The QP Clip: The 90-second question about patronage

This afternoon, NDP MP Ryan Cleary was busy working himself into a frenzy, exposing the Conservatives’ most recent patronage appointments at the Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation, when heckling and hollering in the House drowned him out. What finally caused the collective snap was Cleary’s claim that Tories and Liberals are all alike (not a new refrain from NDP benches), and that the whole lot of ’em are crooked.

Cleary’s preamble went on for 41 seconds. Speaker Andrew Scheer waited half a minute for things to calm down, then spent a further 17 seconds calling for order and handing the floor back to Cleary. The outspoken Newfoundlander wrapped up his question in another sentence. All told, the question took about a minute and a half to deliver. The episode illustrates how frustrating this spring might be for Scheer, who Aaron Wherry reminds us is looking perturbed of late.