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.