It is interesting to read the list of 81 votes that Mike Ignatieff has skipped in the legislature since his rise to the throne of the Liberal Party. This is the same man who a few short months ago said "Parliament is the sovereign", but evidently protecting the sanctity of Parliament doesn't include showing up to vote on minimum sentences for human trafficking of minors. He missed 4 votes on bill C-268. He has missed votes on restricting crystal meth production, but hey he is probably a fan of Breaking Bad. Forget about budget implementation legislation, Mike wants no part of that, missing 12 votes on jobs and economic growth (C-9) this year and another 12 on C-10 last year. So as important as our economic recovery has been, the leader of the Liberal Party doesn't consider it worth his time to show up to work to vote on budget legislation.
Roughly 60% of Conservative MPs have missed fewer than 5 votes, and roughly 60% of Liberals have missed at least 20 votes. In the next election, whenever that may be (based on the Lib ad blitz, that could be sooner rather than later), if you vote for a Conservative you are voting for a representative who is more likely to show up to work on your behalf to vote in the House of Commons. Remember people, Parliament is the sovereign. It is important that MPs show up to work. Iggy didn't learn this while working at Harvard, where if you have tenure, you don't need to show up to teach classes.
I said that about the Senate.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's beautiful.
The Liberals can bitch about everything, but in the Senate, where they have to show up and vote they don't.