Inside Politics

Official Languages Update: And they all lived happily ever after -- on the public record. (For now.)

by Kady O'Malley Posted: February 14, 2012 4:30 PM Last Updated: February 14, 2012 4:36 PM
UPDATE:  Tenacious minority: 1, Tyrannical majority: 0

After a thoroughly entertaining hour and a half or so of parliamentary righteousness-powered filiblusterage by NDP MP Robert Aubin -- who, as promised, delivered a lively and informative over of in camera sessions through the ages, as well as a brief history of Hansard -- punctuated only by the occasional grumbled point of order from the government side of the table, the Conservative contingent backed down, and agreed to adjourn debate on the motion until after the committee completes its current study. Does that mean the battle may be rejoined in future? Who knows -- but at least this time, the outside world will be watching, at least until ejected from the room.

For a full recap, scroll down and replay the liveblog from today.

MPs reach a deal to adjourn debate on the Menegakis motion -- and the Harris amendment --  with the unanimous consent of the committee, which means that the government's latest attempt to force committee business in camera has been thwarted, at least for the moment. (That doesn't mean it can't come back, mind you.)

Original headline: Committee Liveblog: Government-backed in camera manoeuvre sparks 'Marathon of Indignation' at Official Languages

As noted in Orders of the Day, an opposition-backed "Marathon of Outrage" is in full swing at Official Languages, so I'm heading over to cover today's installment. 

 For (much) more detail on what led to the procedural stalemate currently underway, read this backgrounder, but here's the short version: The government tried to force through a motion to hold all future discussion of committee business in camera, but forgot to count heads and got snookered when the opposition called a snap vote to open up that debate to the public. 

The battle has been raging for two weeks, with no end of sight, and no apparent mechanism available to the Conservative contingent to bring it to a close. 

That is, unless there's some sort of procedural trick that they're planning to invoke, but if that was the case, you'd think they'd have done so already. 

Read a recap of the committee drama below.

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Tags: blackberry jungle, committee liveblog, in camera watch, marathon of outrage, official languages, parliamentary karma