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, October 24, 2010 1:31pm - 0 Comments

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. Michael Chong (1)
2. Jack Harris (2)
3. Maxime Bernier (3)
The conservative dream circa October 2010: Prime Minister Rob Ford, Finance Minister Maxime Bernier.
4. Ralph Goodale (-)
The defining statement of a 30-year political career: “I am not a pirate … neither am I an alien transformer, a vampire or a werewolf.”
5. Carolyn Bennett (6)
When she’s not revolutionizing democracy, she builds well-dressed scarecrows.
6. Scott Brison (4)
7. Candice Hoeppner (5)
8. Justin Trudeau (-)
The first serious issue of Mr. Trudeau’s turn as a politician will, of course, be a debate over human rights and the Charter.
9. Mark Holland (7)
10. Ken Dryden (-)
The only politician in the land inspirational enough to unite our disparate celebrity voices. Possibly the only thing Sarah Polley and Don Cherry agree on.

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. June 20. September 26. October 3. October 10. October 17.

Tags: Backbench Top Ten, Candice Hoeppner, Carolyn Bennett, house of commons, Jack Harris, Justin Trudeau, Ken Dryden, Mark Holland, Maxime Bernier, Michael Chong, Parliament, Ralph Goodale, Scott Brison

More by Aaron Wherry

Jenn_

Sounds like an interesting book.

BGLong

He consistently writes interesting books. I still re- read The Moved and The Shaken occasionally.

Emily

'Our weekly, and wholly arbitrary, ranking'

Dot

A lot of people seem to be unwilling to give up their prime roulette slots.

Halo_Override

Come on, Deloitte and Touche don't just throw these things together overnight, you know. There's a science to it.

Dot

Which version of the sci-fi video game did you make that profound discovery?

Halo_Override

I can't parse that fully, but I can assure you my name and the game are unrelated. And I suck at Halo. (Online pvp in general is not a well-developed part of my skill set. I'm passable at Mass Effect and Grand Theft Auto, though.)

John W.

I wonder why Dan McTeague never seems to make it. I thought he was pretty active for a a backbencher.

A_logician

Inclusion in the list is not intended to be a compliment. I am thankful my MP has not been "recognized".
Guest

The McTeague overlook is startling given his work championing Veterans rights (when it wasn’t trendy with media types), Canadians in trouble in other countries and saving a lot of money for all of us who drive a car. He’s top 5 in Canada outside Parliament and among ordinary Canadians, no debate.