Comments on: How many government MPs does it take to host the Olympics?

By: frenchie101

frenchie101 — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:37:51 +0000

oh oh, Iggy will be mad at her.

By: frenchie101

frenchie101 — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:07:54 +0000

He said he would work until the Olympics, not while they were on.

By: frenchie101

frenchie101 — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:05:47 +0000

It seems we are not allowed to be proud of anything according to the left.I have always found lefties to be grumpy, even hateful at times.

By: craigola

craigola — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 07:28:26 +0000

Did you mean to say 'autocratic'?

By: danby

danby — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 02:05:24 +0000

You bastard! I had a root canal this afternoon and didn't need the jaw exercise

Still… it was worth it

By: danby

danby — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 01:51:55 +0000

Gotta say, the Liberals deserved to be turfed, though the free lunches for the Conservatives over Adscam have to come to an end.SH has held the reins since 2006...... but, If Harper had been PM (as opposed to Chretien) , would we be in both Iraq and Afghanistan right now?

By: danby

danby — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 01:45:53 +0000

The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.

By: danby

danby — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 01:40:16 +0000

It will be interesting to see how the poll numbers play out – the prorogation still has quite a ways to go.
Mounting anger or yesterdays news?

By: s_c_f

s_c_f — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:55:16 +0000

If polls are used to compare the level of outrage…

Latest polls show a Cosnervative drop from about 37 to 33 (although it would be nice to see another poll to confirm this).
During the anti-coalition period, polls showed a rise in Con support from about 38 to 45.

So, 4% vs 7%.

By: anonlinereader

anonlinereader — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:39:23 +0000

First 99 days of 2009 – 40 sitting days – 59 recess days – just prioritize your schedules guys .

Easter Recess 2009.04.04 – 2009.04.19 – 16 days
Sitting 2009.03.23 – 2009.04.03 – 10
Spring Recess 2009.03.14 – 2009.03.22 – 9
Sitting 2009.02.23 – 2009.03.13 – 15
Spring Recess 2009.02.14 – 2009.02.22 – 9
Start of Session 2009.01.26 – 2009.02.13 – 15

By: Dot

Dot — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:11:34 +0000

Was it the "Less Filling !" or " Taste's Great ! " crowd that were doing donuts in the parking lot, projecting gravel onto the bobsleigh track?

By: doug_rogers

doug_rogers — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 22:59:26 +0000

I guess it's hard to complain about liberal media bis then

By: Antoine

Antoine — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 22:11:53 +0000

It was Liberal MP Joyce Murray who sent out an email saying that the Liberals “must capitalize on the positive publicity excitement and feelgood attitude surrounding the Vancouver Olympics” and “We want our Liberal leader to be there and be seen cheering on our nation with everyone else…”

So if you want to talk about politicizing the Olympics you better ask Ms. Murray to stop doing so..

By: mike

mike — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 22:00:28 +0000

This also implies that no opposition MPs would be interested in the Olympics, only Conservative ones…

By: YYZ

YYZ — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:43:44 +0000

Perhaps the Pope is no longer Catholic.

By: common man

common man — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:34:36 +0000

Would you tell Richard S Argent that you are back.

By: YSP

YSP — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:32:05 +0000

It could take 19 days to prop Harper up on skis long enough for the photo op.

By: common man

common man — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:30:12 +0000

So we have evolved into a society that is willing to have our experienced opinions (see Andrew Coyne) influenced by a bunch of pajama-wearing double-clickers.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:11:24 +0000

The latter generated 127,000 Facebook signups.

Which is about where the anti-proroguing group will be this time tomorrow.

By: joe kraker

joe kraker — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:42:12 +0000

all we need at the olimpicks,is the little weasel from bc,he is small and nobody will see him at all,they say he will not win relection,so it dont matter,by the way why does everbody talk about john c.thats past history .same as mac .king,lets talk about how we are getting shafted today ,and will get shafted tomorrow by adolf and the boys,,

By: Nich

Nich — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:35:07 +0000

Parliament was working, which is why so many bills died when it was prorogued.

Even the committees were kind of working, despite the government's best efforts.

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:28:38 +0000

Hmmm … how many politicians does it take to show enough PC face at the olympics … Answer … ALLLLLL!!!!

By: common man

common man — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:27:06 +0000

Parliament will only work when the opp. realize it is not a venue for their silly scandal antics.

By: catherine

catherine — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:23:00 +0000

I admit these are pretty stupid comments from the Conservatives about the Olympics.

Actually, these are pretty stupid comments from Conservatives about Parliament. I couldn't care less what they understand about the Olympics, but, more importantly, they don't seem to have any understanding of what their jobs actually are. They sound arrogant and ignorant.

By: doug_rogers

doug_rogers — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:18:43 +0000

Wonderful. Locals – the constituents who elected him – don't pay attention to national issues when electing an MP. Am I spinning that maliciously enough?

By: tedbetts

tedbetts — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:10:47 +0000

Call them on what?

It is not the attending that is at issue here.

