Unorthodox Fletcher good for politics

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/05/2017 (2526 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Steven Fletcher is at it again.

This past week, the irrepressible Tory MLA for Assiniboia was filibustering a bill introduced by his own government that would create a new, stand-alone energy-efficiency agency. Fletcher stalled proceedings at a legislative committee for hours.

It was the second time this month Fletcher demonstrated his disdain for Bill 19 by using procedural motions and introducing scores of background documents to delay the committee’s work. It is rare — extremely rare — for a government caucus member to attempt to delay or derail a government bill, a point not lost on opposition MLAs.

“I’ve never seen a government filibuster its own bill,” said New Democrat MLA Rob Altemeyer. “This is really quite remarkable.”

Fletcher has not yet voted against the government, but he has been non-committal about whether he would. Premier Brian Pallister has been equally non-committal about whether he would try to discipline Fletcher for obstructing Bill 19. He did, however, say that he would watch carefully to see “where (Fletcher’s) conduct goes from here.”

There are quite a few Progressive Conservatives in this province who would be less than shocked about Fletcher’s conduct to date. Talk to hardcore Tories in this province and this most recent episode is confirmation of the scouting report on Fletcher: highly unpredictable, chronically stubborn and wildly self-absorbed.

And yet, those same Tories will express an undeniable respect, even if it’s grudging at times. Fletcher — who became a complete quadriplegic after a horrendous automobile accident in 1996 — has put in nothing less than a heroic effort to overcome his physical limitations to pursue a career in public office. And by any measurement, he has been extremely successful in that career, often defying conventional wisdom and the odds.

Fletcher first ran for federal Parliament in 2003, when he won the Conservative nomination in Charleswood-St. James. His reward was the daunting task of running against former Winnipeg mayor Glen Murray, who hand-picked the riding for what he believed would be an easy win.

In a shocking result, Fletcher beat the nationally recognized Murray. Few people were as shocked as other Conservatives, many of whom had been lukewarm about Fletcher’s candidacy and gave him little or no chance.

In 2008, with the Conservatives in power, Fletcher was appointed to Cabinet as minister of state for democratic reform. After being elected for a fourth time in 2011, he was promoted to minister of state for transportation.

In January 2012, health issues caught up with Fletcher. He was forced to take a leave from Cabinet to undergo invasive surgery to replace a metal rod in his neck. The procedure could have taken a year to recover from; remarkably, Fletcher returned to Cabinet in late March, well ahead of schedule.

It was shortly after that remarkable recovery that things started to go a bit sideways for Fletcher. In 2013, former prime minister Stephen Harper dropped him from cabinet as part of a wide-reaching shuffle. Political reporters can attest to the fact being dropped from cabinet is enough to crush the will of most politicians. After a demotion like that, most politicians will just shrink from sight or retire altogether at the first convenient moment. Fletcher did neither.

Seemingly liberated by Harper’s decision, Fletcher found ways to keep his name in the news. He paid tribute to constituents who had performed notable acts of community service by awarding them bobblehead dolls in his own likeness. In 2014, he introduced a private member’s bill to legalize physician-assisted suicide, an issue that had little resonance in the Conservative ranks, but had significant personal meaning for a man who has defied the odds many times just by surviving.

Fletcher finally lost a federal election in 2015, when a red wave of Liberal support washed over Winnipeg. Undeterred by this setback, he regrouped and, in the 2016 was elected in Assiniboia as the Progressive Conservatives were swept to power.

There was some speculation he would be invited into cabinet by Premier Brian Pallister. When that didn’t happen, Fletcher happily carried on doing his own thing. Since the 2016 election, he has introduced four worthy and substantive private member’s bills.

In those bills, he proposed new and more effective conflict of interest legislation for MLAs and legal measures that would make organ donation the preferred option in Manitoba. Fletcher also introduced a bill to restore the title of Queen’s Counsel for veteran lawyers and the removal of caps on personal and discretionary medical expenses paid by Manitoba Public Insurance to people who have suffered catastrophic injuries in collisions.

All of which brings us to Fletcher’s filibuster of the bill that would create an energy-efficiency agency. He has argued spending an estimated $75 million to $100 million to set up a new Crown corporation is wasteful when Manitoba Hydro could keep running demand-side management programs. And, you know, he isn’t wrong.

The new agency is odd strategy for a government that has been so austere in so many other areas. And to be sure, neither Pallister nor any of his ministers has made a convincing case a stand-alone agency will do better than Hydro. It’s just a bit odd it took a Tory MLA to make the most convincing case against a Tory bill.

Fletcher is, by any reasonable measurement, a political force of nature who has accumulated an impressive record of accomplishments.

His methods — particularly his propensity to break ranks and openly criticize his own government — may not be good for his political fortunes. But so far, it’s hard to argue they haven’t been good for politics in general.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca