3:20:23 PM
3:20:23 PM
As it turned out, I couldn’t just turn my back on my old pal, the Environment committee – at least, not until they’ve licked to the centre of the Tootsie Pop that is Jack Layton’s climate change bill. For those joining us late in the program, a brief recap: Jack Layton introduced a bill on climate change, and the Conservatives proceeded to filibuster it for weeks and weeks, until they just — sort of gave up the fight right before the break. Anyway, thanks to truceiness forged by the NDP’s Nathan Cullen, the Layton bill will no longer play the role of Prometheus having its guts ripped out nightly by ravenous eagles; instead, the committee will file a sort of they-a culpa to the Speaker, explaining why they weren’t able to make it through clause by clause. That’s why I’m here, in fact – today, they’re supposed to finish up the not-really-a-report, so I figured that I should be here. Closure, as they say.
3:30:02 PM
And it’s off to a brisk, efficient start; the chair will hand out copies of each party’s respective submissions, so that everyone can see what the others are going to tell the Speaker, as far as what went horribly wrong, and who is to blame.
Mark Warawa, who, as parliamentary secretary, is Environment Minister John Baird’s Man on the Scene, wants to make sure that his – and the government’s – concerns over the bill itself will be reflected in the final version.
And – wow, is that really that? I figured they’d at least want to talk about the letter. I wonder if I can make it to Finance in time to catch Diane Finley’s appearance. Probably not. Curse you, consensus, for messing up my afternoon!