Give Justin a Break!

I'm not a big fan of Justin Trudeau.  I have always thought that the guy needed more time in the House of Commons, first as a backbencher then as a cabinet minister, before moving into  being party leader and Prime Minister.

However, after watching it on TV and reading about it in the paper, I think this little kafuffle in the House of Commons the other day has been blown all out of proportion!  I say let's give Justin a break,  put this whole thing to rest and get on with the more serious problems which face Canada.

It was quite clear that young Justin was very frustrated with how the Opposition was stalling on the business of the House.  Many opposition members appeared to be refusing to return to their desks so a vote could proceed.

The Prime Minister crossed the floor in anger (not a good move) and physically confronted the Opposition Members (another bad move).  Some physical pushing, shoving and bad language resulted.  There were no physical injuries as far as I could see. 

Parliament is something like the game of volleyball.  Things get batted back and forth over the net (or in the case of Parliament-over the Hansard Table and Mace).  There is to be no physical contact! The ref controls the volleyball game and the Speaker of The House controls Parliament.

In this case were the actions of the Prime Minister un-parliamentary?  Yes, they were, but so were the actions of several members of the Opposition! 

Let's stop wasting time, effort and money running around this one and get on with running the country!  I think it would very difficult to explain to a fire evacuee from Fort McMurray why this silliness in the House of Commons would be more important than their plight!

Trip to Ottawa!

Over this past week my wife and I had a great few days visiting our nation's capital.  Last Friday, we met with our Member of Parliament, Kevin Sorenson.  He was able to get my wife and I passes to the House of Commons  Members' Gallery for Question Period.

Both of us found the goings-on quite facinating.  We sat above the Opposition side of the House which is on the Speaker's left directly above the Liberals with Bob Rae.  Most of the speeches/questions were made by the inexperienced NDP members practising their skills, but it was quite an eye opener watching the interaction amongst the Members "behind the cameras."   After watching the proceedings on TV many times over the years, I was impressed by the way the Speaker kept order!  No constant yelling across the floor as has happened in the past! Or maybe they were just really tired after that 40+ hour straight NDP budget voting fiasco the day before.

Later we met up with Kevin.  We sat down in the Members' Lounge for coffee.  Kevin and I talked about many things going on in and around his Crowfoot constituency, some of which affected Beiseker.  Kevin was able to give us a quick "behind the scenes" tour of  the Centre Block and the Library of Parliament before he had to dash.  He was acting as the Deputy Party Whip that day and couldn't stray far from the House.  Kevin's hospitality was second to none!

Friday evening we attended a Gordon Lightfoot concert at the National Arts Centre.

Over the weekend we did all the tourist things; museum visits, city tours, and strolling around the ByWard Market area.  I was pleased to see that either of our two official languages works just fine anywhere you go in Ottawa or across the river in Gatineau, Quebec. 

If you're looking for a Canadian destination for a trip this summer, I would heartedly suggest the Ottawa area!