Oh, those poor delicate flowers that dwell in the House of Commons. Their poor nerves are so affected by all of the terrible heckling during Question Period that they all need to collapse on a divan, and get out the smelling salts, and blah, blah, blah. Samara just released a report on heckling, and wouldn’t you just know, everyone is aghast by all of the heckling that goes on. Why, it’s just terrible. But here’s the thing – every MP says they hate it, and insists that they don’t do it, except they do. They’ll even deny it when caught on camera. Heckling of course comes in a broad variety of taunts, jeers, and outright boorish behaviour, but really, sometimes it’s more instructive than what passes for debate. Yes, some heckling is sexist and boorish and should be called out, but not all heckling is sexist and boorish. And when there are complaints that women get heckled more, sometimes it’s because of how they’re reading scripts – one of the things about heckling is that it’s trying to knock people off of their talking points. Sometimes it’s clever and witty, and sometimes it’s not. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t value in knocking people off of their message tracks. And if anyone thinks that simply having more women in the place would change that, well, the most vigorous (and indeed some of the best) hecklers in my experience have been the women. And honestly, I can’t think of anything more dreadful than a QP that lacks it. Why? Because we need an injection of theatre into the sitting day, lest we all develop narcolepsy. Has anyone who moans about heckling sat through the rest of the day’s debates? Probably not. I’ve learned more about some issues by the heckling than I have in the scripted responses by ministers. Can it be too vigorous at times? Sure. Can people take it too far? Of course, and it should be dealt with when that’s the case, but this constant pearl-clutching about it is ridiculous, disingenuous, and in most cases, hypocritical. I’d rather a commitment to improving the quality of heckling than to see its elimination, and we’d be better off for it.

Good reads:

• While in Davos, Trudeau tried to talk up Canada as being more than about resources but also the resourcefulness of its people. Naheed Nenshi was less than impressed.
• Trudeau also managed to avoid saying anything new about the fight against ISIS, which is starting to grate on most observers.
• While in Davos, Chrystia Freeland announced a project that started under the Conservatives’ watch.
• The government is moving to offer injured veterans a choice between a lump sum payment or a life-long pension.
• Ralph Goodale is looking at undoing the punitive changes to the pardons system that that the Conservatives put into place.
• The government also announced they are winding down the CRA audits of political activities of charities.
• Thomas Mulcair insists he’s not too old to contest the next election, and then compares himself to Bernie Sanders.
• Provincial and territorial ministers are meeting to discuss drug costs.
• Here’s a look at the panel report on assisted dying that was just made public.
• Kady O’Malley cuts through the partisan bickering over the finance committee not doing pre-budget consultations.
• Mike Moffatt suggests that may be the calls for stimulus from Bay Street may not be off the mark.
• Alheli Picazo writes about the torturous euthanasia already available in Canada.
• My Loonie Politics column raises a few flags of caution before we start delving into committee reform.

Odds and ends:

The National Capital Commission has formally rescinded approval for the old location of the Victims of Communism Memorial.

Justin Trudeau named a new Clerk of the Privy Council.

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