Parliamentarian of the Year
The Macleans award of Parliamentarian of the Year to John Baird has done more than raise eyebrows. It has caused widespread incredulity.
So what happened?
Ottawa scuttlebutt is that the vote was fixed. The usual process is that MPs vote their own opinion. That’s how a rookie NDPer, Megan Leslie, won Rookie of the Year last year, and how Peter Stoffer, the champ of non-partisan decency, is always in the top picks.
I was told by several MPs that this year the Conservative caucus was instructed how to vote. All conservative MPs were told to vote for John Baird. With the rest of the MPs voting for whoever struck their personal preference, the organized Conservative caucus Baird votes swamped the results.
Clever in one year? Maybe. Wrecks the process for good? Probably. Next year watch the Liberals instruct their caucus how to vote. What has been something light and pan-partisan just became just one more way to stick it to the opposition.
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MP's brain dead?
If the Harper Regime instructs their members how to vote on something as trivial as this with such obviously flawed results they may as well all check their brains at the door for no intelligence is required to simply “do as you are told”. It is just one more small example of how these folk have no respect for parliament or their fellow Canadians, or it would seem even their own members opinions!
Electors not so brain dead
Recent polls show that this level of centralized authority does not ring true with Conservative voters. The Conservatives have been pandering very much to the ultra-conservative base and they are starting to lose more moderate Conservative voters. They wanted the abortion debate to swing in their favour, and it very much did not. They are also losing some support for being so anti-environment that it's beyond ridicule. The next big issue will be copyright -- traditionally this would be a Conservative win, but once people figure out how overarching it is, they will not only lose support, the bill may not even pass.
Why we must provide the clear alternative
We must keep working on shaking loose those old PC votes from the CPC. They are looking for a good alternative and we are the best choice - socially liberal and fiscally conservative.
The more we push for a smart tax system, the more we push for balanced budget/balanced environment - both needed for long term stability - the more likely these voters will go 'maybe the Greens are a good place to put my vote until the CPC becomes a reasonable choice' and if they come here short term we might convince them to stay with our actions.
Wellington-Halton Hills
Neo-conservatism survives only in a FPTP system
Strange how all these democracy busting ideas come from Harper the Hyper first - control freak extraodinaire.
I'm sure what will happen is that, like Dubya, he will take the rope he has illegitimately grabbed and hang himself. And, again like his old right-wing, neocon buddy George II, he will leave an awful mess behind.
Even his traditional supporters must be fragmenting. They aren't all climate change denying, finance trumps survival, anti-family planning, anti-gay, fiscally constipated, asocial, fearful, xenophobic, Christian fundamentalists - are they?
Putin made People's Person of the year in 2007..
So did Nixon after Watergate.
I don't necessarily see Parliamentarian of the year as indicative of whether their actions were good or not, but only that they were notable.
I can see a pretty good case for Baird. He is everywhere on parliament (whether he is invited or not.)
He stands out. (Hard to miss the guy waving his arms, shouting and pointing)
In question period, he answers most of the question. Especially those not addressed to him.
In the year of prorogation, scandals, and petty politics, the scent of Baird seem to linger on all parliamentarians.
Meant to recognize positive, not noisy
The Parliamentarian of the Year is meant to go to the MP who best exhibited good parliamentarian behaviour. It is not like TIME's Person of the Year (which I presume you meant), which is awarded to the most influential person, whether for good or bad.
I believe this award was supposed to be for merit, not merely for being notable. So one of the worst possible candidates won because the system was gamed - and now broken.
Erich Jacoby-Hawkins, Barrie ON - although I'm on Cabinet (Nat'l Rev. and Ecol. Fiscal Reform), the views here are my own and may not reflect official GPC positions. Please visit www.ErichtheGreen.ca
Points
I don't know the inside track for sure, but I don't think individuals voted directly for the Parliamentarian of the year and there is some sort of point system designed to counter the larger Conservative caucus and scale the votes.
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2010/02/c9104.html
Maybe the Conservatives discussed some in caucus. Maybe not. Baird didn't win any of the individual categories outright, although he finished second to Duceppe in most knowledgeable.
I don't necessarily agree with Baird, but that doesn't mean he doesn't work hard, isn't knowledgeable, or get along with other MPs outside of committees and Question Period.
Most of us only get to see the theatre of the absurd (QP), and the government of the absurd (CP). Baird fits there.
The runner up Parliamentarian of the Year was Gils Duceppe and Bloc MPs seemed to win a few.
Frankly, there wasn't a lot of bright moments in the last Parliament.
Parliamentarian of the Year
When I saw the headline "Parliamentarian of the Year" (Elizabeth's Blog), I thought that Elizabeth had been named as The Parliamentarian of the Year! In my mind and likely most Canadian's, she has out-performed from outside the House most/all of our Members inside.
I expect that a year after the next election Elizabeth will be the PotY.