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

Sitting down for accountability

by Aaron Wherry on Tuesday, October 5, 2010 3:45pm - 0 Comments

During QP this afternoon, the opposition directed five questions at Natural Resources Minister Christian Paradis during QP in regards to his staff’s handling of access to information requests. Government house leader John Baird stood to respond to all five, allowing Mr. Paradis to rest comfortably in his frontbench seat for the duration of the session.

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  • Cats

    Accountability = whether the voters re-elect Christian Paradis in the next election.

    Obvious Cats without a left wing agenda like Aaron Wherry CATS!

    • gottabesaid

      Well, yeah, but as a cabinet minister you're also accountable to rest of Canada through your portfolio. By your logic, no cabinet minister would ever have to resign or be fired for any reason at all… we'd have to wait for an election to get rid of an incompetent cabinet minister. If a cabinet minister can't answer questions relating directly to his portfolio, that doesn't speak well of his competence.

      • hollinm

        I got news for you. The cabinet serves at the pleasure of the Prime Minister and not the House. Sorry to burst your bubble. It will be Harper and Harper alone who decides Paradis fate once the independent officer of Parliament reports back. Was the interference in ATI not done while Paradis was in his previous portfolio? If so it is convention that cabinet ministers do not address issues that happened in their previous portfolio.

        • gottabesaid

          While he might serve at the pleasure of the PM, I would hope that he would be accountable to Canadians rather than just to his boss. And I think 'convention' is a convenient way of sidestepping direct questions. It's gutless. Conventionally gutless.

          • Cats

            Harper will be held accountable based on the performance of the 308 CPC candidates running in the next election.

            By extension his entire cabinet, including Paradis, will be held accountable to ALL Canadians.

            We're having an election soon!

            Obvious Cats.

          • Mike T.

            I would like to see proof of this as a convention. Even if may sometimes be a practice.

    • tobyornotoby

      Oh those crazy leftists and their wacky parliamentary democracy! What will they expect next? Governments that go by their own laws? C'mon that's socialism.

    • LaxAtlDfwYow

      Hey Cats,

      Are you pulling stuff out of the litter box, again?

      • http://straittohell.blogspot.com straittohell

        Nope. Just eating it.

        • Patchouli

          Just talking it.

          • Cats

            Hey its dark in here!

            Report from Cats, who is clearly under everyone's skin!

            Cats Fan Club

    • John D

      Go back to school and learn the difference between Ministerial accountability and parliamentary elections.

      • Cats

        Stop trying to create artificial standards that don't exist in our democracy.

        Ministers serve at pleasure. If Harper wants Paradis gone, he'd be gone.

        Thanks Cats!

        • BCer in Mtl

          Listen, we have some cats around here and they asked me to ask you to cease & desist pretending to be a cat.

          They are concerned you are hurting the brand.

          • Cats

            Quebec cats ?

            Wrong area code.

            Cats away!

    • Silly_Walks

      Your slogans are getting increasingly awkward. I don't really think you really gave the catchphrase thing it's due thought before you started.

    • danby

      That's pretty lame and you know it.
      If the situation was reversed and it was a Liberal, you'd be screaming for them to be de-wormed

      SCAT!

  • Stewart_Smith

    I think it might make sense if the opposition just started addressing all questions to Baird.

    • Silly_Walks

      I wouldn't be at all surprised if at that point, Paradis started answering them.

    • hollinm

      There…. you are now getting the point. Ask Baird and quit wasting time with the other Ministers.

  • danby

    From Wikipedia

    eunuch (pronounced /ˈjuːnək/) (Greek: "Ευνούχος") is a castrated man, usually one castrated early enough to have major hormonal consequences.
    The term usually refers to those castrated (without their consent) in order to perform a specific social function, as was common historically in many societies. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 21st century BC.[1][2] Over the millennia since, they have performed a wide variety of functions in many different cultures such as: courtiers or equivalent domestics, treble singers, religious specialists, government officials, military commanders, and guardians of women or harem servants.

    • Silly_Walks

      Lovely singing voice, though.

      • Patchouli

        Really hits those high notes. Sing, Paradis, sing!

    • gottabesaid

      Ironically, I bet most eunuchs would have the cajones to stand up and answer questions about whatever they were responsible for. Not too much to ask, I don't think.

    • bergkamp

      "eunuch (pronounced /ˈjuːnək/) (Greek: "Ευνούχος") is a castrated man … "

      I was thinking of something similar while reading about Paradis hiding behind Baird's skirt.

    • burlivespipe

      Are you referring to paradis or baird? Or cats?

  • danby

    For a guy named Christian, Mr Harper sure wants to Muslim

    • Stewart_Smith

      Do you Sikh to ignite a religious pun war?

      • Silly_Walks

        Pfft. Jewish.

        • John D

          Sunni will realize this is lame

          • Patchouli

            You are all full of shiite.

          • tedbetts

            Wearing orthodox may help with that lameness.

          • Crit_Reasoning

            Maybe. We'll have to wait and see. Hindu course, we'll find out.

          • tedbetts

            We could conduct tests, but the results might be too confuscian for us to understand.

          • ColdStanding

            Paradis! Vodoo?

