Who Is Mister Speaker Anyway?
How to reduce whining in Parliament
Members of Parliament aren’t allowed to talk to each other as they meet in the House of Commons to work together to run the country. This isn’t a joke 1. The only person they are allowed to talk to is a guy they call “Mister Speaker”. Instead of having a discussion and working it out amongst themselves, they whine about each other to daddy:
MPs should be expected to listen to others' contributions carefully, with a posture of seeking truth rather than of attempting to prevail or to debate. It is more than reasonable to expect maturity and wisdom from those we’ve entrusted to make decisions on our behalf. To help facilitate this change, it might be worth trying the following.
- MPs could address the group as a whole whenever they make a contribution to a meeting.
- Direct responses to contributions in meetings would not be allowed. Instead of commenting on why someone else is wrong, MPs will have to simply say what they believe.
Inter-party beer league softball should be mandatory as well to help everyone get along.
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"Any Member participating in debate must address the Speaker [...] Members are less apt to engage in direct heated exchanges and personal attacks when their comments are directed to the Chair rather than to another Member."
Source: parl.gc.ca back
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