The QP Clip: Jason Kenney can only smile
The exchange you can’t miss from this afternoon’s Question Period
Journalists watch a T.V. as the Speaker of the House of Commons Peter Miliken tallies votes in the the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa Tuesday, May 10, 2005 the Conservative party and Bloc Quebecois are pushing for a non-confidence vote. (CP Photo/Jonathan Hayward)
Share
Liberal MP John McCallum is finally sick and tired of Conservatives blaming Liberals for everything. If something goes wrong with a government program that predates the Tories, McCallum charged, they just pass the blame to a since-defeated government.
There’s some truth to the complaint. Check the record for “former Liberal government” and up pops a lengthy list of Tories with long memories. They make a past time of remembering the bad old days.
Today, McCallum attempted to put an end to all that. Take some ownership of ongoing abuse of temporary foreign workers programs, he urged, staring and pointing at Employment Minister Jason Kenney. “It’s nobody else’s mess!”
Kenney stood and chuckled. He mused about Liberals and New Democrats who have asked for exemptions for temporary foreign workers in their ridings. These private overtures were the subject of some debate earlier today. Kenney’s defence of his own work on the TFW file is just as obstinate as Democratic Reform Minister Pierre Poilievre’s defence of his planned electoral reform.
Big difference: the Tories sitting behind Kenney laugh and holler as the minister responds, more boisterous support than Poilievre expects when he rises on the Fair Elections Act.