Categories: Capital Read, Inside the Queensway

And this is why ITQ should have been allowed to liveblog the meetings …

by kadyomalley on Wednesday, September 2, 2009 8:09am - 35 Comments

The question of who was “screaming at the top of her lungs” and who is “ridiculous” could have been cleared up with a quick check of her post from the day in question.

From the Toronto Star’s Susan Delacourt:

Marlene Jennings, one of the Liberal MPs working on employment insurance reform this summer with Conservatives, says she reached her political breaking point several weeks ago, in a sweltering Ottawa conference room, with no air conditioning.

Jennings had just heard that thousands of cancer tests were being postponed in Quebec because of a lack of medical isotopes due to the protracted shutdown of the Chalk River nuclear reactor. Across the table from her, Human Resources Minister Diane Finley was yelling – “screaming at the top of her lungs,” said Jennings. [...]

Finley spokesman Ryan Sparrow said Jennings’s version of events is “ridiculous” and “considering the source does not even warrant a formal response.”

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  • Riley Hennessey

    That's actually a really good point. With no supervision, it is easy for all sides to make up wild accusations.

    Speaking of the Blue Ribbon Panel… it is unclear if this latest twist by Ignatieff means the Panel will not be providing a report at the end of the month, or will indeed provide a report but will not be supported by Ignatieff. What has become of the panel today? Is there any word?

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/KadyITQ KadyITQ

      I have no idea whether the panel is required to table a report to Parliament, although I suppose even if it is, there's no reason why it couldn't be one sentence long: "We tried — it didn't work". I'll see if I can find out what the process is, though.

  • Riley Hennessey

    I guess I shouldn't have said "supervision" but rather outside observation or live reporting…. supervision sounds like they need parents. Although maybe they do!

    • Lord Kitchener's Own

      I think you had it right the first time. They need adult supervision.

      • Blaze

        My French is the cause of all these typos. I apologize.

      • http://intensedebate.com/people/jolyon jolyon

        Sounds like Libs are trying to be first to get their side of story out first and to use it to justify election call. They were talking about isotopes in EI meeting! And there were raised voices! This is clearly grounds for an election less than a year after the last one.

        I call bs on Jennings story about hot room and no air conditioning, the poor dear. When did we have weather like that in Ont this summer? The Libs are scrambling to establish narrative that will justify them trying to topple government. They can't tell the truth and say they are power mad half wits who are going to make us vote every year until we get it right so they are trotting out these lame excuses instead.

        • http://intensedebate.com/people/KadyITQ KadyITQ

          Actually, Jolyon, we did have a week or so of sweltering heat here in Ottawa a few weeks back.

        • John.K

          Ottawa max temperature August 17 2009…..32.4 Celsius. 90 Fahrenheit.

          • an online reader

            A/c systems in poorly maintained buildings ( A/C for political dummies) go outside human comfort zones and waste energy constantly . " Talking about isotopes in E.I. meeting ? Quote was "just heard " .

            Anyone that needs narritive to dump these clowns is also buying every new breakfast cereal advertised or their job depends on Council of CEOs .

          • http://intensedebate.com/people/KadyITQ KadyITQ

            It was also seriously muggy — we were over 40 degrees on the humidex for a few days there. It was dreadful.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/Harbles Harbles

    Three links to the same article? M'k. Filed at 4:30 AM? What a worker, or is that the peculiarities of the editorial system there?
    So is there no stenographer or recordings of in camera proceedings?
    I guess we'll need sworn affidavits from all present to see who said what and how loudly..

    • http://www2.macleans.ca/category/blogs/national/inside-the-queensway/ Kady O'Malley

      Yikes! No idea what happened with the html there — but I’ve fixed it. Sorry about that.

      • http://intensedebate.com/people/Harbles Harbles

        No, thank you! I saw you changed it so I was going to edit my reply but you were replying to me so I couldn't. lol The comment system here as noted in the past kinda goes wonky from time to time.
        So no official record of the EI mettings?

      • http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Harbles Harbles

        No, thank you! I saw you changed it so I was going to edit my reply but you were replying to me so I couldn't. lol The comment system here as noted in the past kinda goes wonky from time to time.
        So no official record of the EI meetings?

        • http://intensedebate.com/people/KadyITQ KadyITQ

          None at all — remember, this wasn't a standing committee in the formal, parliamentary sense, where minutes are published even for meetings held in camera.

  • catherine

    If anyone in the story has no credibility, it is Ryan Sparrow. He has proven himself to be blatantly biased and of incredibly poor judgement.

    • William

      This story was started by Marlene Jennings and she is not biased !—–give your head a shake.

  • Blaze

    Gemini crickets Batman! ISOTOPES!

    That's why Ryan Sparrow was moved from the PMO to Diane Finley's office!

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Harbles Harbles

      These are Gemini Crickets.
      You may want the Jiminy Crickets.

      lolz

      • Blaze

        Damn auto correct on my word…

    • John

      Isodopes, Blaze. Isodopes.

      • Blaze

        Ok, now you're just being rude.

        • John

          Forgive me blaze, only the pun was intended — nothing personal, I assure you.

  • John D

    What's worse, the Conservatives' behaviour or the Liberals thinking/pretending they didn't know this is how the Blue Ribbon Panel would end up?…

    • Blaze

      I agree. Since when do the Conservatives aren't trying to stall hoping it will be spined out of our collective memories?
      It's like the Liberals we're expecting them to act against their nature.

  • Kenneth R Colombo

    From the OUR CHIVES of the ITQ archives …

    These now infamous "private briefings" for select journalists – many* of whom were shocked to find out that they had been invited to an exclusive event – were made public almost immediately, which was was pretty much inevitable from the moment that Conservative Party media wrangler Ryan Sparrow sent out a notice to his handpicked journalistic prey. Send Sparrow to a Colbert seminar on truthiness.

    http://forums.macleans.ca/advansis/?mod=for&a…

    From a riding very close to Canada's Sr. Accounts Payable Clerk ( O'Flairity the Great )

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/Stewart_Smith Stewart_Smith

    Ok I am bored. so … to help Kady fire up her already never prosaic prose.

    [polldaddy 1946880 http://answers.polldaddy.com/poll/1946880/ polldaddy]

    As a bonus for participating here is a feisty imitiation of our favourite Conservative beakpiece, welcome back Ryan.
    [youtube k0iUxunMjsQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0iUxunMjsQ youtube]

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/Geiseric Geiseric

    Sorry you missed it, of course, but that it's a toss-up is bad enough.

  • Sigh

    What exactly did Sparrow mean by "considering the source" ?

    • William

      The source was Marlene Jennings—-she is the Screamer

  • Anon

    It doesn't take a stretch of the imagination to imagine anyone with the name "Finlley" associated with the Conservatives screaming at the top of his or her lungs.

    And I can't believe the media still take what that cretin Ryan Sparrow says at face value.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Geiseric Geiseric

      I don't think many of them do but they more or less have to repeat it anyways.

      Which is probably what made Baird's first response presser so hard to publish under "News".

  • Randy

    Didn’t you know that the Lib’s have been secretly taping all these meetings so that they can expose Finely and Pierre Poilievre for what they really are!! Just wait, the tapes will be coming out soon. ;~)

  • myvoice

    If there is the audio of the meeting (if not in camera), it's easy to check…

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/KadyITQ KadyITQ

    Remember, this isn't/wasn't a parliamentary committee, so there's no reason to think that there would have been an audio recording made, although frankly, it probably would have been a good idea.

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