Okay. so I just happened to be watching post-vote Points of Order, and who should pop up but Bloc Quebecois MP Pierre Paquette with a motion to have the House recognize the birthday of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the first publication of On the Origin of Species. Does he have unanimous consent? Sadly, he does not — and since I wasn’t actually in the Chamber, I can’t tell y’all who denied it, but hopefully someone who was there was paying attention and will be able to fill me in. I’ll keep you posted. It just seems so petty, somehow.
The text of Paquette’s motion:
M. Pierre Paquette (Joliette, BQ): Monsieur le Président, je demande le consentement unanime de la Chambre pour l’adoption de la motion suivante, et je vous la lis:
Que cette Chambre souligne le 200e anniversaire de naissance de Charles Darwin et le 150e anniversaire de la publication De l’origine des espèces par sélection naturelle ou des lois de transformation des êtres organisés, livre qui a initié la théorie de l’évolution, seule explication scientifiquement avérée et reconnue à l’origine de l’être humain.
Okay. so I just happened to be watching post-vote Points of Order, and who should pop up but Bloc Quebecois MP Pierre Paquette with a motion to have the House recognize the birthday of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the first publication of On the Origin of Species. Does he have unanimous consent? Sadly, he does not — and since I wasn’t actually in the Chamber, I can’t tell y’all who denied it, but hopefully someone who was there was paying attention and will be able to fill me in. I’ll keep you posted. It just seems so petty, somehow.
The text of Paquette’s motion:
M. Pierre Paquette (Joliette, BQ): Monsieur le Président, je demande le consentement unanime de la Chambre pour l’adoption de la motion suivante, et je vous la lis:
Que cette Chambre souligne le 200e anniversaire de naissance de Charles Darwin et le 150e anniversaire de la publication De l’origine des espèces par sélection naturelle ou des lois de transformation des êtres organisés, livre qui a initié la théorie de l’évolution, seule explication scientifiquement avérée et reconnue à l’origine de l’être humain.
Je pense que vous aurez le consentement unanime pour adopter cette motion.
UPDATE: An English translation, courtesy of Colleague Gohier of Deux Maudits Anglais:
Mr. Pierre Paquette (Joliette, BQ): Mister Speaker, I request the unanimous consent
of the House for the adoption of the following motion, which I will read to you:
That this House recognizes the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the publication of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, the book which initiated the theory of evolution, the only scientifically-proven and recognized explanation of the origins of the human being.
I think you will obtain unanimous consent to adopt this motion.
UPDATE: Followup post now up! Turns out it wasn’t a sinister anti-science plot after all. This time.