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Macleans.ca

Canada’s magazine

Get back to work! I mean, get back to Parliament!

It’s just easier for a prime minister, any prime minister, to stay in the headlines than for an opposition leader, any opposition leader. Stephen Harper sat for an interview with BNN today — we’ll see the results later — and will be in Rivière du Loup (Mario Dumont’s old riding) tomorrow for a joint announcement with Jean Charest and, I’m told, Charest’s environment minister. There will be several more weeks like this before March.

Coyne, Wells, and as many as 308 very special guests

Near the end of our latest podcast (now with more-inferior-than-ever video! No worries, the tech people have checked our Skype settings and next week we’ll be much less jerky) (well, the video will be less jerky; we’ll be the same jerks we always were) (but I digress), Andrew Coyne and I make a very rash offer vis-a-vis tis whole prorogation business. I think it’s only fair to point out that I’m the one with the big idea and the big mouth. In this as in most things, Andrew is mostly innocent.

Money (or action?) where your mouth is

Joe Boughner writes a thoughtful post about what, if anything, it means that umpty-dump thousand people have joined a Facebook group against prorogation. There was a bit of back-and-forth this morning on Twitter (I’m @InklessPW) about whether any significance at all should be attached to the act of joining a Facebook group. Ottawa consultant guy Ian Capstick thinks it could be a gateway to more ardent and effective action. You may not be surprised to learn that I was the voice of sarcasm and cheap shots.