Y’all can’t text me memes like this when I’m in a meeting about return to the office. I don’t have a Scrabble face let alone a poker face

May 1, 1970: A special parliamentary group is in the House of Commons gallery... Speakers and Deputy Speakers from the provincial legislatures! Can't say the gallery didn't have enough chairs that day!

Get it, chairs?!?

.... sorry.

With the new budget bill on notice , now comes the time for Ottawa’s nerdiest guessing game - how many pages will there be in the BIA? (Previous stats below for you bold folks who wish to hazard a guess in the replies :p)

Today in Canadian parliamentary history - May 1, 1952: The Senate of Canada invites Congressmen on the floor for the first time to speak. US Senator Guy Gillette (D-Iowa), Rep Leroy Johnson (R-California), and former US Supreme Court Justice Owen Roberts comprised the delegation.

Curiously, the whole thing passed without a single “oh oh!” attributed to “Some Hon. Members” in yesterday’s Hansard. 🕵️

*checks calendar*
yet again it's time for the world's worst parliamentary meme

Just as a footnote on parliamentary ejections in the provincial context... Ontario once had a Speaker who, in their prior MPP life, was ejected twice :-P

Very interesting, even just visually, to see Question Period today after the Opposition departed (its Leader having been ordered to withdraw by the Speaker). The Speaker described the situation as “exceptional”

(Paging QP scholar Ruxandra Serban)

Today in Canadian parliamentary history - April 30, 1987: The Prime Minister and 10 Premiers issue the Meech Lake Communiqué announcing agreement in principle for, among other things, pursuing constitutional entrenchment of Senate reform.

Spoiler alert.... yeah, about that :-P

A bonus re today in parliamentary history -- on April 29, 1978, the Globe & Mail ran 'A Day in the Life' of Jean Chrétien (then Finance Minister, later PM) in which he gives this very honest quote and says 'Lately I've been trying to cut down on Jello desserts'

It appears I’ll be the last speaker on the last panel on the last day of a conference in two weeks. Forget ‘save the best for last’ … this is ‘save some delusion for the conclusion’ - can’t wait :)

Christoph Konrath (Austrian Parliament) and me are putting together a special issue on 'Political impartiality in a parliamentary context' for the Int’l Journal of Parliamentary Studies. If interested get in touch! Details below and/or in the link: shorturl.at/cxCL8

Today in Canadian parliamentary history takes us to Saskatchewan on April 29, 1980: For the first time in that legislature's history, a vote was held on non-confidence in the Speaker. It failed 29-11.

Today in Hansard history - April 28, 1978: An erudite and eloquent exchange from which we learn many things...

Today in 🇨🇦 parliamentary history - April 28, 1904: Parliament celebrates Senator David Wark, 100, with a portrait unveiling. He was oldest legislator anywhere in the world (later surpassed by another Canadian senator) and the last living senator appointed by Her Majesty in 1867.

Today’s Hansard reading spot - come on, tulips!

Today in Canadian parliamentary history - April 27, 2010: The Speaker rules in the Afghan detainee matter, asserting that the Executive cannot withhold documents that the House orders to be produced — even on national security grounds. Full Hansard: ourcommons.ca/Content/House/…

I sincerely want a spinoff of Drunk History called Drunk Legislative History featuring inebriated dramatic re-enactments of speeches from Hansard.