I don’t get enough sleep. Especially this week. So this is going to be a pretty quick little post, as my bed is calling my name.
Oh it’s not important
Susan Delacourt reported in the Toronto Star that Commons Speaker Peter Milliken ruled that an agreement reached between all parties that would have seen a House vote on missile defence was too vague to really be an agreement, and thus, didn’t censure the Liberals.
This is a fairly significant ruling, no? Basically, Milliken decided that an agreement reached by all parties wasn’t valid, and instead cleared the government of wrongdoing.
The Globe, Post, Citizen, Gazette etc. all missed it.
The worst part? The government said that since the status quo remained, Canada didn’t really make a decision on missile defence at all, therefore no vote was necessary.
You’d think that if the Liberals and the Speaker were going to shut down this Censure motion, they’d at least co-ordinate. As it stands, the Liberals didn’t even contest the fact that they had to put a decision to a vote, instead claiming that they didn’t make a decision.
But nobody called them on their shit. The Star ran a very basic story outlining what Milliken said and nobody else even touched it.
The Liberal argument is bullshit, when you exchange letters and formally start negotiations on possible involvement in missile defence, that changes the status quo. At some point, a decision has to be made with regards to those negotiations.
And Milliken’s ruling is depressing because what is left of Parliamentary co-operation now? Why should any party believe they have any say at all in this minority government?
The government and Milliken failed, and the media failed to report on it. Boo all around.
There’s a few other things I thought about going into, but I’ll just mention them in passing and let you all debate, cause I’m fading fast here. First, I can’t believe how quickly the “Why did he do it?” stories are coming up with regards to the school shooting in the U.S. He was a loner. He was goth He was bullied. His dad is dead. His mom is sick. He posted to Nazi forums. Guns are too prevalent. Natives have been mistreated. Second, there were a few reports from on “off-the-record briefing” with White House officials in Washington about Canada-U.S. relations. This is just nuts. We’re doing off-the-record press conferences now? What the hell? Finally, the Globe reported on concerns about U.S. interference in Nicaragua again. Watch this bad boy develop, I’m sure we haven’t heard the last of that.
Woot.