Cadman Should Consider Joining Layton's NDP

[bigdude]

Chuck Cadman should consider joining the Layton New Democrats as they appear to have a lot in common - they both listen to their constituents!

Laconic MP held government's fate

Chuck Cadman for an instant seemed to be the most popular — and powerful — man in the country with a choir to sing his praises.

Clapping in unison and warbling in surprisingly good tune, the NDP caucus rose to serenade the Independent MP.

"He's got the whole world in his hands, he's got the whole wide world."

The old gospel anthem represented only a slight exaggeration. At 5:40 p.m., the cancer-stricken B.C. Independent MP merely held the fate of Parliament, the minority Liberal government and the immediate future of federal politics in his hands.

A succession of Conservatives clustered around Cadman's back-row seat to greet him with a handshake or backslap.

At 6:02, he unfolded his lanky frame and stood for a long moment, his hands crossed over his belly as a shower of applause rained down on him from the Liberal benches.

Gleeful Liberals shredded sheets of paper and tossed them

heavenward.

Grim Tories wore the long faces, slumped shoulders and blank stares of a squad that had just lost in overtime.

Cadman eased back into his chair and pumped the hand of his seatmate, the Bloc Quebecois' Marc Boulianne.

The Liberals swarmed around newly minted Human Resources Minister Belinda Stronach before a single Conservative rose. After being plucked from the Tory bench and catapulted into cabinet, her vote kept the Liberals in power.

The Tories made a brave show of support for Stephen Harper when the Conservative leader cast the first `nay' vote against the budget. But after Cadman's action, there was no denying the futility of the Conservative opposition.

Conservative MPs bobbed up and down to register no confidence in the government, but tensions slackened instantly. MPs went back to chatting or thumbing messages into their ubiquitous blackberries.

The vote result, a deadlocked 152-152, was read out by the Commons clerk.

[kimmy]

Chuck Cadman should consider joining the Layton New Democrats as they appear to have a lot in common - they both listen to their constituents!

You don't actually know anything about the man's politics, do you.

-k

[cybercoma]

Kinda tough to believe a party listens to its constituents when they all vote the same way. I find it hard to believe that every riding has the same opinions on an issue as split as this one was.