Tobacco.org

This speaker's not likely to write new rules 

It's not slight praise to say Peter Milliken is much more masterful in handling the House of Commons than his predecessor . .

Milliken ruled that however worthy the aims of the bill, it was at its core a tax measure, and thus an initiative out of bounds to senators (or to individual MPs). His "duty" as Speaker was to defend "the primacy of the House in respect to taxation as well as the financial initiative of the Crown in the House." He noted the wide backing for the bill but it failed because it was contrary to the fundamental of the parliamentary system that only the Crown in Parliament - i.e., the governing party in the House of Commons - may sponsor a tax measure.

Not all is lost with the Milliken decision. The scale of backing Sen. Kenny nurtured may have shamed the government and its health minister, the nice but dithering Allan Rock, toward a thorough, well-funded drive to reduce early addiction to tobacco.

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