In 1982, an omnibus bill proposed by the Pierre Trudeau government provoked such indignation in parliamentarians that the official opposition whip refused to show up in the House of Commons.
Back then the custom was for Parliament to ring noisy “division bells” when opposition whips pulled a no-show and in this case they rang loudly — for two whole weeks.
The noise was so unbearable that parliamentarians were supplied, and this is no joke, with earplugs at the door.
While the division bells no longer ring, the passing of the Harper government’s most recent and certainly most contentious omnibus bill, the (Read more…)