Lest Ye Forget

There’s been a bunch of yammering about the choosing of the Speaker of the House today, and how Peter Milliken wasn’t able to keep any sort of order in the House during Question Period – let me remind you of two posts we made last year on this topic that include what the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs said of the whole mess, and what the MP for the riding I live in thinks of events.

First up is Mr. Malliken’s reply to the questions I asked on February 17, 2007 – go ahead, read it…… I summed it up with, “the lunatics are in charge of the asylum, and they think they’re doing a fine job indeed” – was I wrong?

That was followed by a reply from Mr. John Baird (Ottawa West/Nepean), do you think that, as he said, “Members of Parliament and Ministers do their best to answer questions correctly and effectively on behalf of Canadians“?

– the bunker thinks not.

The issue of order and decorum in the House has very little to do with the Speaker, he has no real control over what takes place in the House during Question Period because the House does not want the Speaker to have that sort of control over their conduct.

Let’s lay the blame where it belongs, at the feet of the party leaders who, in the quest for the 20 second partisan 6:00PM news sound bite, encourage and applaud the constant incivility we see the House.