fuddle duddle

Friday December 7, 2012

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday December 7, 2012

Near-brawl erupts in House of Commons

Peter Van Loan and Thomas Mulcair drop f-bombs in Parliament

A confidential report says A verbal dust-up in the House of Commons almost wound up in a bench-clearing brawl. Peter Van Loan, the government’s House leader, appeared to set off the incident when he stormed across the floor of the Commons to confront his NDP counterpart, Nathan Cullen.

Microphones were shut off but video tape shows Van Loan waving his finger at Cullen and speaking in a heated manner.

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair, Cullen’s seat mate, stands up, whereupon a number of New Democrats surround Van Loan and appear to urge him to leave.

Finally, Defence Minister Peter MacKay rushes over, puts his hand on Van Loan’s shoulder and ushers him back across the centre aisle of the Commons to the government benches.

The contretemps was sparked by an NDP attempt to have a vote on the government’s omnibus budget bill ruled invalid because Finance Minister Jim Flaherty had been absent, even though he was named as the mover of the motion to pass the bill.

Speaker Andrew Scheer dismissed the matter Wednesday as a technical foul-up, but an angry Van Loan apparently felt compelled to register his annoyance directly with Cullen.

In a statement issued Wednesday night, Van Loan said he walked over to the NDP benches to discuss the vote issue, a snafu he blamed on Deputy Speaker Joe Comartin, a NDP MP.

“I conveyed my disappointment to the NDP House Leader for the hypocrisy of his complaint which related to a mistake by a member of his own caucus last night,” Van Loan said. (Source: Winnipeg Free Press)

 

Saturday October 20, 2012

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Saturday October 20, 2012

Lincoln Alexander 1922-2012

He was never one to sell himself short, to shrink into the background and idly watch.

Lincoln Alexander, who has passed away at the age of 90, always knew he was a politician, not a policy wonk. But he also knew he was a politician whose skin colour would lend his every move, his every accomplishment, the weight of history.

“I have no qualms about saying I don’t think anyone can work a room better than I can,” he once told an interviewer.

“I’ve never really been in awe of anyone. When you’re 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds and good lookin’, you know, you’re not in awe of too many people.”

It’s hard to imagine a man of lesser confidence surmounting so many barriers to African-Canadians in the span of a single lifetime — the first black Member of Parliament, the first black cabinet minister, Ontario’s first black lieutenant-general.

Alexander’s ability to mix courtliness and anger soon came to the fore amid 1971’s “fuddle duddle” scandal, in which Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was alleged to have mouthed an obscenity in the House of Commons, one directed at Alexander and Newfoundland MP John Lundrigan.

“He mouthed two words, the first word of which started with F, and the second word of which started with O,” Alexander told reporters at the time. “Now I think that we’ve reached a point where this type of conduct, it’s not only disgraceful but it’s unacceptable, and I tried to bring that point home.” (Source: Toronto Star)