More than 50 Liberal MPs broke ranks on Tuesday, joining former finance minister Paul Martin in support of an Opposition motion to elect parliamentary committee chairs by secret ballot.

Martin supports secret ballots as part of a package of reforms to give MPs more power if he's chosen to replace Jean Chrétien as Liberal leader.




Chrétien argued against the change, insisting the prime minister should have a role in choosing committee chairs in order to ensure a proper regional and gender balance.

But by the time the issue reached the floor of the House of Commons Chrétien was forced to announce a free vote on the Canadian Alliance motion. Either that, or face a humiliating and very public defeat.

Emotions ran high as Liberal MPs prepared for the vote.

Dan McTeague
Dan McTeague

Ontario MP Joe Jordan rose in the Commons before the vote to condemn secret ballots. "Clear the galleries," he said, "turn off the cameras and let this recorded division take place by secret ballot, under the shroud of this democracy, completely out of view of Canadians."

Senior Liberals had worked through the night to try to find a compromise option, one that would allow Liberals to vote as a bloc. Those efforts failed, forcing the prime minister to hurriedly declare it a free vote, thereby allowing MPs to cast their ballots as they pleased.

Chrétien normally is the first Liberal to vote in the House of Commons. But that privilege went to his rival Paul Martin. The former finance minister was the first of 56 Liberals to break ranks and vote with the opposition parties.

The final vote was 174 for the motion, 87 opposed.

Martin says secret ballot elections of committee chairs is the right thing to do, even if this vote was sponsored by the Canadian Alliance.

"I am certainly not going to play games, or allow the Opposition to play games with what I believe is a very important issue, (which is) the debate within the Liberal party over where we want to take the country," said Martin.

The prime minister and all but one of his cabinet ministers voted against the bill. Junior minister Stephen Owen abstained.

"I was not willing to vote against members of Parliament's independence in committees. But I also wasn't willing to vote against the consensus of cabinet colleagues," Owen said.

Industry Minister Allan Rock, a likely opponent of Martin's in the upcoming leadership race, had no reservations. "I'm against it because it's a bad idea," he said. "It's bad policy. I'm for good change, not bad changes. A good change is voting openly and democratically."

For his part, Chrétein denied the vote's outcome was a challenge to his leadership.

"It's a procedural vote for the caucus, so the cabinet does not like this motion as is, (but) they have always had the right to vote the way they want."

Some of the prime minister's harshest critics joined him in downplaying the significance of the vote.

"It's not about the prime minister, it is about Parliament taking back its traditional powers and having truly elected chairs," said MP Dan McTeague.

Chrétien also moved to quash suggestions that the split in Liberal ranks means he can't count on backbenchers to support critical pieces of legislation, such as the Kyoto Protocol.

To prove his point he declared a second motion as a vote of confidence in the government. Liberal MPs immediately fell into line, unanimously rejecting a motion condemning the government for its lack of support for the Canadian military.