Commons returning to civility

Good story from Star


Commons returning to civility
The Toronto Star
Friday, February 6, 2009
Page: A06
Section: News
Byline: Chantal Hebert
Source: Toronto Star

Against all odds, the much-battered 40th Parliament is off to a fresh and potentially productive start.

This could be a short truce, liable to be broken at the first sight of an opening in the polls for one of the main parties. Meanwhile, though, the House of Commons is tentatively on the way to becoming a place that is once again fit for visiting schoolchildren rather than a venue where their elders come to weep over the sorry state of the country's political debate.

For better or, usually, for worse, the tone in the Commons is essentially set by the government and the official Opposition over the 45-minute daily question period, and both have raised their game since the end-of-year parliamentary crisis.

The Liberal questions are more substantive and the government's answers less flippant.

In tone, if not in content, the official opposition under Michael Ignatieff has borrowed a page from the NDP and apparently rediscovered the virtues of earnestness and civility.

James Morton