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It is sometimes worth paying QP some attention

There is apparently some lament—from no less than the Prime Minister even— that the Liberals didn’t use Question Period this afternoon to follow up Michael Ignatieff’s announcement this morning. Funny thing is, they did.

Indeed, between Michael Ignatieff, John McCallum and Michael Savage they managed to broach the isotope shortage, wonder about the latest deficit projections, claim confusion over government spending on infrastructure and ask if the government might be interested in fixing employment insurance. They moved on then to other concerns.

Funnier thing, they’ve been asking the same sorts of things for awhile now. Months, even.

He first asked about EI reform on March 24. He first asked about delays in stimulus spending on May 12. He first asked about the deficit on May 28. And a few days later, on June 2, he got in his first question on the isotope shortage. 

Now, Mr. Ignatieff made it fairly explicit when Parliament returned in January that he would be using Question Period to ask questions to which he actually wanted answers. But this has obviously proved an abysmal failure. If Parliament survives to see the summer, Mr. Ignatieff should perhaps plan to return in the fall with a proposal that Question Period be done away with in favour of dueling press conferences.

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