Beyond The Commons

 Beyond The Commons

Aaron Wherry covers all the goings-on in and around Parliament Hill. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronwherry

Categories: Beyond The Commons, Capital Read

The most inspiring 107 seconds in the history of Canadian democracy

by Aaron Wherry on Friday, April 24, 2009 12:17pm - 19 Comments

From yesterday’s QP. 

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  • bettie

    You should have included Mr. Moore’s subsequent reply. I thought that was quite funny. (And you seem to be looking for hilarity in Parliament).

  • http://www.jackmitchell.ca Jack Mitchell

    This is dumb, but “least inspiring”? Please, we’re talking about the House of Commons. Only God knows which moment in the last 10 years has been the least inspiring.

  • Neil from Calgary

    “He knows…that’s not proper.”

    HAHAHA. Poor Speaker, he has to be so patient and polite with the 308 buffoons that occupy the room.

  • Jim

    Toews and Moore try to blame the Speaker.

    You stay classy guys.

    • Scott M.

      The first few seconds make it sound like that, but then he quickly corrects to say the all-party Board of Internal Economy advises the Speaker on what to buy.

      • Glyn Hughes

        Neither the Speaker nor the Board of Internal Economy have anything to do with the pins that Angus is asking about here. Moore’s response refers to pins available in the Parliamentary boutique, which are the responsibility of the board, and are made in Canada….well done.

        Angus is asking about the thousands of pins that MP’s get from Public Works to distribute to constituents, that are the responsibility of the Minister to purchase, and are MADE IN CHINA….shame.

        • Scott M.

          You mean we source the exact same pins from different vendors?

          You’d think it would be better to buy all from the same vendor… economies of scale and the like…

          • james

            The issue is our trade agreements.

            The Canadian flag pins for MP’s offices are purchased by Public Works for Canadian Heritage. Both departments are covered by our trade agreements, therefore the government must allow foreign suppliers to compete for the contract to supply the flag pins. Chinese manufacturers not only meet the contract specs, they do so at a fraction of the price of Canadian manufacturers. This is why the pins distributed by MPs offices are made in China.

            The Parliamentary Precinct, however, is not covered by our trade agreements. The Board of Internal Economy can simply award the contract to a Canadian company if they want — as long as they don’t mind paying significantly more for the pins.

            The government could, if they believe symbolism trumps economic efficiency, ask the Board of Internal Economy to purchase the pins for the MPs offices. However, they would have to top up the funding at Canadian Heritage and then transfer it the Board of Internal Economy. It’s hard to do this when the Heritage Minister is against the idea.

  • Sisyphus

    Hey, all’s good. Chinese flag pins are made in Myanmar. Myanmar’s are made in Bangladesh. Everybody’s happy. Most of those places don’t have real governments either.

    • Wotcher?

      So, what country’s flag pins are made in Canada?

      • Cameron Macleod

        Quebec. (ba-dum-bum! Thank you ladies and germs, I’m here all week.)

  • http://deleted Sandi

    Amazing isn’t it that Harper and his gang of bobbleheads (like children – Johnnie hit me first) always blame everyone else.

    Ah, Harper, you’ve been PM long enough now to take responsbility. That’s what adults do.

  • Big Daddy

    The most amazing part of this is that someone is still using a VCR to tape QP. Seriously? A VCR? Can you still buy tapes for one of those?

    • Angelina

      pretty sure my parents in their 50s have one and it works fine so go VCR.
      I’d love to see a Beta though!

  • david allen

    You cut it short. James Moore demolished Angus right after that clip.

  • Seth

    Charlie Angus is a loud mouth. He asks this question over and over. He asked this question a long time ago when the Liberals were in power and Scott Brison looked the fool when he tried to fumble through an answer. Brison could have dealt with the issue but he did nothing. As a minister brison really did nothing other than defend the gomery process and is now irrelevant in ottawa.
    I just wonder if this is all Angus has to talk about? Is nothern ontario the flag pin manufacturing centre of canada and i don’t know it?

    • Brian

      Is scott brison still an mp??

  • Phil Miller

    Of tiny interest to tiny minds. Not worth discussing. Definately not worth Mclean’s efforts to put this in the news letter or magazine. My regard for Mclean’s magazine editors and writers just took a sorry hit. Come on; with the issues that face this country and the world, surely it shouldn’t be that hard to find a story. As for the honourable member having no better material for question period; at least this story has rooted him out.

  • D

    Tiny, pointless issues for tiny minds.

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