The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada • 2

FINAL EDITION A4 THE GAZETTE montrealgazette.com THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2011 MPs BACK "Let the memory of our first day as members of Parliament Continue tO inspire US alt. Prime Minister Stephen Harper anient ffl any UNPRECEDENTED PARTY DYNAMICS Tory majority faces NDP in opposition while Liberals, Bloc struggle to survive Day 1 of a Pari other 7 VV -J I( 1 than $2 billion for Quebec to compensate it for harmonizing provincial and federal taxes. Layton's dilemma The political problem is simple: Of the 103 New Democrat MPs, 59 come from Quebec. To repeat the party's success at the polls in 2015, Layton must keep those voters happy. And yet, he must never forget he leads a national party.

Already, Lay-ton is straddling the fence on how victory should be defined in another Quebec referendum a simple majority of Quebec voters, or a clear majority on a question deemed acceptable by the House of Commons? Bob Rae's challenge Once viewed as an impenetrable political force, the Liberals are reduced to a weak 34-member caucus. They will sit at one end of the chamber, dwarfed by the two main parties now in the Commons the Tories and NDP. As interim leader, Rae's job is to keep the Liberals from fading into obscurity and to slowly rebuild. The Bloc rump Long gone are the days when they were the official Opposition and could keep the demands of Quebec at the forefront of political debate. Now there are only four Bloc Quebecois MPs.

Their spokesman will be Andre Bellavance. But he will be struggling for airtime with the NDP's Quebec MPs. Elizabeth May finds her beachhead With her one seat in the Commons, May hopes to grow public support for the Green party she leads. She is an effective communicator. Now she has a bully pulpit from which to deliver her message.

Sheila Fraser's parting shot She left her position as auditor general on May 30, but her work is not complete. On June 9, her office will release her last audit. She examined the Harper government's spending on security for the G8 and G20 summits, and also set aside millions for a G8 "Legacy Fund" that lavished infrastructure projects on Treasury Board president Tony Clement's riding. MARK KENNEDY POSTMEDIA NEWS Ottawa Canada's newly elected MPs walk into the House of Commons today to launch a new session of Parliament. Along the way, they will elect a new Speaker, hear a throne speech, watch a budget be introduced and act out the new political reality on Parliament Hill.

The Tories have a majority, the NDP has hit the big time, and the other parties are struggling for survival. Here's a user's guide on what to watch for: Choosing a Speaker Before they get do anything, the MPs have to elect a new Speaker. That happens today, and it promises to be a long, laborious exercise. There are at least half a dozen MPs who have thrown their hats into the ring. Each will give a speech.

MPs will vote in a secret ballot. There will be multiple ballots that could take several hours. The throne speech On Friday afternoon, MPs troop down the hall to the Senate, where Governor General David Johnston will read the government's throne speech. These documents are traditionally bland and vague. This one will probably be a reflection of the Conservatives' election platform with few, if any surprises.

Question period The new face of Parliament becomes vivid at 2:15 p.m. ET on Monday. NDP leader Jack Layton will stand up to ask the first question of the government in this Parliament. The political dynamics are unprecedented. Layton'sNew Democrats, as the official Opposition, now sit directly across from Prime Minister Stephen Harper's majority Tory government.

The budget Also on Monday, at 4 p.m. ET, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will rise in the Commons to introduce his budget. He says it will be virtually the same as the March 22 budget that went nowhere because of the May 2 election. The budget will contain election promises including a phase-out of public subsidies for political parties, and more Prime Minister Stephen Harper greets members of his caucus Political service a CHRIS WATTIE REUTERS during a meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa yesterday. 'privilege9: Harper Conservative caucus introduces 36 newcomers to party after majority win party, that Conservative values are Canadian values and that the Conservative party is Canada's party." Harper said that just as he promised voters during the campaign that a re-elected Conservative government would "hit the ground running," he is returning to Parliament quickly with a Throne Speech on Friday and a budget next Monday "But at the outset of this new mandate, there is another sense in which we must get back to work.

Even as a majority government, especially in fact as a majority government, we must keep working to earn the trust of our fellow citizens. We must continue practising the lessons of the past five years, holding to our principles but also listening, caring and adapting." MARK KENNEDY POSTMEDIA NEWS Ottawa Prime Minister Stephen Harper urged his Conservative caucus Wednesday to remain "humble" in then-jobs as the Tories begin a four-year mandate with a majority government. Harper delivered the message as the MPs gathered for their first postelection caucus meeting. One by one, the prime minister introduced the 36 newly elected MPs to the entire caucus, as the veterans in the room cheered loudly. Afterwards, Harper delivered a speech that was both sombre and energetic in tone.

He said he still remembers his first day arriving as an MP on Parliament Hill in the early 1990s. "I think that the experience was not unusual. The room seemed inspiring and humbling at the same time." Harper said MPs should view their jobs as a privilege, because they have an opportunity to build the country. "Remember always these things about our country," he said. "Its history is greater than our individual achievements.