          • Jan

            How many virgins if they get to Paradis?

          • tedbetts

            Some say 70, budha don’t really know if its true or not.

      • madeyoulook

        Do you Sikh to ignite a religious pun war?

        Lighten up, Stu! It's just a little FUNdamentalism among friends.

        • Crit_Reasoning

          Hopefully the Pundamentalists will call a truce so Wiccan finally put this behind us.

          • madeyoulook

            Amen to that!

    • John W.

      Question Period. My Daily Lame-a.

      • tedbetts

        Islam my fist down on my desk in frustration every time I read about what goes on in QP.

    • madeyoulook

      Ugh, these puns are so bad, my friend Torah strip off of me when I shared them with him. Buddha guess it wasn't all bad, because he did suppress a little snicker first.

      • MostlyCivil

        Hindi name of all that is good, I beg you to stop!

        • tedbetts

          Man, just relax. We're only having fun, druid.

    • Dave

      Harper Tories are expected to Tao the party line.

  • hollinm

    My understanding it that Ministers do not address issues that happened in their previous portfolios. If that is the case then since the issue happened while Paradis was in another portfolio then it is perfectly legitimate for Baird to answer the questions.

    • Jan

      Well, isn't that convenient? Cabinet now will play musical chairs every Friday just to be safe.

      • hollinm

        Whether you like or not the convention has been when Minister's move from one portfolio to another they do not answer questions that pertain to their previous portfolio. Since Paradis is now Minister of Natural Resources and the AFI issues happened while he was Minister of Public Works he will not answer questions for the reason stated. In the meantime the Liberals can ask questions and watch John Baird stand and answer them. Sooner or later they will move on. They have such a short attention span.

        • tedbetts

          Fair point, but the matter at hand – how many Conservatives broke the law and whether Paradis instructed them to do so – does not relate to his portfolio though. It is not a matter about Public Works but about Paradis.

          • hollinm

            tedbetts…and who will make that determination of whether Paradis and the staff broke the law….the Liberals. I don't think so. In Canada there is still due process my friend. The information was passed to the Info Officer who will assess all of the information in it's entirety with context given where necessary. So you and the rest of your Liberal friends will have to wait. So until that process unfolds Paradis is not going to comment as is his right.

  • hollinm

    When the poof from Quebec gets fired from his critic's role and is expelled from caucus for a criminal offense then we can talk about a Minister of the Crown quitting. Remember the poof has not been convicted of anything and there is no evidence that Paradis ordered the interference in ATI. That will be determined by an indpendent officer of Parliment not the blood thirsty opposition parties.

    • Silly_Walks

      I'm not sure who you're referring to by 'poof', but I'm sure you could do it without using a derogatory term for gay people.

      Thanks in advance.

      • Cats

        He's talking about that MP with big hair. He crashed a car and then had trouble taking his breathalyzer.

        So now he's facing criminal charges. Oh but he's still an official critic!

        Lack of accountability from the Liberals Cats.

      • hollinm

        I have no idea whether the man is gay or not. I simply made a reference of how he acts with his flowing locks and his arrogant attitude. Whether he is gay or not is his business. I could care less. Perhaps you know something I don't.

      • danby

        Hmmm…. the plot thickens ……..

    • Jan

      Way to go, hollinm, throw in some gay bashing. There's isn't enough bigotry coming from your side this week.

      • hollinm

        I have no idea whether the man is gay or not and I could care less. I see him stand in the commons, with his flowing locks and his arrogant attitude plus being a Liberal and I don't have much use for him regardless of his sexual orientation.

    • Mike T.

      You don't think anybody believes you believe this, do you?

  • Patchouli

    I cannot imagine how it feels to be a man, a man who was elected with the confidence of his constituents, a man who is elevated as a Minister of the Crown — to be told to sit in the corner and be quiet and let someone else defend him.

    He is unmanned. Paradis Lost.

  • Richard_S_Argent

    I'll ask again – what on earth is preventing the Speaker from demanding that the Minister being questioned answer? I mean it's not like he's going to say anything of worth anyways – but let the records show that he faced the barest minimum of scrutiny.

  • John D

    That's crazy talk. Next thing you'll want the speaker to keep order and decorum in the House.

  • Sigh

    Does the Speaker have the acutal authority to do that?

  • Richard_S_Argent

    I'm not sure if he does actually, But if he doesn't, maybe this should be included in Michael Chong's proposals to improve QP?

  • Patchouli

    Is it still Scheer, or is Milliken back? Sorry too lazy to look it up…but it it's Scheer, I shall rant and rave that he's being partisan in the speaker's chair. If it's Milliken — well, that's par for the course.

  • Sigh

    I would certainly be in favour of that.

  • tedbetts

    Didn't Chong suggest that specific days be set aside for the PM to answer questions and specific days be set aside for cabinet ministers to answer. And included in that was the requirement that the minister of the actual affected ministry must answer.

    I am pretty sure it was Chong, though some others were making reform suggestions as well.

  • gottabesaid

    I'm not sure who won that debate… I think it's a tithe.

  • tedbetts

    Voodoo you want to win? I'm not sure witch side I support.

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