Look at me, I'm Pat Martin!
- Thread starter Locutus
- Start date
I didn't say he did, I was just pointing out that there are other ways to express his true opinion that would be acceptable to more people. Sensible people who are trying to gain support generally want to encompass as large a number as possible.
Dude started with 1,600 yesterday according to the article and now it's grown to 5,200 +/-. Stevie boy is over 180,000.
Whether he tried to pad his audience or not is unclear. Likely just an errant rage at a majority government that probably doesn't care what he thinks.
But all these guys have a pretty good idea how to attract much needed attention. Or at least their advisers do.
I'd rather he stick to decorum. I'd rather all of them did. That said, use of vulgarity by an MP shows nothing but contempt for his position and his constituents. The fact that he is an MP requires him to be a representative of his constituents whether he is on the job or not - in public or private.
They can get as 'heated' as they want - it is the manner in which they express that heat as Members of Parliament, that concerns me.
Make changes to signed documents all you want, spend on the tax payer's credit card without keeping receipts, you'll still be able to serve in his cabinet... just don't tweet an expletive. :lol:
For the record, I have no problem or issue with foul language. I do not get offended, I do not care.
That being said, there is a certain level of decorum that should be maintained if one is a public official. So although I do not find his language offensive, I do find his behaviour crass.
That being said, there is a certain level of decorum that should be maintained if one is a public official. So although I do not find his language offensive, I do find his behaviour crass.
Martin's tweets are a non-issue......they just go to show the man is an arsehole, and we all knew that anyway.
As for the issues of closure and time allocation........the opposition has been spoiled by successive minority gov'ts. They just can't face up to the fact they have no power.
I would, despite what I just said, agree that the omnibus crime legislation badly needs to be cut up and amended in consultation with the provinces, as they will wind up with the bill.
But, majority rules.
As for the destruction of the LGR, we've been debating it for 17 years.....PLEASE closure!!!!!
As for the issues of closure and time allocation........the opposition has been spoiled by successive minority gov'ts. They just can't face up to the fact they have no power.
I would, despite what I just said, agree that the omnibus crime legislation badly needs to be cut up and amended in consultation with the provinces, as they will wind up with the bill.
But, majority rules.
As for the destruction of the LGR, we've been debating it for 17 years.....PLEASE closure!!!!!
Did the CPC phone you too for donations to take the LGR dismantling to the third tier?
MAXIMUM COLPY PWNAGE
MP's vulgarity worked
Message to Tories got heard across the country: Let the opposition do its job
From time to time, Winnipeg NDP MP Pat Martin sets aside his natural shyness to draw attention to issues that he believes are being overlooked. He is famous, for instance, for holding a puppet show at a 2007 news conference to attack a bill that allowed asbestos to be used in children's toys.
Martin's tweets made headlines, and that night he was on TV, looking like a bandito with his Movember moustache, emphatically declining to apologize and complaining that the government was pushing through too many bills without debate.
The Conservatives complained about Martin's bad language, but they are in a glass house, since the complainer-in-chief was Saskatchewan MP Tom Lukiwski, who is gentlemanly and effective in the House, but was once captured on video saying worse than anything Martin tweeted.
And Martin has a point. The government has used time allocation - shutting down debate prematurely - seven times this session, which is a record.
The gun registry and wheat board are toast, and the budget is going to get passed. These issues were debated at length in the election campaign, which the Conservatives won, and they have to keep their promises.
But the people who voted for opposition MPs have the right to have their views expressed, and some of the bills need the debate. The Conservatives have moved time allocation on their seat-redistribution bill, which they just introduced.
The crime omnibus bill contains elements of nine bills, some of which have already been debated, but some of it is new, and the justice minister of Quebec recently drew up a list of proposed amendments that deserve careful consideration.
But the government only wanted two short meetings for clause-by-clause debate.
Former Liberal justice minister Irwin Cotler, who is likely the most learned person in the House of Commons, called it "a black day for a parliamentary democracy and a shameful day for a constitutional democracy."
NDP justice critic Jack Harris talked for most of the day. "Get over yourselves," he said, with the saucy egalitarianism that comes naturally to Newfoundlanders. "You're a majority."
When Harris was first elected to Parliament in 1987, he said, and Brian Mulroney had a majority, the government regularly adopted opposition amendments. "We don't expect you to adopt every one of our amendments," he said. "We'd like you to, but we don't expect you to. We expect you to listen to them with respect. We expect you to consider them seriously and we would hope that you would adopt some of them that are either improvements to the bill, because you haven't thought of those things, or you're willing to consider new ideas. That's not a bad thing."
Harris wore them down. Late in the afternoon, Conservative MP Brian Jean, who was nodding off, went to the back of the room for a coffee. Harris pulled him aside, and they stepped out into the hallway. They came back with a compromise: two full days next week for clause-byclause debate.
The prime minister gave way, likely because Martin's vulgar tweets made Canadians pay attention to what's going on in Parliament.
Governments often find it tiresome to face their critics.
It is easy for politicians to take advice from obsequious underlings and pass their time bragging, cutting ribbons, handing out cheques and receiving respectful applause. But it is dangerous to believe your own press releases, and wise to listen carefully to your critics. The Conservatives have a majority. They should get over themselves and let the opposition MPs do their (expletive) jobs.
MP's vulgarity worked - The Gazette
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Well that's just wonderful.
A Member of our House of Commons not only gets away with the use of vulgarity, he is rewarded for doing so - wonderful example for our kids.
A Member of our House of Commons not only gets away with the use of vulgarity, he is rewarded for doing so - wonderful example for our kids.
Yeah if you make homophobic comments and get sued for libel you get to stay in the CPC.
Very wonderful.
Very wonderful.
We'll have to wait and see how effective his swearing was come election time.... It'll be fun to observe all of the whining from the left when the attack ads come out that shows over and over just what kind of representative he really is.
Have you ever been to Question Period? Kids on the playground are a better example.
You mean those CPC attack ads funded by Ezra Levant to promote free speech?
At least now, the opposition will actually be able to ask questions.