At odds over the FNGA Martin & Nault

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Paul Martin, the man who most people think will be Canada's next prime minister, dropped a bombshell on Indian Affairs Minister Robert Nault on May 3 in Edmonton during a televised Liberal leadership debate.

Martin said he would not implement Bill C-7, Nault's First Nations governance act (FNGA), describing it a "severely poisoned" piece of legislation.

Deputy Prime Minister John Manley, Heritage Minister Sheila Copps and former Finance minister Paul Martin are all vying to replace Prime Minister Jean Chretien when he retires next February. The leadership candidates were asked to explain the extent to which they supported the FNGA in its current form and how they intended to improve relations with all Aboriginal people.

Manley got the first crack at the question.

"I've heard the concerns. What I hear is that everyone agrees on one thing and that is that accountability and transparency is important," he said. "It's a question of how that accountability is enacted and whether it's being forced on First Nations communities or whether it can be done in a more co-operative and more efficient fashion. I think we should let the parliamentary process review the legislation. If it's adopted and if it's implemented in something like its current form, I would undertake as prime minister to review it with First Nations communities, to change it if change is necessary."

Then Martin dropped his bomb.

"The government's legislation is essentially an example of how you take what is a very good issue and turn it in to a bit of a quagmire. Everybody agrees. Every chief I've talked to, every Canadian I've talked to agrees that accountability, transparency and good governance are absolutely crucial. The problem is whether it's the failure to consult, and I don't know where the blame lies for this; the fact is the well has been severely poisoned in terms of this piece of legislation. I do not believe that the bill should proceed to vote as it is now," he said, to applause. "If it does, this piece of legislation will simply lead to a decade of court cases, lawyers' fees that will delay, that will delay inevitably the accountability and the transparency that everybody wants to see."

Acknowledging he was aware he was speaking against his own government, party and prime minister, he quickly reassured the Liberals in the audience that he would not bring the government down over the issue.

"Now, if the government decides to push forward with this particular bill as a matter of confidence, brings it to a vote as a matter of confidence, then I will not vote to bring down the government. But let us be very clear, there is a three-year, as a result of a recent amendment, implementation phase to this bill, and I will not implement this bill as it is. And I will ask the First Nations leadership to work with me. On the other hand, let's be very clear. We are going to bring in accountability, transparency and good governance. And I will ask the First Nations to work with me to make sure that within the shortest time period possible, perhaps within the implementation period, by building up the capacity to deal with accountability, that, in fact, we do bring in the principles without further delay," he said.

Over the next few days Nault heard other voices of dissent from the Liberal caucus. Six other Liberal parliamentarians questioned the value of the FNGA process during a panel discussion at an Assembly of First Nations (AFN) meeting. Liberal senators Charlie Watt, Willie Adams and Nick Sibbeston, and Liberal MPs Rick Laliberte, Clifford Lincoln and John Godfrey, encouraged First Nation people to keep fighting the federal government on the governance legislation.

The fact that the Canadian Bar Association, Canada's auditor general, the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, ecumenical church leaders, the authors of the Harvard Study on Sovereignty and Nation Building, and now Martin, the front-runner in the Liberal leadership race, have ll spoken against the bill is a sign to the AFN it is winning the war against the FNGA.

Nault, however, insists the grassroots people are on his side.

"In assessing the bill and the positions of those opposed to it, one should take care not to measure this government's relationship with First Nations people on the basis of our relationship with Grand Chief [Matthew] Coon Come," he said. "For, it's my view that the position of the AFN leadership is clearly out of synch with those of the people for whom they claim to speak. Many First Nations people are too frightened to speak of their support of the bill for fear of reprisals."

Meanwhile, the governance bill is limping along at the standing committee as New Democratic Party, Canadian Alliance and Bloc Quebecois members try to stretch out the committee's examination of the bill until the summer recess.

AFN sources that asked not to be named say the Liberal Party has promised to shorten the session of Parliament and thereby lengthen the summer break in exchange for a little co-operation on the bill. But the Opposition parties have assured the AFN they will not play that game.

There are more than enough proposed amendments to the bill to keep the standing committee from wrapping up its report on the FNGA even if it worked all summer. The worry is that the Liberals may call for a vote in the House of Commons that would compel the committee to report even if it is not finished its work.

It's a rarely used tactic that would use up a lot of political capital, Ottawa insiders say. The prime minister has several pieces of legislation he wishes to see passed before he retires. It's believed the FNGA is near, but not at the top of that list. To add to the intrigue, talk has surfaced around Ottawa that, if the prime minister were to resort to the forced vote, the Martin supporters might stay away. AFN political staff figure that if Martin and 41 of his supporters boycotted the vote, the government could be defeated, whch would require an immediate federal election.

AFN sources say the battle is unfolding "hour by hour."

The stakes are very high. Come the fall, delegates to the Liberal leadership convention must declare who they are supporting on the first ballot. It's anticipated that, from that moment on, Paul Martin will be the de facto prime minister even though Chretien is still in office. The party is aware of the difficulties that scenario would create and pressure has been quietly applied on the prime minister to hasten his departure. Given Martin's comments, that would be the end of the FNGA.