Tuesday, August 12, 2008

The Rock 'em Sock 'em World of Ethics Committee Meetings

Who would have thought that ethics committee meetings would turn out to be the most exciting thing going on in Ottawa this summer? For the lengthy recap, check out Kady O'Malley, as per usual.

A picture recap of the insanity comes from occasional graphic contributor to this blog, Bob Huxtable:

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17 Comments:

  • I was on Kady's blog this afternoon and fell asleep trying to follow this. Even the Star isn't bothering with it. A few Libloggers who are taking their vacations at home appear to have been awake, because a couple of them were commenting.

    Robert Thibault's apology beat this out, basically because at least that's something people can understand.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:09 p.m.  

  • Jarrid, give it a rest. You said the same thing at Kady's. I just finished reading the thread.

    If you're so bored with the whole thing, why bother to 'check in'.

    Your ilk is rather pathetic at pretending this all means nothing.

    Diffuse the situation seems to be your mantra.

    Thibault's comments out weigh this? To CTV perhaps.

    He was tactless, but he was accurate and that CTV has given this so much weight is ridiculous.

    Dog, 'you have her', 'stick to your knitting'...do those terms ring a bell?

    Go back to sleep jarrid. That's where most of Harper supporters spend their time.

    By Blogger Karen, at 9:17 p.m.  

  • At least, Mulroney had the guts to appear at a hearing and defend himself. I guess that the conservative no-show means that they have no defense?

    By Blogger JimTan, at 9:50 p.m.  

  • "He was tactless, but he was accurate and that CTV has given this so much weight is ridiculous."

    No, Thibault's comments were stupid and ridiculous and CTV.ca provided so much weight to them because people actually read the story (probably because it's still relatively new). Congratulations to Mr. Thibault for stealing the day's political headline and providing another topic of discussion for the next few days while the ethics committee is going on. I'm sure he has the thanks of the CPC.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:27 p.m.  

  • knb, I just went to see what the fuss was all about. Turns out it was much ado about nothing. As for Thibault's comments, I guess I should expect as much from a Liberal partisan, but I can just imagine your outrage if it was a Conservative MP making the same comment about a Liberal senator: we wouldn't hear the end of it.

    But it rightfully beat out the committee hearings, despite the all points bulletin sent out by the Libloggers with that media partisan, Kady O'Malley doing her best to make something out of nothing.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:42 a.m.  

  • Jarrid - you partisan fool. There is one HUGE difference. Thibault apologized - MacKay never did.

    We all make mistakes but at least Thibault relayed his apologies.

    We're still waiting for many, many overdue apologies from the Tories.

    I watched it Jarrid - Kady is NOT making something out of nothing.

    You can mock all you want - if they are guilty it could mean jail time....that is serious business.

    By Blogger RuralSandi, at 5:39 a.m.  

  • "if they are guilty it could mean jail time."

    Jail time? Really? The ethics committee exists to find enough evidence to throw people in jail??

    Forgive my ignorance, but didn't the RCMP conduct an investigation and find no evidence of wrongdoing? I'm unsure of the mandate of this ethics committee, but is it to find evidence of wrongdoing? Is it to amass evidence to throw people in jail? It would seem so, judging by Sandi's comment above.

    But how does that work? How can a couple of partisan MPs possibly find wrongdoing where the RCMP found none?

    Can someone please shed some light on my doubts?

    By Blogger Mike514, at 8:19 a.m.  

  • jarrid said:

    "I was on Kady's blog this afternoon and fell asleep trying to follow this."

    Well of course you did, jarrid. All 2 yr. olds need an afternoon nap.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:24 a.m.  

  • Mike514,

    Jail time is in reference to a witness, Mr. Lowry, who stated yesterday that the CPC told him he did not have to go to the hearing - even though he was subpoenead (sp?) to appear.

