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Bob Rae v. Time

MPs rising during Question Period are allotted 35 seconds to state their query. Exceed that time and the Speaker will cut off your microphone. Your intervention will then appear abbreviated (ending with a long dash) in Hansard.

Over the past week, interim Liberal leader Bob Rae, who admirably does not speak from a written script, rose to ask 16 questions. He failed to finish before being cut off a total of seven times—see here, here, here, here, here and here (and one question this morning). For the month, he’s run of time on a total of 12 occasions.

If you enjoy wagering on Question Period, you might add “Will Bob Rae finish his question in time?” to your list of prop bets.

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