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Twoops!
- October 20, 2009 3:36 PM
- By Chris Hall
A twitter gaffe, and apology. Both firsts, we think, by a Member of Parliament.
Ujjal Dosanjh rose on a point of order after question period today to apologize ''for tweeting about matters that ought not to have been tweeted about.''
Seems the Liberal MP from Vancouver South let his fingers do the talking about what was taking place at an in-camera, closed-door, for MPs-ears-and-eyes-only session of the Commons Defence Committee.
Dosanjh wanted the committee to summon Richard Colvin to testify. He's the senior Canadian diplomat who wrote a memo to senior bureaucrats in 2006 detailing the abusive treatment of Afghan detainees turned over to prison authorities in that country by Canadian soldiers.
But Bloc MPs joined with Conservative members of the committee to defeat Dosanjh's efforts to call Colvin as a witness.
Dosanjh turned to his Blackberry... and sent the following out on his Twitter account:
Dosanjh acknowledged his tweet was out of bounds because the meeting was supposed to be private."That was an error on my part,'' he told the Commons. ''And that entry will be deleted at the earlier possible opportunity, which is right after I get out of here.''
Alas, Dosanjh deleted the tweet from his account. But it remains on the unofficial political tweet archive. Proving once again that on the internet, everything lives forever.
Alas, Dosanjh deleted the tweet from his account. But it remains on the unofficial political tweet archive. Proving once again that on the internet, everything lives forever.
About the Authors
- Rosemary Barton started her television career reporting from Quebec City where she covered the ins and outs of Quebec politics. She moved to the CBC Parliamentary Bureau in 2007. She also stood on the side of road awaiting U.S. President Barack Obama's motorcade for hours in the cold. When she finally spotted him, all of Canada heard her shriek, "I saw him!"
- Alison Crawford worked in Fredericton, Calgary and Winnipeg before returning to her hometown to work in the CBC parliamentary bureau. Her beats include the RCMP, justice, public safety and the Liberals. Alison credits her investigative skills as well as a national etiquette column and coverage of a ferret Christmas party, with having prepared her for covering national politics.
- Andrew Davidson is a producer for the CBC politics page in Toronto. He joined CBCNews.ca's national desk in 2006 and was the lead news writer for the website's 2008 federal election coverage.
- Chris Hall is the National Affairs Editor for CBC News. He's been a member of the CBC Parliamentary Bureau since 1998. That adds up to 11 budgets, four elections, three prime ministers and too many confidence votes to count. Chris started his career in print before moving to the CBC in 1992. Since then, he's worked in Toronto, Halifax and St. John's, as well as Ottawa.
- Leslie MacKinnon Leslie's been working in news and current affairs since newsrooms used teletype, televison was shot on film and radio tape was edited with a razor blade. She saw through The Journal's long run on CBC-TV, and since then has worked in Halifax, Toronto and Ottawa in the CBC's various permutations. Right now, she's a TV news reporter in the political bureau, and likes certain parts of Ottawa - the canal, the Hill - a lot.
- Janyce McGregor has been a television producer in the CBC's Parliamentary Bureau since 2001. She started her career working for Studio 2 on TVOntario. In 2005 her then-doctoral student husband persuaded her to follow him to the U.K., where she worked for BBC World Service Radio in London. Janyce is originally a farm girl from southwestern Ontario. Her most important job title is "Norah's Mom."
- Chris Rands has been a member of the Parliamentary bureau since 2001. He started at Toronto's AM Radio giant CFRB before moving to CBC's National Radio News in 1996. Chris has worked in Toronto, Moncton, Sudbury, Regina, Washington and St John's. Every time Chris walks up to the Peace Tower, he wants to throw his hat in the air like Mary Tyler Moore.
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