Its future is more promising than our political careers. "Let the memory of our the evening television news. Even prime office space is a thing of the past. The glory days for sover-eignists in Ottawa came abruptly to a close May 2 when the Bloc crashed from 47 of the province's 75 federal seats to four as a New Democratic Party orange wave swept the province. Today, as Richmond-Ar-thabaska Bloc MP Andre Bellavance puts it, everything the Bloc obtains from status to money will come "a centimetre at a time" and not without a struggle.

party is still alive," Hill to a 32-year-old Conservative. Andrew Scheer may be young but in this House of Commons he's a seven-year veteran MP with the most experience of any running for the position of Speaker of the House of Commons, a post that comes with a $233,247 salary, a historic farmhouse in the Gatineau Hills, an apartment in Centre Block, a driv first day as members of Parliament continue to inspire us all. Even more, let it keep us humble in the service of our country." On May 2, Harper was returned to power with a majority government of 166 MPs, of whom 36 are newcomers to Parliament. The Tories built their victory through a strong showing in their traditional western base and with major gains in Ontario, particularly Toronto. However, they have been substantially weakened in Quebec, where they now have only five seats compared to the 11 they held before the election.

Still, Harper told his caucus that the election delivered a major coup for his party He said it was "a sign that Canadians of all regions and backgrounds have found a home in our Conservative all the perks Bellavance said in an interview with The Gazette this week. "The goal is to represent the million people (24 per cent) who voted for us. We don't intend to be silenced." Off the top, the Bloc's biggest problem is that, with only four MPs, it no longer qualifies for recognized party status in the House of Commons. That requires 12 MPs. The other three elected Bloc MPs are: Louis Plamon-don, the dean of the Bloc caucus, from the riding of Bas-Richelieu-Nicolet-Becan-cour; Maria Mourani from Ahuntsic; and Jean-Francois Fortin, a new MP elected in Haute-Gaspesie-La Mitis-Matane-Matapedia.

The party has no leader, Decimated Bloc loses it had in previous life With only four MPs, no official status or a leader party, fighting to just sit together Rae doles out MPs roles THE GAZETTE Francis Scarpaleggia, the newly re-elected MP for the riding of Lac-Saint-Louis, has been elected the new federal Liberal caucus chairperson. Liberal leader Bob Rae made the announcement Wednesday in Ottawa, also listing his government critics drawn from the much-reduced ranks of the party. In the May 2 federal election, the Liberals were cut back to only 34 MPs for the entire country Another Quebec election winner, Westmount-Ville Marie MP, Marc Gar neau, was namedhouse leader by Rae. pauthier montrealgazette.com tion, when the party was employing between 100 and 125 people. Bellavance said the first step toward some kind of recognition is convincing his fellow MPs that they are a unit elected under the Bloc banner.

That will give them more clout. "We are four," he said. "It's not like one, one, one, one." He also has some precedent to invoke. In 1993, the NDP had only nine MPs and yet appeared to get a question a day during question period. "We aren't starting from the position where we want more," Bellavance said.

"We aren't looking for gifts but there are precedents which work in our favour. We will raise them." either. Gilles Duceppe resigned the night of the vote. Former Bloc vice-president Vivian Barbot has taken on the job of party president on an interim basis. The Bloc now has to negotiate with the other parties -talks are under way to be allowed to sit together and not be scattered throughout the House like four independents.

Internally, the four Bloc MPs have agreed to share their limited resources to form a team, officials said. That means together they will share a press aide, a person responsible for research and content, and a third person in charge of legislation. It's a far cry from what the Bloc had before the elec PHILIP AUTHIER THE GAZETTE Things are definitely not going to be the same for the Bloc Quebecois as the House of Commons resumes sitting today Gone are the big budgets, the public financing, the advisers, researchers, press officials, the chauffeur-driven cars for the leader, the international junkets connected to committee work. Also gone is the automatic right to stand up and ask questions at daily question period, a key tool in making At 32, Andrew Scheer youngest in pack vying for Speaker's job of Commons' $441.6 million budget, its staff, the services it provides to MPs and Parliament Hill's ambitious billion-dollar renovation plans. The Speaker will also chair the House's proceedings, impose discipline on boisterous question periods and deliver judgments that could call the government or its ministers to task such as former Speaker Peter Milliken's ruling that Six other Tories, one NDP in race ALTHIA RAJ POSTMEDIA NEWS Ottawa History could be made today if MPs decide in a secret vote to hand the most powerful job on Parliament the House of Commons had the right to request and receive documents related to the transfer of Afghan detainees.

The Speaker also plays a diplomatic role, representing Canada's legislators abroad and hosting visiting international delegations. Scheer, who has been practicing for the job since 2006 when he was appointed assistant deputy Speaker and later promoted to deputy Speaker, is a parliamentary geek who watches the British House of Commons in his spare time to see how they do things. Like the other candidates running for the job, the MP for Regina-Qu'Appelle said he believes the Speaker should impose more discipline on Question Period and, allow backbenchers to participate if the party's leadership agrees. 1 er, large staff and a generous six-figure hospitality budget. Scheer, however, faces stiff competition from at least six other Tories including some who had hoped for a cabinet or parliamentary secretary position but were passed over -and one NDP MP.

Whoever is elected today by secret ballot the only vote cast this way in the House he or she will oversee the House.