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Budget vote marathon
CBC News
Posted: Jun 13, 2012 5:05 PM ET
Last Updated: Jun 15, 2012 12:51 AM ET
Manitoba Conservative MP Rod Bruinooge had a visit from his family Thursday morning in the lobby adjacent to the Commons, where breakfast was served. This photo he circulated on Twitter shows them posing with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who was also on a break. (Twitter)MPs have completed a lengthy voting session after working slowly and methodically through an exhaustive list of amendments to the government's budget implementation bill.
After a series of delays, voting began at about 1 a.m. ET Thursday. The process ran non-stop until until just after 11 p.m., more than 22 hours later.
MPs were voting on 871 amendments that were bundled into about 159 groups to speed the voting.
Get a recap of the action on the blog below, read more about the budget vote here and follow MPs own tweets from the Commons chamber on our MPs live blog.
Mobile users, follow the live blog here.
Some highlights:
- The expected start time for the marathon voting session was delayed nearly eight hours Wednesday, after the Liberals forced a series of votes on other parliamentary matters.
- Sorting out the 871 motions into 159 groupings and reading them into the record along with a series of theatrical but otherwise meaningless voice votes chewed up four hours Wednesday night before the recorded votes even commenced.
- The first vote, at 12:59 a.m., took just over seven minutes to complete, with each MP rising and sitting again at their seat. The Conservatives prevailed 150-133.
- Thursday morning, a quick burst of song broke through the steady hum of background chatter as MPs serenaded New Democrat MP Hong Mai with "Happy Birthday." The Quebec MP turns 39 Thursday — at least in the real world off Parliament Hill. Inside the Commons, the calendar continues to read June 13 as Wednesday won't officially end for MPs until the last vote is counted and the House adjourned.
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