Author: Stephen Taylor

Speaker ruling on use of twitter in the House

Today, Peter Milliken gave his ruling on a Bloc point of order that was made earlier last month regarding Conservative MP Royal Glaipeau’s tweeting in the House of Commons. The Bloc member believed that Galipeau crossed the line when describing how many MPs were not present in the chamber from each party via his twitter account.

Galipeau tweeted,

“In the House now: 20 Conservative MPs, five New Democrats, four Liberals, zero Blocs”

Parliamentary rules state that a Member may not reference missing Members in the House while speaking. However, with the advent of new technology, the conversation perceived by outside observers is no longer limited to a Member addressing the chair.

Milliken ruled that while Galipeau’s tweet was regrettable that it is becoming impossible to police personal devices within the chamber and recommeded that the House of Commons study the use of such devices and services in a committee.

The Kindle was also spotted making its debut in the House during March gracing the desks of Ministers, replacing the larger tabbed green “answer” binders that they carry. With the Apple iPad hitting Canadian shelves later this month will we see another point of convergence of the useful and distracting in the House of Commons?

Poisson d’Avril Jean Charest

Jean Charest is the victim of an April Fool’s joke in Quebec this morning as tweets go flying about his reported resignation. Of course, the news isn’t true as “mauvaisoeil.com” was not considered a reputable news source in Quebec last time I checked! The website is mocked up to look like cyberpresse.ca and probably had a few people spitting out their coffee this morning when they saw the headline topping a teary eyed Photoshopped image of the Quebec Premier.

The fake news site reports that the legislature will not sit on Tuesday as Liberals scramble to select a new leader and reports that Finance Minister Raymond Bachand has been selected in the interim.

The article alleges that Charest’s resignation comes on the heels of an RCMP investigation in the province of political links to unions that work in construction.

An unrelated headline in the sidebar links to a story that suggests that Greenpeace is upset because the internet is powered by coal.

[Link]

John Williamson to run

The news came this morning from the Telegraph Journal that the Prime Minister’s director of communications, John Williamson, would be seeking Greg Thompson’s seat in the next election should he win the nomination.

I spoke to Mr. Thompson by phone this afternoon and the former Minister of Veterans Affairs told me that he’s known John’s family for years and that he called John himself and encouraged him to run. Thompson says he hopes for a broad field of well qualified-nomination contestants and believes John would do well.

The Prime Minister’s office offered the following on Williamson’s projected departure from the office, “Like a lot of Atlantic Canadians, John went elsewhere for a job.  But he is now returning to the only place he calls home.”

I’ve also learned that the Prime Minister has been pleased with Williamson’s work and that had Greg Thompson not announced his retirement, John would be staying put.  He has said that his job is not easy, but he is glad that he accepted it in August and enjoys working for the Prime Minister, which he feels is “an honour and an exceptional privilege”.

Also, I’ve come to understand that John will not commence his nomination campaign until once he has left PMO. In the meantime, John will devote all of his efforts to government business and as an added precaution, he will have no involvement in New Brunswick issues and files.

Williamson will no doubt be a strong contender for nomination and his history both on the partisan/government side as Harper comms and movement side with the CTF and Manning Centre will likely offer the voters of New Bruswick Southwest the confidence they’d need to elect him to Parliament after the next election.

Good luck, John.