The wary Mr. Cullen!

While talk of the mighty coalition of Ottawa has cooled off of late, especially with the Liberals having anointed a new savior of their own internally, one has to wonder if the NDP dream of having a say in the governance of the nation may have slipped by.

That however doesn’t seem to be the case as far as Nathan Cullen is concerned, the MP for Skeena-Bulkley valley is still of the impression that the coalition is strong and will continue on with Michael Ignatieff now in charge of the coalition partner Liberals.

While the head office of the party works on their next move, the MP’s are back in their ridings seeking out the impressions of their constituents and offering up their own thoughts of the drama of late November and early December in the Nation’s capital.

Like his fellow MP’s, Cullen is back in the vast tract of land that is his electoral home and he has been busy offering up his impressions of the latest on the federal political scene.

High on his list are his thoughts on the trustworthiness of the Prime Minister, and judging by his commentary to the Daily News on Monday, as far as Cullen is concerned, there apparently isn’t a lot there to trust.

You can’t trust Harper contends MP
Nathan Cullen claims the Prime Minister has already broken his word
BY GEORGE T. BAKER
The Daily News
Monday, December 15, 2008
Pages one and five

Nathan Cullen said he wonders when Prime Minister Stephen Harper is going to start telling the truth.

Responding to the CBC's one-on-one interviews featuring Harper, NDP leader Jack Layton and newly minted Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, last week, the NDP Skeena-Bulkley MP said he didn't agree that his party had switched tactics as it relates to the autumn budget update.

Cullen said comments by CBC anchor Peter Mansbridge that his party has switched from complaining about the elimination of tax subsidies parties receive to the Conservative government's mishandling of the economy to it now being a matter of trust was curious.

"I didn't quite know what Peter (Mansbridge) was getting at," said Cullen, who is now back in the Pacific Northwest after Harper prorogued government last week.

Responding to the Prime Minister's comments that the coalition had not brought any ideas forward to him to be considered for the finance update, Cullen said that the NDP had a one and-a-half hour meeting with Prime Minister to outline what it wanted to see from the federal government.

The Northwest MP also claimed that the announcement of 18 new Conservative senate seats proved the tories were stuck in a web of campaign promises that would go unfulfilled.

During the past election, on Oct. 6, Harper promised senate reform by reintroducing bills that would establish eight-year terms for senators and allow senators to be nominated for approval by the prime minister through provincial votes, said Cullen.

"On Thursday the Prime Minster went back on his word and said he plans to install senators just as his predecessor Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin had.

"(Harper) is the same fellow in one breath says work with me, trust me and in the second breath breaks one of the most cherished promises that he talked about less than 30 days ago," said Cullen.

On Ignatieff, Cullen said he expects the new liberal leader to be a constructive partner for the NDP, and expects that the coalition between the NDP, Liberal party and Bloc Quebecoise would still be on the table.

He also said that any assumption that the new Liberal leader would be softer on the Conservatives was missive at best.

"I was told he was cold about the coalition but his comments since becoming leader is that (coalition) option is still very much at play and you know we'll judge him by his actions and not his words," said Cullen.

As for the senate, it appears to be a number game.

There are 105 members in the senate and currently seating is by appointment only. The Canadian Governor-General is the maitre d' of the senate but she books seats based on advice from the senate. Generally seats are assigned on a regional basis.

Currently, there are 50 Liberal party senators compared Conservatives.

B.C. might be the most underrepresented province in the senate with only six senators compared to 10 for Nova Scotia and 10 for New Brunswick. That breaks down to one senator for every 685,000 people in B.C., compared to one senator for every 91,000 people in Nova Scotia and one senator for every 73,000 people in New Brunswick.

Such senator appointments had Cullen claiming that the prime minister does not have B.C.'s interests at heart.

"Harper's greatest character flaw is that he is not forthright with what he actually wants to do and so if he says he is going to spend money on fishing or forestry the trust issue has to be there because he has shown himself to be untrustworthy," said Cullen.

Cullen still endorsing the "good idea" of a coalition

In Politics, a week is a lifetime it seems, so it will be with interest as the events in Ottawa play out over the next seven weeks how the players in the passion play of prorogation all turn out when all is said and done.

Nathan Cullen, the NDP MP for Skeena-Bulkley Valley continues to provide his endorsement of the goals of the coalition from last week, a staunch defence of the procedure that the coalition members were seeking to utilize in their bid to change the government.

With much of Western Canada apparently up in arms over the coalition maneuvers of the last week, it will be of interest to gauge the response in the riding as the drama continues in January.

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With the sudden provision of an extended Christmas and New Year's break, Mr. Cullen will have ample time to try and get a feel for what his constituents feel about the latest happenings in Ottawa.

While his seat has been a rather safe one over the last couple of elections, it hasn't always been an NDP riding and one wonders if the recent events in Ottawa may end up marginalizing the Liberal vote (not particularly strong in recent years) completely, sending the right leaning ones to the Conservatives and the left leaning ones to Mr. Cullen.

If that should come to pass, one wonders if he will have enough of the voters on his side of the ledger to return to the Hill once again, come the next election.

Before that all plays out however, there is still the matter of the coalition, tattered as its clothing seems to be at this point and with a fuzzy destiny at the moment.

Mr. Cullen's case for the coalition could be found in Friday's Daily News as the front page headline story.

CULLEN CONVINCED OTTAWA COALITION IS A 'GOOD IDEA'

Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP is sure Canadians will see the merits of change in government
By George T. Baker
The Daily News
Friday, December 05, 2008

Pages one and three

Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen is coming home a lot sooner than he expected.
Governor-General Michaelle Jean accepted Prime Minister Stephen Harper's request to prorogue the government Thursday, leaving the coalition MPs two months to cool their heels in their ridings until the Conservative government presents its budget on Jan. 27.

"This is not a proud day for anybody," said Cullen as he reacted to news that the federal government has been prorogued until late January.

That's left Cullen claiming that the economy will not be dealt with for two months.

"As mills are closing and people are losing their homes and pensions, it seems to me to be the height of irresponsibility and selfishness that the government has chosen this path forward," said Cullen from Ottawa.

The MP was scheduled to be on a flight back to the region where he was set to attend Olympic gold medalist Carol Huhnh's celebrations in Hazelton today.

There have been concerns out of Ottawa that Liberal leader Stephane Dion had been a wrench in the coalition's machinations for power and Cullen admitted that he has not been in love with the idea of a Dion-led government, even if it would have lasted for only a month.

"It's been problematic for me in some ways because of the election but the choice was never mine or the New Democrats' choice. It was a choice made by the Liberals and I guess when you are working in coalition you have to make concessions and allow the other parties in a coalition to make their choices as well," said Cullen.

Selling the idea of a parliamentary coalition has not been easy and Canadians have had reservations, Cullen admitted. But he remained convinced that the reason some were against the idea was the newness of the concept and not because of a poor sell-job by the three parties.

"I am always a firm believer that good ideas win out over time," said Cullen.

"If people start to see what is agreed to and get the concepts, particularly in British Columbia where we have such divisive politics, where, as the idea of the coalition is starting to even out the sharp edges of political parties," said Cullen.

Cullen also expressed concerns about rising violence around the country if emotions run too high. One of his roadside signs in Smithers was recently burned.

He said he asked the Conservatives to tone down the rhetoric, claiming that inciting rash behaviour among Canadians fearful of a governmental crisis helps no one.

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"They have to conduct themselves as leaders and people look to them.

"If they are telling people that there has been illegal activity in parliament and that their government has been stolen from them, then, quite naturally, they react quite angrily," said Cullen.