It is the decision to prorogue so they can attend.

In fact, Parliament was in session but simply did not sit during the days of the Calgary Olympics. Conservatives didn't need a two month Harper Holiday. Maybe they were made of sterner stuff back then.

By: Charles H.

Charles H. — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:48:34 +0000

"'The Olympics are a great celebration and it would be a real conflict for MPs to be there in a minority situation,' he said, adding that could lead to the opposition having more MPs present in Ottawa."

Erm. A minority, Colin, means that the opposition has more MPs present in Ottawa even if none of you go to the Olympics.

By: SisyphusThis

SisyphusThis — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:48:04 +0000

Oh, I suspect that was the "Keiths !" and "Olands !" crowd freezin' in the dark.

By: Thwim

Thwim — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:34:45 +0000

You just cost me one perfectly good coffee.. and possibly a keyboard here, but I think I managed to get it clean.

Still.. it was worth it.

By: john g

john g — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:17:59 +0000

I'm all for accountability. I just prefer that it not come with the usual heaping dollop of hypocrisy.

By: common man

common man — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:15:27 +0000

Those of you who think that Facebookers have any intention of hitting the streets in a mid-winter protest against the suspension of bickering groups of politicans in Ottawa will be very disappointed.

A real protest movement has to have the grassroot support of people who sincerely believe they have been wronged. An example would be the anger people felt when they found out the Liberal Party sent public funds to themselves in the Sponsorship Scandal or when 3 opp. parties attempted to overthrow a democratically elected government with a dubious coalition.

By: Nich

Nich — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:10:29 +0000

I'll take that as a 'no,' Parliament does not have a role to play in governing Canada.

By: A reader

A reader — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:06:32 +0000

I think that unwittingly, these comments do tell us something about the motivations for the break from Parliament. The life of a government backbencher in a minority parliament is pretty underwhelming. They don't get the media attention of the opposition backbenchers, have to occupy their Commons seats all the time for fear of the government losing a vote accidentally, get handed their talking points, and have very little input into the direction of the government being set by cabinet. Very few of them in safe seats will ever make it to the cabinet, given their geographic concentration.

The *one* bonus they get is low-cost Olympic tickets. Except, owing to House duty, they can't use them. Unless the House is not sitting.

I admit this doesn't explain why Parliament needed to be prorogued now, rather than just adjourned for a longer time, or prorogued a day or so before the next Throne Speech. And boy, is the government every going to feel dumb if some kind of strike pops up around the Olympics and they can't recall the House to pass back to work legislation.

By: SeanStok

SeanStok — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:01:38 +0000

I never agreed with it, but stuff like this makes me understand why leaders are tempted to tinker with the candidate nomination process.

By: burlivespipe

burlivespipe — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:58:03 +0000

john g only cares about accountability for the other guys. Nice world you live in. Enjoy your Harper holiday, make sure to change the tinfoil and duct tape regularly.

By: PolJunkie

PolJunkie — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:57:06 +0000

I was thinking the exact same thing. Why is Harper ignoring the Paralympics?

By: burlivespipe

burlivespipe — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:56:01 +0000

Well if No-Work Harper said it, it's a lie. The flip-flop is automatic.

By: s_c_f

s_c_f — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:51:26 +0000

Well, if Iffy said it, it must be true. We know Iffy has never flip-flopped on anything.

NOT

By: Jack Mitchell

Jack Mitchell — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:50:38 +0000

Unfortunately they don't take returns.

By: common man

common man — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:47:48 +0000

It seems that opp. MP`s believe that the role of Parliament is a venue where they can lunge from hysterical scandal to monotonous queries.

There may be useful opp. MP`s in the House but all we can recall is Body-Bag-Bennett and Door-Knob-Easter.

By: SeanStok

SeanStok — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:46:32 +0000

Well put!

By: wmabey

wmabey — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:46:08 +0000

The more that we hear Tory MPs speaking, the more we can see why PMO doesn't want them to do so. The talking points were supposed to be about the economic agenda, routine business in the house, etc.

They really shouldn't pass it off as a way to go to the Olympics without missing work.

By: Fred_Moro

Fred_Moro — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:44:58 +0000

Don't put it out there, now they might prorogue for another month.

By: john g

john g — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:41:25 +0000

Well, it appears they are going to put up. Sounds like Ignatieff's cracking the whip and keeping them all in Ottawa through the Olympics.

So I guess if any Liberal wants to make hay of the idiotic statement by the Conservative MP tying the Olympics to proroguation, assuming they heed their leader they've earned it.

But it's a shame that it was done this way, and I agree that they should have just taken a recess from Parliament rather than proroguing through it. I really don't have a problem with every single MP from every party (including the BQ) being there. It's not often Canada gets to host the world on a scale this large. The Liberals were in power when the games were awarded and the Conservatives were in power for much of the implementation and setup, so both have reasonable grounds to be there.

By: Holly Stick

Holly Stick — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:39:43 +0000

There is a website now, as well as the growing Facebook group which is at 108,505 now. http://noprorogue.ca/