What a squeaker—tie broken by the Speaker

Looks like Belinda Stronach's defection this week to the governing Liberals in Ottawa was the magic that Paul Martin needed in having his government survive a confidence vote on the budget. The honourable member for Surrey, independent MP Chuck Cadman, had only decided 30 minutes before the vote that he was going to respect the wishes of the constituents in his riding and vote with the government for the budget. (He's a former Tory, so there was speculation he might not have given the Liberals the nod.)

With Stronach and former Liberal-now independent MP Carolyn Parrish voting with the goverment, the score was tied at the end of the vote: 152 to 152. When there's a tie, the Speaker of the House casts the tie-breaking vote, and by tradition, usually votes to uphold the continuity of the government. Of course, Speaker Peter Milliken is a Liberal MP, so his vote was not a surprise.

Deputy Tory leader Peter MacKay gave an interview to CBC Newsworld yesterday after disappearing from public view the previous day, saying that his heart was "all banged up." Although I think Belinda Stronach did the right thing politically, it seems to have caused a huge mess in her personal life, especially with her boyfriend (ex-boyfriend?—we don't know) Peter MacKay. I do feel sorry for him—it must have been really difficult to face Belinda across the aisle today in Parliament!!!

Margaret Wente, commenting in the Globe, writes about "Martin's White Knight":

You've got to feel for Peter MacKay. Imagine how your heart would sink if your girlfriend came home one night and told you she'd spent the evening with a powerful older man. And now she's leaving you for him. And this man is your arch-enemy. And the two of you had been plotting together for months to kick him out of power and take over. And now he's going to make her a star, and she's going to be plotting against you. Tomorrow, they're going to go on national TV together and tell the world that she's a star and you, poor schmo, are screwed. Your love life and your dream of being deputy prime minister are in ruins. And by the way, she's really busy, so can you please phone the boss for her and break the news?

Ouch, indeed. Wente goes on to speculate that Stronach is always on the lookout for the Next Big Thing in her life, and that's why she never stays in the same job—or with the same man—for very long. (I dunno... that sounds kind of catty. But columnists are paid to come up with choice quips like that.)