Canada PoliticsLiberals ask Governor General to withhold royal assent on wheat board bill
The federal Liberals are urging Governor General David Johnston to block the Harper government's bill to dismantle the Canadian Wheat Board.
In a letter delivered to Rideau Hall on Monday, the Liberals have asked the Queen's 'representative' to withhold Royal Assent to Bill C18 in light of last week's Federal Court decision which said the existing rules required the government to consult with farmers before eliminating the Canadian Wheat Board's monopoly.
According to an article in the Globe and Mail, however, a Governor General not giving Royal Assent to a law passed in Parliament is unprecedented in Canadian history.
"In 1849, the colonial government of Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin introduced legislation that would compensate French Canadians for losses suffered during the 1837 rebellion. Lord Elgin, the Governor-General of the day, hated the bill. But he was the first governor-general who believed that the fledgling administration of the Province of Canada should be allowed to legislate on its own, without being dictated to or vetoed by the Queen's representative," notes the article.
"Despite calls from opposition leaders for him to refuse royal assent, Lord Elgin signed the bill....
"Passage of the Rebellion Losses Bill signalled that responsible government had come to Canada East and Canada West, as Quebec and Ontario were then called. From then till now, the people, through their Parliament, have decided the direction of the country."
Liberal Party spokesman Daniel Lauzon agrees that his party is in uncharted constitutional waters but insists they're doing the right thing by asking the Governor General to intervene.
"To the best of our knowledge there is no precedent for a Federal Court decision affecting a Bill currently before Parliament," he noted in an email exchange with Yahoo! Canada News.
"The problem here is not what checks and balances are in place, but rather what are you supposed to do when the government of the day ignores them? That's what we're asking the GG to act on.
"The Conservatives have shown disrespect for the judiciary before... C-10 (mandatory minimums) runs roughshod over judges, they've tried to compel judges to appear before committee... The list goes on."
