Friday, November 4 saw another day of spirited question period debate on the economy. But for once, the main theme was total cooperation - even if much of the day was spent lamenting its absence.
The Big Issue
The main bill up for debate was the Cons' legislation dealing with military judges. But while the Cons tried and failed to get the bill passed in one fell swoop, it was Lib John McKay who seemed most frustrated about the idea of bothering to discuss and debate the legislation - at least until he declared that the Cons had brought non-cooperation upon themselves.
But then, there may well have been some reason for further discussion. After all, the Cons themselves noted that any urgency about the bill was based on a court decision issued June 2 - leaving no obvious reason why the bill was only introduced in mid-October. Jack Harris offered both a summary of where the bill came from, and a few other issues worth dealing with in the military justice system (including an arbitrary age limit which would seem to be up the Cons' alley to address). And David Christopherson and Harris rightly noted that it's the official opposition's job to make sure that the government's potentially-flawed assumptions are duly tested.
In case that wasn't enough cooperation for one day, though, the Cons' bill to implement a marine agreement with the Crees of Eeyou Istchee passed by unanimous consent.
In Brief
Francois Lapointe pointed out that AECL is costing $800 million to sell off as part of $21 billion in total costs, while Christine Moore kept up her questions about the minimal return on what look to be obscene prices for the F-35s the Cons can't bear to reconsider. Chris Charlton wondered whether a jobs plan is ever going to be forthcoming. Glenn Thibault noted that the TD Bank is withdrawing from a voluntary ombudsman which of course serves as the Cons' substitute for actual public regulation. Mathieu Ravignat questioned Maxime Bernier's links to an individual facing international drug trafficking charges. Tony Clement's failure to answer any questions about his G8 scandal was explained by his being busy waiting for opportunities to raise points of order to bash donations to former Lib leader Michael Ignatieff (while setting up a chill for all public servants who might think about exercising their right to donate to any party). Andrew Scheer delivered his ruling finding Russ Hiebert's anti-union bill to be out of order. And Lapointe pointed out the few Cons who avoided voting for continued unrestricted asbestos exports, while calling for more MPs to join the anti-asbestos side.
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