Ottawa

‘Stop the political games’

From January 30 through yesterday—a total of 23 sitting days for the House of Commons—eight different Conservative MPs have combined, for reasons one hesitates to consider in public, to reference well-known and periodically infamous Liberal strategist Warren Kinsella, by name, a total of 36 times in the House. Only one, Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl, seemed to do so spontaneously, the other 35 mentions coming in apparently scripted moments.

Michael Ignatieff has taken to laughing, rolling his eyes, sighing or frowning—or some times all four at once—in response. Once he appeared to respond with a version of the international gesture for brushing dirt off one’s shoulder.

Yesterday, as another Conservative stood to offer comment, a Liberal yelped, “People are losing their jobs!”

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