MP CHIDED FOR MACE HANDLING

The Member of Parliament who dared to hoist above his head the five-foot,
gold-encrusted mace and then turn to the Liberal front bench and declare
that we no longer live in a democracy, is faced with a not-so-liberal penalty.

On Monday, Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca MP Keith Martin was hit with a motion
asking him to apologize at the bar (a location in the House) to Speaker
Peter Milliken. The apology was requested because of last Wednesday's
incident when Martin picked up the Mace which sits on the clerks' table
right in front of the Speaker's chair. The object is a symbol of democracy
and MPs are forbidden to even touch it.

His fellow Alliance members followed him out of the House after the
somewhat calculated outburst, with two NDP members in tow (Svend Robinson
and Libby Davies).

Martin apologized on the same day which is what he told the Speaker on
April 22 when the issue arose in the House. Milliken accepted the amending
information but Martin expects the amendment will be rejected by the
Liberal majority.

Martin expects he will have to stand in front of the Speaker and apologize
in front of a packed House.

"The Speaker has the chance to berate me publically," Martin said Monday.
"It's public humiliation."

Martin touched the Mace because he was outraged over the sly move made by
the Liberals to have his private member's bill denied second reading. The
Liberals' amendment, characterized by Martin as a "poison pill," meant his
bill to decriminalize simple possession of marijuana died on the House
floor by a 109-88 vote.

"They threw a stake through the heart of private member's bills. It was a
sham vote on the bill."

Martin said he knowingly touched the symbol to allow exposure of the
Liberals' dictatorship. He said Liberal MPs have become voting machines,
led by orders barked out of Prime Minister Jean Chretien's office.

The incident became Martin's chance to demonstrate that despite 150 hours
of debate on private member business at a cost of $45 million, the ability
for all MPs to vote as they wish doesn't exist.

So far in this session of the House 239 private member's bills have been
introduced. The three that passed were all from the Senate, Martin said.
Even though his decriminalization bill was supported by a majority of the
MPs and by 70 per cent of Canadians, Martin said because it wasn't brought
forward by a Liberal, it just wasn't passable. Having to toe the party line
makes it very untenable and uncomfortable for the Liberal MPs who wish to
vote independently, he said.

"If my bill dealt with April 2 being Disabled Pet Day it may have passed,"
Martin said.

In addition to the apology, Martin said he could have been suspended, lost
his MP job or been faced with financial penalties.

The Mace was last touched by NDP member Ian Waddell in 1991.