want to see changes to equalization commitments that the government has made and we'll do everything we can to get there," Rae said Thursday.
Rae said he is troubled that the Conservatives are picking off one province at a time.
He said the Tories are "fiddling" with Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald and have clearly made a political decision to cut out Williams, who organized an "Anything but Conservative" campaign that resulted in the federal Tories being shut out in Newfoundland and Labrador last fall.
Rae said he believes that Williams's frustration is perfectly understandable.
