Townsman, 1991-02, Page 8the NDP took over the reins of
power. Paul Klopp was named a
Parliamentary Assistant to the
Minister of Agriculture Elmer
Buchanan. Karen Haslam was
named deputy chair.
Being on the inside brought a
sense of the awesome size of
government, the number of minis-
tries, even the size of his own
Ministry of Agriculture for Klopp.
The Parliamentary Assistants at
least had opportunity to turn to their
constituency work to regain a sense
of reality, he says, but the new
ministers were so busy they could-
n't even do constituency work. Even
those ministers with experience in
the Legislature found themselves
working harder than they ever knew
they could, he says.
Now there are the frustrations of
the things you feel you should be
able to change but you can't, Klopp
says. Some things are governed by
things like Orders in Council,
simple cabinet decisions made in
the past that are beyond the power
of the ordinary MPP to change. He
expresses frustration with a policy,
for instance, that where farmers
went bankrupt while owing the
government money, any future
grants if they go back into the
business will be confiscated by the
government until the debt is paid. If
the farmer goes to work for a
non-farm business, he doesn't have
to pay back the money.
Karen Haslam was impressed
with the restraint shown in the
Legislature in its first session.
There was heckling from the opposi-
tion parties at times but for the most
part the new MPPs were very
supportive of each other regardless
of party affiliation. When a rookie
member would get up to give a
maiden speech everybody applaud-
ed. Haslam's first statement on
rural day-care brought up applause
from both sides of the house, she
remembers. "I'd say we all enjoyed
the first session, doing it and
learning it and getting involved,"
she says.
Neither rookie has found the
restraint of party discipline onerous
as yet. Inside the caucus everybody
had their chance to have their say.
Premier Bob Rae made it very clear
in the beginning, Klopp says, that
members should be faithful to their
constituents and not hold back
because the government was lean-
ing in another direction. Once the
party has voted on a position
members should stick with it or be
open in saying they can't support
the position, Klopp says.
For Klopp there was an immedi-
ate clash with reality over the
government's open abortion policy.
While anti -abortion himself, he says
he realizes you can't just make a
policy forbidding abortions. He has
sent a letter to the Minister of
Health and joined with a lobby
group within the party to promote
choice for women who can get
support if they don't want to go
through with an abortion. "If in four
and a half years there are a lot more
abortions then that's one area
where I'm not happy how we've
done it," he said.
Haslam says she hasn't had to
compromise at all, that she has
never felt she had to speak out
against something in the caucus.
She fully supports everything the
government has brought forward in
legislation.
What is frustrating is, having
finally gained power, having to put
so many long-time NDP dreams on
Recess ion
frustrates dreams
of quick action
hold because of the recession,
Haslam says. "We had such high
hopes going in to government that
we could finally do some really good
social programs, really do some-
thing for the people out there and
when we look at the deficit, look at
the -recession that put so many
workers out of work, I feel like I've
got my hands tied behind my back. I
feel very angry about that, I really
do. I had a feeling that we could
finally do something and do it
quickly and now ... we're going to
do it but we'll have to do it slowly."
She admits there are some advant-
ages to slowing down the agenda
because the party can take more
time to make sure they work the
programs to prevent problems.
Many of the dreams of improved
day-care and social programs will
depend on a new tax structure, she
6 TOWNSMAN/FEBRUARY-MARCH 1991
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