The House of Commons finance committee under Maurizio Bevilacqua, its former chairman and the current junior minister for Science, Research and Development, emitted a flicker of independence in Canada's otherwise rigidly controlled Parliament -- where even minor decisions are decided by the Prime Minister or his staff. Now, sadly, the committee's days of freelancing appear over.

Last week, the selection of a replacement for Mr. Bevilacqua was "whipped" to ensure the job went to Sue Barnes, a London, Ontario MP of no particular note, but known for her adherence to the wishes of the PMO.

In the past three years, the committee has taken unLiberal positions in favour of raising RRSP contribution limits, privatizing Crown corporations and increasing tax write-offs for charitable contributions. It has also recommended lowering personal and payroll taxes and eliminating capital taxes on corporations, the only such federal capital taxes in the G7. Long before anyone in Cabinet acknowledged the brain drain of skilled Canadians to the United States, the committee urged action to staunch it, admitting it was "like a fever," perhaps "not threatening in itself, but it tells us that the patient is sick." Since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, the committee, and Mr. Bevilacqua in particular, pushed for closer integration of Canada's currency and customs with those of the Americans.

Ms. Barnes, the incoming chairwoman, was one of the few committee members to strongly oppose closer co-operation between with the United States. That Jean Chretien, the Prime Minister, would then task Marlene Catterall, the Liberals' chief Commons whip, to force through Ms. Barnes election -- shortly after promoting the suspiciously anti-American Bill Graham to the senior post of Foreign Affairs Minister, and Chretien's own vacillation about whether to support possible U.S. military action against Iraq -- appears to signal a growing skepticism in Ottawa toward Washington.

It was also disquieting to note the manner in which Mr. Chretien and Ms. Catterall rammed through Ms. Barnes' selection. Other contenders with a greater claim to the job, such as Toronto-area MP Roy Cullen, were told to stand down. Liberal members of the committee were threatened with demotion or other reprisals if they voted against their leader's wishes.

Ms. Barnes "election" is already paying dividends for Mr. Chretien. Yesterday, the new chairwoman adjourned a meeting before a crucial vote on an opposition motion to cut the Liberals air travel tax in half. The delay permitted officials time to work on wavering government members until they agreed not to support the motion. Members who still refused were temporarily replaced by the Liberal Whip's office with other government backbenchers who would. Later, when some government members voted with opposition MPs to lower capital gains taxes in the December budget, Ms. Barnes attempted to void the results, claiming the government MPs had not understood what they were voting on.

Unlike U.S. Congressional committees, which present a true counterbalance to the power of the White House, or even British Commons' committees, which jealously guard what little independence they have, our Parliamentary committees deserve the reputation they have as rubber stamps of government policy. Their government members are selected by the PMO and their votes are subject to the same rigid party discipline as those in the Commons.

The Commons finance committee was different -- was. Now one of the few glimmers of democratic autonomy in Ottawa has been snuffed out.