Ottawa

It hurts when you’re not invited to the party

Another way politics is like high school

Greg Rickford was recently miffed that he wasn’t invited to the Ontario government’s announcement of new funding for the Experimental Lakes Area—new funding being necessary because of the Harper government’s decision to withdraw its funding.

Pat Martin probably feels Mr. Rickford’s pain—credit where it’s due: Mr. Rickford seems to have expressed his displeasure without swearing on Twitter—and various opposition MPs would probably concur that it’d be nicer if we all tried to be more proactively inclusive. Indeed, NDP MP Jean Crowder is unimpressed at having not received an invitation to a recent government funding announcement, to which Conservative MP John Duncan responds dismissively.

On Friday, MP Duncan said he was proud to have the opportunity to announce the federal funding and was shocked Crowder would want to attend. “I was proud to have the opportunity to announce our Government’s support for important, community-driven projects in the Cowichan Valley through initiatives like the Community Infrastructure Improvement Fund and the Recreational Fisheries Conservation Partnership Program,” Duncan said.

“Quite frankly, I am surprised that Ms. Crowder wanted to attend the event given the fact that she voted against both of these programs.”

In voting against the government’s 2012 and 2013 budgets economic action plans, you see, Ms. Crowder was apparently stating her categorical opposition to infrastructure and conservation.

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