Tilly O'Neill-Gordon

The deficit will be eliminated. Somehow.

And now the debut of a new weekly feature here at Beyond the Commons: a wholly arbitrary ranking of the ten most worthy, or at least entertaining, MPs, excluding the Prime Minister, cabinet members and party leaders. A celebration of all that is great and ridiculous about the House of Commons. Exact criteria will take shape over time, points for now will be awarded on general competence and ability to amuse me.

But never let it be said Parliament is no place for a Ringo joke

To mark World Autism Awareness Day, Senator Jim Munson (below, right), and several MPs held a reception for the Canadian ASD Alliance, a group representing seven autism organizations.

The Conservatives made a minor fuss today about the New Brunswick school principal who decided—a year ago, mind you—to stop playing the national anthem before class each day. 

“It is a song that belongs to each and every Canadian,” proclaimed Mike Allen in the House.

“I was very saddened to hear that the principal of a New Brunswick school has banned the singing of O Canada,” moped Tilly O’Neill-Gordon.

“As a Canadian and a proud Canadian I believe that we should celebrate our country,” Keith Ashfield explained to reporters.

All of which is very edifying. Although, it would perhaps be easier to take their noble defense of our national song seriously if the party hadn’t just dispatched a press release that inserts a previously undisclosed apostrophe into the anthem’s title.

CONSERVATIVE PARTY OF CANADA CALLS FOR RETURN OF O’CANADA AT NEW BRUNSWICK SCHOOL 

Michael Ignatieff rose at the end of yesterday’s brief debate to a standing ovation from his side and a smattering of applause from the government benches. Various Conservatives then mocked the Bloc and NDP members for not showing similar enthusiasm.

With the Throne Speech through, MPs returned to the House to lounge about before business began. Speaker Peter Milliken fiddled with the morning paper’s Sudoku. Veteran Affairs Minister Greg Thomson flipped through the New Yorker. The Prime Minister scrutinized a copy of the new seating chart, periodically looking up to see precisely where his least favourite members of the Liberal side were now seated.