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

Oh well, whatever, never mind

by Aaron Wherry on Wednesday, March 17, 2010 9:30pm - 67 Comments

Steven Fletcher, minister of state for democratic reform, Monday. “On the issue of the ten percenters, I do not know what the party opposite has against freedom of speech. I do not know what the party opposite has against the rights of Canadians for a public discourse. Canadians have the good sense to know what information they can find valuable. They do not need the Liberal Party of Canada to censor what they see. Canadians can judge for themselves what is relevant to their lives, to tell what information is valuable to them, and also it is an opportunity to see what other parties stand for. Everyone has equal privileges to these ten percenters. It is a way of ensuring that Canadians are informed. It improves public discourse and it is a way to improve our democracy. We live in the best country in the world and the best time in human history to be alive. The Conservative Party is the party that will ensure that Canada remains glorious and free.”

The Prime Minister’s Office, tonight. “We support getting rid of out-of-riding 10 percenters so long as the restriction applies to all parties.”

Tags: dimitri soudas, house of commons, Parliament, Steven Fletcher, ten percenters

More by Aaron Wherry

Reader

Permit me to suggest that Maclean's give wilson his own blog column. He can share space with Feschuk in a new "Comedy" category.

kcm

ahem…her not him ; ahemer…Wilson not Feschuk.

Reader

My bad. Apologies all 'round, esp. to Wilson.

kcm

What are the odds in the next election this story will be how the Tory's saved Canadian's tax dollars by switching to user pay ten per centers, and why did it take the opposition so long to to follow suit

Oceania has always been at war…
http://www.1chicagomovers.com/ Chicago movers

Very well said KCM. Nice comment.

Poor Steven Fletcher. I guess the rule is once you get your TPs you have to use them, before they self destruct. Por Steven, he chose to accept the mission and the freakin pmo went boom on him while he was speaking his lines….it was such a good little speech too, quite brought a tear to my glass eye…" We live in the best country in the world…[sniff] and the best time in human history to be alive…[sniff] The Conservative Party is the party that will ensure that Canada remains glorious and free"…waaahhh!!
Anon001

So what happened to the MasterStrategist's plan to tie it to the party funding?
http://www.paulinebrock.com Pauline

Just today I got a flyer from Steven Fletcher in the mail. Funny, didn't seem very informative to me. Nowhere did it identify the CPC, only had Mr. Fletcher's name, no mention of party.
http://twitter.com/RamaraMan @RamaraMan

See how important TPs are to the #CPC once they have to use their own & not tax$$ to fund them! #extinct
http://intensedebate.com/people/sea_n_mountains sea_n_mountains

this is the party of we have no shame/we think the masses are idiotic.
Out There

I tend to think of them as the party that is congratulating itself for having successfully gamed the system. Quite forgetting that the system wasn't intended to be gamed in this way.

One of the legacies of this Conservative government is that a stronger system of rules will need to be put in place seplling out exactly what the governing party is allowed to do or not do.
http://intensedebate.com/people/WDM WDM

Boy are all your faces going to be red when 20 years from the Cabinet documents are released and we see Steven Fletcher's ardent appeal, on these same freedom of speech grounds, to allow George Galloway into Canada.