Not to pick on Pierre—one witness assures he’s not entirely without merit—but, again, he seems to beg clarification. Indeed, it’s getting to be that anytime a member of this government cites a seemingly authoritative source, a subsequent fact check is necessary.

On Friday, the terribly serious folks at Democracy Watch were forced to publicly clarify their own views after Peter Van Loan cut-and-pasted a little too loosely. And today, as noted below, Mr. Poilievre attributed comments to the former chief electoral officer that were apparently written by someone else entirely.

Meanwhile, when the parliamentary secretary wasn’t citing Jean-Pierre Kingsley, he managed to invoke the nation’s newspaper.

“Mr. Speaker, the Globe and Mail, April 25, 2008: ‘Look at any party’s filings and the flows are recorded for all to see. The Liberal leader’s 2006 campaign filing shows money moving in and out on the same day. Various New Democrats filings reveal that in their more centralist structure, more money flows up than down, but they too mix national and local spending freely.’

“It happens all the time. It comes right from the Globe and Mail. It is a fact. The other parties just have to accept that.”

Hard to argue with the official stance of the wizened minds at the Globe and Mail. If only it were so.

While you might assume the honourable member was quoting from a Globe editorial, he was in fact referring to an op-ed by a guest contributor. The author in question? Robin Sears.

And, well, we’ve already dealt with him.