OTTAWA - The Liberal leader in the Senate says the Harper government should apologize for denigrating the upper chamber it's now imploring to kill a costly private member's bill aimed at providing tax benefits to parents saving for their children's education.
"I'm waiting for the dozen roses and a little word of apology for not appreciating the good work that's being done,'' Celine Hervieux-Payette joked in an interview Saturday.
Hervieux-Payette promised the Liberal-dominated Senate will give open-minded, sober consideration to the bill -- both its merits and its potential impact on the government's bottom line -- even though some senators may not be inclined to do any favours for a government that has maligned them as lazy, unaccountable, unelected, partisan hacks.
"There might be some who would like to take revenge, I agree, but this is not my style,'' she told The Canadian Press.
"We're there to serve Canadians and we're there to do a good job.''
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives are appealing to the Senate to kill a private member's bill that quietly passed the House of Commons last week over the minority government's objections. The bill, initiated by Liberal MP Dan McTeague, would allow parents to contribute up to $5,000 annually for each child to a Registered Education Savings Plan --_ and deduct the amount from their income taxes.
The Tories warn the costly idea could push the country's books back into deficit. The RESP program is estimated to cost as much as $2 billion per year -- more than the razor-thin surplus projected for next year by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.
"I'm hoping to talk to the senators and that they will use common sense, as they're quite capable of doing,'' Ted Menzies, Flaherty's parliamentary secretary, said last week.
An acknowledgment that senators have common sense amounts to effusive flattery coming from the Harper government.
Harper has long criticized the unelected chamber as an affront to democracy. He has proposed two controversial bills to reform it -- one to impose eight-year term limits and another to create a process for electing senators -- and has threatened to hold a referendum to abolish the Senate altogether if his reforms are stymied.
Last month, Harper accused the Liberal-dominated chamber of dragging its feet on an omnibus crime bill and threatened to call an election if the Senate didn't pass it by Mar. 1. Senators, who pride themselves on the independence of their institution, met the deadline but many resented the trumped-up accusations and were furious about the ultimatum.
Just last week, Michael Fortier, whom Harper appointed to the Senate so that he could serve as his Public Works minister, questioned the relevance of the upper chamber. He criticized the partisan nature of the Senate appointees and suggested he's become a convert to the the cause of abolition.
Fortier, who has missed all but five of 34 recorded Senate votes since his appointment two years ago, also slagged the work habits of his fellow senators, sneering that they are not Nobel Prize winners.
Fortier's criticisms were still ringing in senators' ears when the RESP bill passed and the Tories suddenly found they needed the chamber's co-operation to undo the work of the elected chamber.
"You'd think they could be humble enough to admit they went overboard,'' Hervieux-Payette said of the Tories.
She said she doesn't expect an apology "for all the crazy things that have been said'' but she said the government should at least show respect for the institution and the role that it plays as the chamber of sober second thought.
Regardless, Hervieux-Payette predicted that senators will give the bill careful scrutiny, hearing from both sides before determining whether to support it or kill it. That includes taking into account the impact of the bill on the treasury.
"They are all very reasonable people and they will hear the evidence and we will make up our mind . . . I presume they will look at the global picture.''
Still, Hervieux-Payette expressed little sympathy for the quandry the government now finds itself in after two years of slashing taxes and hiking spending, leaving only a tiny surplus to cushion the blow of any unexpected developments.
"If they have put themselves in a straightjacket and they have no margin, we're certainly not going to take responsibility for that.''
