QP: Harper shrugs off his former positions
Before Question Period got started, gay NDP MPs Randall Garrison and Philip Toone each made a statement in the House. (Toone’s has not yet been translated – check Hansard tomorrow…
Dale Smith
Moving time allocation
So, that 102-page omnibus crime bill? The Conservatives have decided that enough time has been spent debating the principle of the bill and have moved time allocation on Second Reading.…
QP: Selectively slapping down unparliamentary language
After a relatively quiet period, the Conservatives decided to go full-force in resurrecting the practice of using their members’ statements to attack the opposition parties, be it over their opposition…
Philip Toone previews his fall
Next up in my roundup of gay and lesbian MPs is NDP MP Philip Toone, whom I caught up with late last week. Q: How did you spend your summer?…
Don’t call it a vote to extend the mission
Thanks to a bit of clever wordplay and misdirection aided and abetted by certain clueless media types, the government now touts how Parliament voted to extend the mission in Libya.…
QP: Keystone XL and G8 Legacy talking points
With Keystone XL Pipeline protests happening on the lawn, and a morning of debating the extension of the mission to Libya, the House moved on to its usual afternoon course…
Dany Morin previews his fall
Continuing with my roundup of gay and lesbian MPs at the start of the fall sitting, I spoke to Dany Morin late last week. Q: How did you spend your…
Actually entitled to her entitlements
Oh, noes! Adrienne Clarkson has used the privilege entitled to her as a former Governor General and hired a publicly funded assistant to help her coordinate the numerous letters and…
Mutual admiration society
British Prime Minister David Cameron came to town yesterday, and addressed a “joint session” of Parliament, but with eight or so Senators in attendance, it might have been just as…
QP: Earlier but no more substantive
With an early Question Period at hand, it remained to be seen if we were going to get a full complement of MPs or party leaders in place, of if…
Leslie and Davies out
Megan Leslie has removed herself from the NDP leadership race, but says she wants someone youthful and feminist to run in her place. It sounds a lot like she wants…
QP: The sound of knuckles grazing
For the first few exchanges, everyone was pretty much convinced that it was going to be a rerun of yesterday. Turmel faced off with Flaherty and Paradis alternately about unemployment…
Scott Brison looks at the fall sitting
Continuing my fall round-up of gay and lesbian MPs, I caught up with Liberal MP Scott Brison after Question Period yesterday. Q: How did you spend your summer? A: I…
Scary and useless crime bills
The government unveiled their big omnibus crime bill yesterday, minus the parts about lawful access or the anti-terror provisions that they had previously indicated would be in them. (Predictably, NDP…
Randall Garrison previews his fall plans
With the House back, I'm making the rounds with our gay and lesbian MPs once again. First up is NDP MP Randall Garrison. Q: How did you spend your summer?…
QP: Why aren’t we doing what Obama does?
With a number of MPs wearing blue-striped prostate cancer awareness ties and scarves, a few of them giving statements about Prostate Cancer Awareness Week, the Layton mentions were frequent. Nycole…
Tributes and the empty desk
In the event that you missed it yesterday, the fall sitting opened with a tribute to Jack Layton in the House of Commons. With his desk sitting empty for the…
QP: Turmel’s first kick
The first Question Period of the new sitting kicked off with a different face – Nycole Turmel, now the interim leader of the Official Opposition, faced off against Stephen Harper,…
The House returns
The House is back today! Yay! I’m quite excited, after the slower summer months. Things kick off at 11 today with a tribute to Jack Layton in the House before…
About those Challenger jets
When word came out Friday that the Chief of the Defence Staff had racked up a million dollars in expenses using Challenger jets for vacations, hockey and CFL games, well,…