Of course, my question echoes the sad passing of Senator Ted Kennedy, who had come to be known as the “Liberal Lion” of the Senate. But the question still sounds unusual– Canada is, after all, supposedly more liberal than the U.S. So why would it be so hard to find a “liberal lion” in Canada?
Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. Kennedy earned that particular title for not just for his outspoken liberalism, but also for his hard work and ability to work with those on the other side of the political divide– including breaking with the party line — to get things done. Thus Kennedy had a great legislative output, despite strong liberal beliefs that may not have been shared by many of his Senate colleagues.
What about Canada? We are, as noted, the more liberal country, so surely we can find many outspoken Parliamentarians with strong liberal and progressive credentials, whether among the Liberals, NDP, the Bloc and even the Conservatives (I am thinking of “Red” Tories of the Joe Clarke/Diefenbaker variety).
Well, probably. But I find it much, much harder to think of a particular legislator who has shown a willingness to consistently break with party discipline in order to get legislation passed; and also, to build coalitions for legislation among members of different parties, rather than within a party.
That may be a product of our brand of parliamentarianism: strong party discipline with few private member bills ever seeing the light of day. But even these things are not written in stong: that is, if there were legislators willing to break with party discipline, cross political aisles to steer bills through the precarious legislative process, and build intra as well as inter party coalitions, then maybe we could easily name Canada’s very own Liberal Lion.
Right now, I’m having trouble.
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