Inside Politics

UPDATED: HST RebelWatch: Martin, Cadman -- caucus of two?

by Kady O'Malley Posted: December 8, 2009 2:05 PM Last Updated: December 8, 2009 3:50 PM
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You can imagine my surprise when the following Google Alert-delivered article turned up in my inbox, courtesy of the Surrey Leader: 

At least one local MP is voting with the will of her constituency over a controversial tax.

Dona Cadman, Conservative MP for Surrey-North, said she will vote against the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) today.

Ottawa was expected to vote Tuesday afternoon on a bill allowing the provinces to implement the HST, a costly amalgamation of the PST and HST.

Polls show that 85 per cent of B.C. residents oppose the tax. Despite that, local Liberals and Conservatives planned to vote in favour of the bill.

The exception is Cadman. She was in the House of Commons Tuesday morning and could not comment on her stance, but staff have confirmed she'll vote against the tax.

Cadman's position comes after a Dec. 7 request from Bruce Ralston, NDP MLA for Surrey-Whalley, requesting she oppose the tax.

"I write you to personally urge that you vote against the HST legislation before the Parliament in the coming days," Ralston wrote in the letter to Cadman. "I am confident that the citizens of North Surrey are overwhelmingly opposed to the HST."

Cadman is the first Tory MP to indicate she'd be voting against the controversial tax. The federal NDP is opposing the HST, while the Liberals and the Bloc are supporting it.

Several MPs were absent from the earlier vote on the tax. It is due to get the final vote at 5:30 p.m. eastern time Tuesday. 


After a bout of now-you-see-it-now-you-don't weirdness earlier, in which the article appeared, disappeared and then eventually reappeared on the Surrey Leader website, I called Cadman's office myself to see if her staff would, well, re-confirm her voting intentions -- which, interestingly, the gentleman who answered the phone declined to do.  He did, however, refer me to an interview that appears in today's Surrey Now -- an interview with Tom Zytaruk, of all people -- and told me that Cadman stands by her quotes in that story:

Dona Cadman will cast her vote against the controversial harmonized sales tax.

The Conservative MP for Surrey North said 85 per cent of her constituents are against the tax, so she'll be voting against it on their behalf.

"I vote with the people or for the people," she said. Asked if she'd concerned about any backlash from her party, which introduced the bill, she replied, "We'll see what happens."

So, will this lead to a caucus of two devil-may-care rebel British Columbians who play by their own rules? Oh, probably not -- but isn't it fun to speculate wildly?

UPDATE: And Larry makes three! Conservative MP Larry Miller, that is, who told his local paper that his absence from last week's vote was a "protest" albeit a symbolic one: "I knew it was going to pass no matter how Larry Miller voted." As for the upcoming votes, he told the reporter he wasn't sure what he would do: 

Miller said he's expected to vote for government legislation. But he said he'll take this weekend to decide if he'll vote for or against it. He promised not to abstain again. "I was approached by the whip yesterday. I am expected to be there, one way or the other," he said.

"I've always prided myself in being a constituent MP, always will be. On the other hand . . . I fully support my government overall," he said. "I could stand up and make a scene . . . vote against it or abstain or whatever. At the end of the day it isn't going to change it [...] And I guess I've got to weigh in my mind well: Could that stand hurt my chances to do good things for my constituents in the long term?"

He risks being punished somehow, he said. "I haven't been told that by the whip but it's a possibility and it's part of my decision."