US embassy cable - 05OTTAWA1713

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 001713 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/05/2009 
TAGS: PGOV, CA, Liberal Party 
SUBJECT: LIBERAL MP QUITS CAUCUS OVER HANDLING OF SAME-SEX 
MARRIAGE BILL 
 
Classified By: POLMINCOUNS BRIAN FLORA, REASON 1.4 (B) (D) 
 
(C) 1. Summary:  MP Pat O'Brien quit the Liberal caucus today 
to sit as an independent while MP Todd Russell, who was 
elected in the Labrador byelection, was seated as a Liberal. 
This brings the Liberal/NDP and Conservative/Bloc totals to 
152 each, with four independents.  O'Brien left the caucus 
because of the Liberal's management of the same-sex marriage 
legislation, which he believes is being fast-tracked through 
Parliament without proper debate and consideration.  O'Brien 
said that he was voting against the legislation, not the 
government, but indicated that he would not be averse to 
bringing the government down if necessary to stop the 
same-sex bill.  His one vote did not appear to embolden the 
Opposition to try again to press a no-confidence motion, but 
it will certainly cause the Liberals to continue to try to 
please all parties as the session winds down.  End Summary 
 
2. (SBU) Liberal MP Pat O'Brien (London-Fanshawe, Southern 
Ontario) held a press conference this morning to announce 
that he would be leaving the Liberal Party to sit as an 
independent.  O'Brien explained that he was ready to quit the 
caucus over a month ago but reconsidered at the insistence of 
the Prime Minister, who promised him that the government 
would hold full hearings on bill C-38 (same-sex unions) and 
would allow all views to be fully aired.  The truth, O'Brien 
said, is not what you say but what you do, and the hearings 
were not held to his satisfaction.  He went on to say that he 
has sat on enough different committees to know when hearings 
are fairly and impartially conducted.  In the hearings on 
same-sex marriage the committee would often call witnesses at 
the last minute, then limit the time they were allowed to 
testify, and then go on to berate them during their testimony 
for their views.  He believes this is all part of an attempt 
to fast-track the legislation without proper consideration. 
 
 
3. (U) O'Brien said he first became energized about the issue 
when the Ontario judicial system pre-empted the ongoing work 
of the Parliamentary committee in 2003 and simply redefined 
marriage for the province.  This truncated the work of the 
committee, which did not even go on to make its report. 
"From that day forward," O'Brien said, "I became a lot less 
proud to be a Liberal."  He said he simply cannot accept the 
direction the Liberal Party is going on this and other key 
social issues. 
 
4. (SBU) O'Brien said he will do everything he can to stall 
and ultimately defeat the same-sex legislation.  The first 
question asked of him by a reporter was whether he would vote 
against the government in a no-confidence vote, to which he 
answered that he has not yet decided.  He reiterated, 
however, that he would take every action possible to defeat 
this legislation, emphasizing that he was against the 
legislation and not the government.  When asked whether he 
would be joining the Conservatives, O'Brien said that he has 
listened to the Conservatives broadly and does find their 
positions on many social issues to be closer to his, but that 
he doesn't anticipate joining them.  He may have given a 
further clue to his intentions later on, however, when he 
said that he really believes that the same-sex issue should 
be decided at the polls, and not in Parliamentary committees. 
 He again said that he would take any democratic option to 
ensure that the legislation does not pass. 
 
5. (SBU) Liberal MP Todd Russell, who won the Labrador 
byelection, was seated today, bringing the numbers to the 
following: 
 
Liberals --       133 
NDP               19 
Subtotal          152 
 
Conservatives           98 
Bloc Quebecois    54 
Subtotal          152 
 
Independents            4     (Chuck Cadman, David Kilgour, 
Carolyn Parrish, Pat O'Brien) 
 
If one takes out Speaker Milliken but adds in declared 
Liberal supporter Parrish, the two sides are equal, and any 
confidence vote would be in the hands of the three remaining 
independents.  If Kilgour stays in the no-confidence category 
and Cadman says in the confidence column, a confidence vote 
with all members present would then come down to O'Brien. 
Media have been speculating throughout the day that there may 
be other Liberal members who could leave the caucus over the 
issue -- Tom Wappell has been mentioned and there are as many 
as 35 Liberals who are opposed to the legislation. 
 
6. (C) Comment: All this is not to imply that the government 
is closer to falling or that the Conservatives will try again 
to bring the government down.  At a reception for the Aga 
Khan, the wife of Conservative leader Stephen Harper told 
PolMinCouns that there is little likelihood of a summer 
election.  But O'Brien's leaving the Liberals is a definite 
boost for the Conservatives, and certainly will keep the puck 
in play for the rest of the match.  If anything this will be 
a wake-up call for the Liberals, who find themselves in a 
still tenuous minority position.  How they treat their NDP 
colleagues and the NDP budget, how they manage the same-sex 
legislation, and how carefully they tread on ethical issues, 
will all be important to maintaining their razor thin margin 
in this minority Parliament. 
 
Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa 
 
DICKSON