Yeas/Pour: 153
Nays/Contre: 152
Well I was wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. I admit it. But, you know what they say: no guts, no glory.
The big wild card was, of course, Chuck Cadman. And seeing the look of shocked delight on Carolyn Parrish’s face as Chuck stood up for the government said it all. That was the moment of victory, and the Liberals breathed a huge sigh of relief.
It was also interesting listening to Speaker Peter Milliken’s preamble to his vote. I’ve never witnessed a speaker breaking a tie before.
And the story of the night was the look of disappointment on Stephen Harper’s face, and on the face of the BQ members. You could tell that they’d been outmaneouvered. I could be proven wrong again, but the Conservatives will probably let their sick MPs head home for much-needed treatment, and approach the question of an election again in the fall.
One hopes that this cathartic release will signal a few days of ramping down the rhetoric, of Liberals trying to bribe Conservatives to cross the floor and Conservatives trying to entrap them, but I strongly suspect it will be a vain hope. And I’m not holding out too much hope that Paul Martin’s leadership will improve, but at least some things will still get done.
We will, at least, have a fairly decent budget passed, and possibly same sex marriage as well.
On Those Tapes
My reaction to Gurmant Grewal’s allegations may have been too strong, but I don’t think the Liberals get off scott free, either. Maybe Gurmant was selling, but the Liberals sure seemed to be buying when one listens to the tape. So, as far as I’m concerned, I think this is yet another case of “a pox on both your houses.” Parliament hit something of a nadir this week, and both Martin and Harper’s troops come away with their hands quite dirty. No wonder I’m voting Green. No wonder Jack Layton’s looking pretty good to a lot of people as well.
And, finally, apologies to Carolyn Parrish for momentarily thinking in jest that she might be faking an appendicitus attack to get out of voting for the government. It still matches up to one or two jokes that I’ve heard about high school students doing so in order to avoid an exam (usually with bad consequences, like surgery), but the fact remains that pain isn’t funny, especially if it’s a kidney stone or an ovarian cyst. I don’t mean to laugh at your pain, and it did show a remarkable amount of strength to show up and vote.
Indeed, consider all of the members today who fought through sickness and chemotherapy to make their democratic contribution. Consider the healthy MPs that arranged to sit someone out while a Conservative MP recovered from surgery. These people are the honourable ones that do this democracy proud. I wish we could have more people like them, than the other MPs who have been commanding headlines this week. You know the people I’m talking about.
The best review of Star Wars III: The Plot Starts Here, comes from Dan Kukwa who was, until earlier this week, in full geek mode over the prospect of the latest vehicle of Lucas not sucking. Unfortunately, the review doesn’t inspire confidence in the product:
“it was like watching a new Wagner opera, done by a high school band.”
To quote Jar Jar Binks: “Me-sa ouch!”