OrilliaMatters welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected] or via our website. Please include your daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter is in response to an article regarding House Speaker Greg Fergus, published Dec. 11.
I read with interest the article in OrilliaMatters titled, “Bloc, Tory MPs call for Fergus to resign as Speaker as Liberals accept his apology.”
While it is not a direct quote, the article says Fergus said he did not ask his chief of staff or the House clerk about whether he ought to do so. To me, that compounds the issue, which I will deal with later.
When I was a federal Conservative cabinet minister, I was regularly asked to do things, especially to have a private meeting, lunch or dinner with a certain person or persons. I learned the hard way to ask my staff as to whether or not I should accept the invitation.
Most of the requests were accommodated, but occasionally, a member of my staff, usually my chief of staff, would say, “We don’t think that it is a good idea for you to meet with that person and here is why.” I don’t remember ever rejecting that advice.
The idea is to bring the best advice available to the issue and listen to that advice. That is what politics is all about.
My question is: How could the Speaker arrange such a taping, robes and all, in his office without that taping appearing on his daily schedule? Staff may not have been asked about whether or not he should have done the taping, but it would have appeared on his daily schedule, which is normally circulated among staff. Wasn’t anyone curious?
Justice must not only be done but also be seen to be done. Whether or not Speaker Fergus is supported by the Liberals and the NDP, in the committee vote, he should resign.
Doug Lewis
Orillia
