The Torture of Question Period

[scribblet]

I saw this and thought it was worth discussing, Q.P.is the pits it's a zoo with nothing but bickering and heckling. The motion to reform QP went to committee, but they couldn't agree - go figure

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/the-torture-of-question-period/article1977528/

There’s one gaping hole in the Conservative Party’s election platform: It overlooks the rot infiltrating the culture of the House of Commons that all MPs have come to recognize and lament.

Last May, Conservative MP Michael Chong introduced a motion that deplored the nastiness and futility of exchanges in the Commons, particularly during Question Period. He proposed that the parties develop a program of reforms. In October, by a vote of 235-44, his motion was adopted in principle and referred to a committee. But that committee met only once and broke down in disagreement. The Bloc Québécois, in particular, seemed to be against making Parliament more functional.

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But there’s a ray of hope. The Liberal platform says: “Many observers believe a model closer to that of the British Parliament would be better, with more time for both questions and answers, scheduled themes and rosters of required ministers, and a weekly Prime Minister’s question period (though the Prime Minister should still be expected to attend all days possible).”

The one way to redeem our disgraceful political culture is to do what Tony Blair did. The Conservatives must announce before May 2 that the Chong reform motion is part of their electoral platform. Then, together, the Conservatives and Liberals can bring about desperately needed reforms.

cont...

[RNG]

I saw this and thought it was worth discussing, Q.P.is the pits it's a zoo with nothing but bickering and heckling. The motion to reform QP went to committee, but they couldn't agree - go figure

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/the-torture-of-question-period/article1977528/

cont...

None of our parties would ever consider such a thing. They hate facts and logic. They just lust for MSM soundbites and crap like that. Serious debate based on fact and knowledge - dream on. They are all assholes. Our only hope is to try and pick the least assholey one.

[Tilter]

My whole problem is that they will run the "debate" the same damn way they do in the HOP, in other words CHAOS. If I remember the rules of debate correctly (& at 75+ years that is doubtful) none of the rules accepted interruption, shouting over the opponent's rebuttal or any allowance for a 4 way harangue that we have seen in the past "debates. If these guys act like this (and they will again act like a bunch of 5th graders) I will put in a DVD & watch something more peaceful like "The War of the Worlds" and see something better and when I say that, if any of you have see that movie you will see how low the quality of that movie gets you know what I think of 4 highly thot of (in some circles) people acting like idiots, ruining a perfectly good hour of prime time for a chance to once again shout at each other

[RNG]

I totally blame the MSM. They don't want reasoned debate, which takes more than 15 seconds. They want soundbites of one MP insulting another. That is modern news. Untill we ban all those asses, we got what we got.

[Smallc]

I totally blame the MSM. They don't want reasoned debate, which takes more than 15 seconds. They want soundbites of one MP insulting another. That is modern news. Untill we ban all those asses, we got what we got.

Except you're blaming the wrong people. The media needs to get ratings, and so they create programming that people want to see. It's our fault, if anything.

[RNG]

Except you're blaming the wrong people. The media needs to get ratings, and so they create programming that people want to see. It's our fault, if anything.

Sort of 50/50. The blithering idiots want it, so the money grubbing media provide it. Both to blame.

[Smallc]

Sort of 50/50. The blithering idiots want it, so the money grubbing media provide it. Both to blame.

The media has to make money in order to operate, and the CBC has to justify its existence.