    This is in contempt of Parliament & has serious LEGAL ramifications. It may also be the reason that the 4 witnesses scheduled to appear yesterday morning were a no-show. Nor did they make any communication whatsoever to say they weren't coming. Nothing has been heard from them.

    Hope that helps clear that up for you.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:32 a.m.  

  • Thibault's comments weren't any worse than MacKay's "keep your knitting to yourself" ones to Alexa McDonough. It'll blow over just like those did.

    The "ageist" stuff is just silly though. Everyone plays on that thing - just look at the McCain campaign.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:43 a.m.  

  • How did Kady O' Malley ever trick Maclean's into giving her a job writing inane observations about committees nobody cares about to a national readership the size of a university auditorium?

    Honestly, good on her, but what a joke of a job she has.

    By Blogger sir john a., at 10:19 a.m.  

  • About Kady, I'm surprised she's not affiliated to Liblogs yet. I guess she figures being a blogger releases her from journalistic standards.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:52 a.m.  

  • The Conservative campaign to bash Kady O' Malley is one of the most pathetic things I have ever seen. It consists of:

    1. Commenting on her blog and many others that she wastes time and money (why do they care how Macleans spends its money?) covering things no one cares about. No one, that is, except for the people who care enough to spend the better part of their day bashing her in the blogosphere.

    2. Calling her a Liberal. Because pointing out idiocy and ridiculous behaviour makes one a partisan.

    3. When 1 & 2 don't work, resorting to borderline and blatant sexism.

    Kady should be proud, the governing party is clearly afraid of her.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:09 a.m.  

  • "Kady should be proud, the governing party is clearly afraid of her."

    Is it really the goal of a reporter to incur the wrath of the governing party? I enjoy reading her blog because it's funny, entertaining, and points out idiocy in politics but she has a definite bias. Just flip through her posts over the last couple of months and count the ones that paint the Conservatives in a negative light and the ones that paint the Liberals in a negative light.

    Kady even tried to defend the Liberals in the whole Jennifer Wright saga. I mean if pointing out stupidity is her schtick she should have had a field day with that one.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:05 p.m.  

  • Is it really the goal of a reporter to incur the wrath of the governing party?

    The answer, in Canada these days, is yes. Reporters wear Conservative disdain like a badge of honour. As such, reporters are pressured into being biased and slanted against the government in order to be accepted by their peers.

    Journalists consider themselves the opposition. The fact they aren't elected and as such not accountable doesn't seem to matter to them.

    The line between being an tough but fair journalist and a blatantly biased journalist is being crossed every day in Canada.

    Kady O' Malley gives little pretense to objectivity, but I'm afraid objectivity is a virtue that's been long abandoned by Ottawa reporters.

    It's wayyyyy more important to be cool. Kady totally gets it.

    By Blogger sir john a., at 3:20 p.m.  

  • It's stupid to accuse Thibault of sexism, just like it was stupid to accuse MacKay of the same over "stick to your knitting".

    That said, I'm always happy to see Liberals hoisted on their own petard of fraudulent grievance mongering. (See also: Kinsella and "baking cookies")

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:53 p.m.  

  • Just to be clear, the RCMP found there wasn't sufficient evidence to prosecute in the case of the Cadman Scandal, because the only direct witnesses still alive are those who would be accused, and since the offer apparantly wasn't taken, there's no paper trail. Mr. Harper still has to explain what he meant when he said he knew there were financial considerations being offered to Mr. Cadman in exchange for his vote to bring down the government of Canada.

    With regard to the in-and-out affair, jail time will not come from this committee, but if Elections Canada's investigation shows that the conservatives exceeded the election spending limits, the official agent for the party can be fined $1000 and/or put in prison for 3 months. The party itself can be fined $25,000.

    If they find that there was collusion among the local ridings, then the agent of each riding is also subject to a possible $1000 fine and/or 3 months in prison, and the party fined $25,000 for each instance.

    Submitting false invoices (such as those with GST being handwritten in) is a separate offence and as such additional penalties can apply.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:32 p.m.  

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