Where are the Canadians against Sitting On Your Hands in Parliament Facebook Page? Photo: Matt Campbell.

As has been well reported on by now, 30 Liberals MPs sat on their hands during the federal budget vote, allowing it to pass in the House of Commons. What’s particularly interesting are some of the big-mouth big-names in that list.

There’s the feisty Denis Coderre; the heir apparent Justin Trudeau; the environmentally-friendly sex toys promoter, Carolyn Bennett; the man never you would never expect to sit on an opinion, Irwin Cotler; the supernanny, Ruby Dhalla; the MP for whom no amount of rhetoric about torture is too extreme, Ujjal Dosanjh; the “embarrassed” to travel with Canadian flag on backpack, Hedy Fry; the man who would be king except they anointed Michael Ignatieff, Dominic LeBlanc; a former reformer turned hand-sitter, Keith Martin; the list goes on and on.

This is the same political party that was moaning loudest about the fact that the Conservatives were robbing the people of Canada of their democratic rights by proroguing Parliament. But the moment they are given a chance to make a decision on a budget, they strategically abstain to ensure it passes.

I’ll tell you why this bothers me so much. To begin with, is there anything particularly offensive in the budget? I mean, as far the Liberal party goes, the spending and programs are remaining fairly status quo, with the only restraint coming in future military spending and foreign aid. They haven’t exactly pulled a 1996 Paul Martin budget here.

Would it really be so bad if the Liberals were forced to pass the budget? What’s wrong with voting for something you agree with? It may not be the perfect idea of what a budget should be, but the Liberals aren’t being very convincing when they say they could have done better. Without increasing taxes and cutting spending, what else could the Conservatives have done? Surely nobody in their right mind would advise the government hurry into more debt?

So what’s wrong with voting for the budget? Would it be admitting that they like the Conservative government? Not at all. There’s no reason that you can’t support a money matter in accordance with the wishes of the population, while making constructive criticisms about it at the same time. And if you truly can’t stomach the budget, then vote against it. Channelling the Stephane Dion era of hand-sitting makes a mockery of the Liberal Party, particularly in light of their melodramatic protestations over the prolonged prorogation.

Conventional wisdom would dictate that if you don’t vote in politics, you abdicate your right to comment on matters that involve you. Without at least making the symbolic effort to either support or resist an idea, you cannot later complain when things aren’t going the way you’d like them to. Similarly with the Liberal Party, when Ujjal Dosanjh arises at some near future date in the House of Commons to ask about a money issue, Jim Flaherty would be well within his rights to retort:

“Mr.Speaker, I find it difficult to believe that the Honourable Member has a genuine interest in this matter, since when given the opportunity to oppose this government’s budget, he sat on his hands and refused to exercise the duties he was elected to perform by his constituents.”