Posted on 05/11/2005 4:08:23 PM PDT by GMMAC
Sick MP suggests PM taking advantage of his illness
Last Updated Wed, 11 May 2005 18:41:04 EDT
CBC News
OTTAWA - A Conservative MP being treated for cancer suggested that Prime Minister Paul Martin is hoping that his illness may cause him to miss a vote on the federal budget.
Darrel Stinson and another Conservative MP who is also in treatment for cancer, David Chatters, brought up their illnesses during question period Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, Martin set May 19 as the date to vote on the budget, a confidence motion that would topple the government if it is defeated. But the Opposition rejected the offer, demanding that a confidence vote be held immediately. Stinson questioned Martin's motivation for delaying.
"Is he hoping that some of us may not be able to make it?" Stinson asked in the House of Commons.
Responding to the question, Liberal House leader Tony Valeri directed his comments at Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, who had earlier suggested Martin was holding the vote next week hoping "the health of some members of Parliament deteriorates."
"The leader of the opposition has shown how low he's prepared to go by suggesting that anyone would take advantage of someone's illness," Valeri said.
Chatters also referred to his cancer, saying that out of respect for the House, he went against his doctors' wishes to attend Tuesday night's motion calling on the government to resign. He said Martin should respect the outcome of the motion.
FROM MAY 10, 2005: Liberals will not quit despite losing vote
Both Stinson and Chatters flew into Ottawa from their sick beds to help the opposition defeat the government by only three votes. But the Liberals dismissed the motion, saying it wasn't a confidence vote. During a photo opportunity with the President of Mali, Martin called the cancer allegation "beyond the pale...It's very clear that these remarks just go too far."
NDP Leader Jack Layton said ill MPs were being treated like a "political football."
"I think it was quite despicable and a very sad day," he said.
Independent MP Carolyn Parrish also condemned the Tories, accsuing them of trotting out Stinson and Chatters during question period.
"Next they'll be dragging in Tiny Tim," she said.
MPs also pressed the Liberals to pass a $1-billion veterans bill to help young people settle back into society once they leave the military. The four leaders made the deal late Monday aboard the federal government jet carrying them back from commemorating the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe.
But Martin accused the Bloc Québécois and the Conservatives of "breaking faith " with the veterans by pressing for the government to be defeated, which would ensure the bill would not pass.
Conservative MP Rob Nicholson rejected the criticism, pointing the finger at the Liberals.
"This group has had 12 years to help veterans and they didn't bother to do it," he said.
Isn't Parrish the one who got tossed for being too insane for even the Liberals?
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

Agreed.....and this pig is being paid a six figure
salary much like all the traitorous Bloc Members of Parliament....at the expense of taxpayers like me!!
We have the likes of her as an independent Member of Parliament when she should have been tossed, the Block Heads, gay rights activism (defense minister
Bill graham apparently is one of them?) and on and on and on.
Canada needs a conservative program much like FOX network
in the states.....a no spin zone so to speak.
Jack Layton aka jck in the beanstock . The guy who sold his party (NDP) to the socialist Liberla party !?
The NDP aka neo-marxist party aka fag-party.They love to bend over and get their fudge packed.Politically speaking.
FYI: I just violated C-250,political criticism of homosexuals in canada.Yes,it`s a crime.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
Jack Layton was a councilman in Toronto.This marxist wanted/wants to confiscate all fire-arms and hold them in armeries.You`d have to go visit your own property somewhere 1000 miles away from where you live.
He`s a dangerous marxist and advocates the destruction of the nuclear family,ie; gay marriage,tow gay married men adopting little boys etc.He`s reading the Communist maifesto palybook of Marx and Engels who called for the exact same thing.
They also hold power in Manitoba, but the government there is quite moderate to NDP standards (center-left)
Carolyn Parrish ... why is that name familiar? Was she the one responsible for some agency a few years ago that turned out to be handing out grants willy-nilly to anyone that was a friend of the agency without the grantees even having to go through the "bother" of filing an application, much less having it checked out and approved?
Yes, but good news! She has ovarian cancer! Yee Haw! There is justice.
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