Who killed Bill C-440, An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to permit war resisters to remain in Canada? Well the numbers are in and the culprit is Michael Ignatieff and 17 of his colleagues who voted with their feet and left the House prior to the vote. Here are the numbers.
| Party | Yeas | Nays | Absent |
|---|---|---|---|
| CONSERVATIVES | 0 | 140 | 3 |
| BLOC QUÉBÉCOIS | 43 | 0 | 5 |
| NEW DEMOCRATS | 36 | 0 | 0 |
| LIBERALS | 57 | 1 | 18 |
| INDEPENDENT | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| TOTALS | 136 | 143 | 26 |
| % | 44.5% | 46.8% | 8.52% |
| Grand Total | 305 | ||
Source: How’d They Vote?
C-440 was sponsored by Liberal MP Gerard Kennedy and supported by the NDP, the Bloc Québécois and a huge majority of Liberals. It should have been a slam-dunk; previously, two Parliamentary resolutions supporting war resisters had been passed by the House of Commons. However, it lost by 7 votes, an avoidable defeat if Ifgnatieff had remained true to the words he had uttered two days before the crucial vote when he said:
“Canada has a tradition that goes back to Mr. Pearson and Mr. Trudeau of accepting people that come to Canada with conscientious objection to military service.”
Ignatieff had to have known that the absence of 18 Liberal MPs would doom the bill. If he didn’t want to support the bill, he could have at least emulated Liberal Alan Tonks (York South-Weston), who had the guts to stay in the House and vote against it.
Once more, Iggy fails to appear even remotely Trudeauesque — incapable of channeling the peace-‘n-love-Pierre or the more resolute War-Measures-Act-Trudeau.
On a related theme, for those who hope a vote for the Liberals is enough to get us out of Afghanistan next year, think again. In June, Ignatieff announced the Liberals support remaining in Afghanistan until 2014 to train Afghan troops and police, creating a military training institute in Kabul, much like the Royal Military College in Kingston. Dishonestly, in a war where the Taliban have been able to strike in Kabul at will, he says this is not a combat mission.
Michael Ignatieff has betrayed war resisters. More fundamentally, he has betrayed the majority of Canadians who want to end Canada’s military intervention in Afghanistan and to welcome American war resisters into our country.
Paul S. Graham 
Iggy failed us for sure. It was his chance to signal a significant difference between his leadership and that of Harper. Still is astounding that the BLOC had 5 members absent. Only the NDP had every member in attendence.
Dang right! I been sayin’ since the get-go, Iggy ain’t really a liberal. Sure… he may be a Liberal but he ain’t really liberally-minded enough to be a liberal leader. He’s pro-tar sands, pro-nuclear energy, pro-Iraq War, pro-extending Afghan mission. He’s been way too quiet on the detainee issue. I figger he’d make as good a leader for the Cons as he does for the Grits.
Most Canajuns is proud of the way we didn’t kowtow to GWB and send troops into Iraq. Most Canajuns is proud of the way we welcomed war resisters during the Vietnam war.
O’ course, even if bill c-440 was passed, the HarpoonTosser would just ignore it like he ignored it the last time a majority MPs voted against CPC policy. This ain’t democracy.
With all due Canadian decorum and deference:
SCREW YOU IGNATIEFF!
It’s also worth mentioning that Liberal MP Alan Tonks crossed the floor to vote against it.
I fought on the grass roots for this vote, I watched this vote on CPAC. Ignatieff is just another Obama, he’d rather keep polish his ‘national security’ credentials than risk being called a ‘liberal’.
Ignatieff & Obama are fine as moderate conservatives but bloody awful as liberal leaders. They’re like Bob Rae leading the NDP in Ontario – everyone knows they’re leading the wrong party.
17 ABSENT LIBERALS
The Rotten Heart of the Liberal Party
Michael Ignatieff
Marc Garneau
Joe Volpe
Keith Martin
Judy Sgro
Ruby Dhalla
Kirsty Duncan
Lise Zarac
Albina Guarnieri
Michelle Simson
Frank Valeriote
Jean-Claude D’Amours
Bryon Wilfert
Dominic LeBlanc
John McCallum
Brian Murphy
Anthony Rota