Friday, May 11, 2007

Taking Their Toys And Leaving

Twice in one week the Terrible Tory Tots have disrupted parliamentary committees with their childish behavior.

Tories storm out of meeting on sharing energy with U.S.

Amid heated charges of a coverup, Tory MPs on Thursday abruptly shut down parliamentary hearings on a controversial plan to further integrate Canada and the U.S.

The firestorm erupted within minutes of testimony by University of Alberta professor Gordon Laxer that Canadians will be left “to freeze in the dark” if the government forges ahead with plans to integrate energy supplies across North America.

He was testifying on behalf of the Alberta-based Parkland Institute about concerns about the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), a 2005 accord by the U.S., Canada and Mexico to streamline economic and security rules across the continent. The deal, which calls North American “energy security” a priority, commits Canada to ensuring American energy supplies even though Canada itself — unlike most industrialized nations — has no national plan or reserves to protect its own supplies, he argued.

At that point, Tory MP Leon Benoit, chair of the Commons Standing Committee on International Trade which was holding the SPP hearings, ordered Laxer to halt his testimony, saying it was not relevant.

Opposition MPs called for, and won, a vote to overrule Benoit’s ruling.

Benoit then threw down his pen, declaring, “This meeting is adjourned,” and stormed out, followed by three of the panel’s four Conservative members.

Language committee cancellation frustrates MPs

The Conservatives' sudden cancellation of Tuesday's meeting of the Commons official languages committee when it was set to hear from officials who ran the Court Challenges Program is the latest sign of disrespect toward linguistic minorities, opposition MPs said Tuesday.


"The fact the Conservative members did not show up and the meeting was cancelled two minutes before 9 o'clock proves to me the order did not come from the chair (Conservative MP Guy Lauzon) or the members of the committee but from higher up," said Liberal official languages critic Raymonde Folco, who lay the blame with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

When not wanting to hear they put their fingers in their ears and go nyah, nyah.....


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