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

Our democracy runneth over

by Aaron Wherry on Friday, December 3, 2010 12:35pm - 16 Comments

A Globe story—about democratic reform legislation, mind you—citing unnamed government officials is contradicted by an unsigned government email. Kady O’Malley spots one irony. Susan Delacourt finds another.

… it’s interesting that on the matter of a bill on democratic reform, there are “higher” people in government, who know more than the elected people about what’s going on. If that’s not an argument for reform, I don’t know what is.

Meanwhile, the Liberal critic seems eager to see a vote.

Tags: Carolyn Bennett, democracy, democratic reform, house of commons, Kady O'Malley, Ottawa, Parliament, Susan Delacourt

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Mike T.

The lies come thick and fast from unsigned emails…

Patchouli

What's an unsigned email? It comes from some official IP address somewhere, operated by someone. My bwain don't understand!

brooster2

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
Mike T.

Ask the CPC. they apparently sent it.
LdKitchenersOwn

It's an email without a signature. It's not so complicated. True, we could find out who sent it I suppose (presuming it wasn't a robot) but it's unsigned in that it contains no indication of an actual human being who might be connected to it.

Emily

I suspect Harper's pudgy little hands are all over this.
Fido

He'll sit on it a while longer . . . wait — I don't want to imagine Harper sitting on anything !

Patchouli

I like to imagine him sitting on Baird's lap.

http://dougsamu.wordpress.com dougrogers

Seems like a twist on the twice-told tale of 'The Opposition' preventing 'The Governemt' from doing anything.
MostlyCivil

Assorted media (John, ahem) might want to have a little chat with their anonymous sources. They're in a bad relationship with these folks, and I think they need an intervention. Call it quits, folks. Make the PR guys earn their cash by having to put names on statements.

lgarvin

Exactly.

They wonder why the media gets no respect, it's because much of the media (I'm looking at you G&M) has no self-respect.

MostlyCivil

Were it me, (and it's been a while since I was in the biz), I would simply say "Unless you've got something that will displace the Royal Wedding on the front page of the Globe and Mail, I'm either going to use your name, or we're going to stop talking."

And stop reporting on unnamed "updates" from conservative.ca or lib.ca. What credibilty does a denial hold with nobody actually denying? Jane, Kady, tread carefully. There are people being paid to make you write stuff. That's their job. Make them work a little harder, okay?

Patchouli

I DO wish the Liberal-NDP-Bloq Coalition would stop ganging up on the government.

Passing by

I find the incessant use of the word coalition amusing because the Conservatives seem to have convinced themselves that this a scary word for most voters.

Actually, I think most of the 7 in 10 voters who vote for opposition parties wish they would get together in a coalition so we could finally get rid of this loathsome government.

Skinny Dipper

The way things are going, we'll soon get a Triple-E Senate–in the House of Commons.
tobyornotoby

Okay, we actually have a Minister responsible for Democratic Reform who has very little output other than a couple of media releases and a blue ribbon group that has never reporterd. Shouldn't he be commenting on this issue?

I know that Stephen Fletcher is hardly a star in Ottawa, and that he likely has less to do with this file than the person who does the photocopying at PMO but won't some reporter at some point at least call and ask what it is that he does to earn his limo and extra pay? Where is his grand plan for democratic reform?