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 Backbench Top Ten

by Aaron Wherry on Sunday, June 20, 2010 4:15pm - 15 Comments

One last time before pausing for the summer: our weekly, and wholly arbitrary, ranking of the ten most worthy, or at least entertaining, MPs, excluding the Prime Minister, cabinet members and party leaders. A celebration of all that is great and ridiculous about the House of Commons. Last week’s rankings appear in parentheses.

1. Jack Harris (1)
The ah hoc committee of MPs charged with reviewing Afghan detainee documents this summer that might not’ve happened without him will now, in fact, carry on without him. Irony is a cruel mistress.
2. Michael Chong (2)
3. Maxime Bernier (3)
Surely Mr. Bernier and Mr. Chong could do well touring the country this summer together on a Keeping It Real tour.
4. Siobhan Coady (4)
5. Bob Rae (5)
6. Daniel Paille (9)
One last go between Mr. Paille and the Finance Minister. They might not admit it, but they’ll miss each other these next few months.
7. Mark Holland (7)
At some point, the Liberal public safety and national security critic took ownership of the entire G8/G20 file including all the tantalizing questions about the gazebos, public toilets and other trinkets now dotting the landscape of Muskoka-Parry Sound under the guise of summitry. It’s arguably the best stuff the official opposition’s had to moan about in four years and Mr. Holland’s brand of mocking outrage has proved well-suited to the cause. It’s also probably no coincidence that the Liberal side’s best QP performers are those who never held senior office in a Chretien or Martin cabinet.
8. Francine Lalonde (8)
9. Stephane Dion (-)
Lost amid the debate over the merits of the deal was this: the Liberals have named Stephane Dion as their primary representative on the detainee document committee. He might not be the one you want leading your party, but he’s apparently just the sort you want in a fundamental fight of paramount importance to the nation.
10. Jim Maloway (10)
The final tally: 167,714 words.

Previous rankings: March 12. March 19. April 3. April 10. April 25. May 1. May 9. May 16. May 23. May 30. June 6. June 13.

Tags: Backbench Top Ten, Bob Rae, Daniel Paille, Francine Lalonde, house of commons, Jack Harris, Jim Maloway, Mark Holland, Maxime Bernier, Michael Chong, Parliament, Siobhan Coady, Stéphane Dion

More by Aaron Wherry

http://intensedebate.com/people/amherstvw amherstvw

Will miss this weekly review over the summer.
Reader

Wow. Great company. Cartier, St. Laurent and reason. The last sorely lacking in our "ruling" party. (They think "ruling" means "drawing lines in the sand" spilling from the hourglass of human need. Abusers of the children yet unborn, they surely are.

Reader

Yet they oppose abortion? How do YOU define evil?

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

I hope Max is active on the BBQ circuit this summer. He has performed the most amazing type of political transformation. He has gone from party boob to leadership contender, and he has done it simply by staying true to himself and being consistent. (Admittedly, consistent is a relative term for Max.)

Mike T.

Oh, he's still a boob, even if (Ignatieff rubs hands with glee) he becomes a leadership contender.

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

Well, the fact that he brings boobs to the table is just one of his positive features. Personally I do like the fact that both his personal values and vocal cords seem to be intact… something rare among his colleagues.

On a separate note, it is clearly a mistake if moderates and lefties discount the charisma of leaders from the far right of the spectrum. Pallin has not disappeared and although his spelling was off Bush did win two terms.

Mike T.

His "zero growth in spending" idea would last about 45 seconds in an actual debate with an articulate 12 year old.

TedTylerEzro

See, this is why people criticize you for being unable to credit anyone who disagrees with you as having any intelligence.

It does your rhetoric no favours if you are aiming to convince anyone else but the choir as well.
Mike T.

But why would I possibly worry about the opinion of anyone who was impressed by the zero growth idea?

(incidentally, the 7 word killer to Maxime's little idea is "tell me what you're going to cut". it has the advantage of being rhetorically simple and completely killing the counterargument).
DPT

are you actually saying you'll debate Max?

CAPS

"he’s apparently just the sort you want in a fundamental fight of paramount importance to the nation."

Truer words have never been written about L'hon. Stéphane Maurice Dion.

Mike T.

I suspect the phrase was specifically meant to recall a specific event around 1999 or so….

CAPS

While the time-frame you reference definitely provides a basis for the phrase, I believe it applies on a much wider scale.

Stan L

"Lost amid the debate over the merits of the deal was this: the Liberals have named Stephane Dion as their primary representative on the detainee document committee. He might not be the one you want leading your party, but he’s apparently just the sort you want in a fundamental fight of paramount importance to the nation."

Well, first off no one claimed that Dion was a stupid man….just one that was unable to be the kind of smarmy politician Harper needs to play his game……and besides if there is ONE guy in that whole place who deserves and is motivated to find something in these documents, it is SURELY Dion.