The House Of Commons Says What?

Sometimes, Canadian politics go a long way to remind me of what I love about this country. Earlier today, the Conservatives' federal budget "was declared passed by unanimous consent with no recorded vote". Yep, it wasn't even voted on. How could this happen when two parties were planning to vote against it? Well, apparently the opposition parties expected a Conservative member to say something about it and then they would respond. But because the Conservative member who was scheduled to speak was not in the chamber nobody realized the budget was being tabled. Later on in the session, when a parliamentarian stood to debate the budget, he was told that he was too late and that as far as the House of Commons was concerned the budget had already passed.

"CBC Radio reporter Chris Hall said none of the two dozen or so MPs in the House of Commons at the time — and that included government members — appeared to realize that the budget had just been passed." (article)

The budget would have passed even if there had been a vote, but the difference is that now it appears as though the budget was much more popular than it actually is. It’s hilarious to me that something like this can happen in Ottawa and MPs, the Finance Minister, and news outlets themselves, can just sort of laugh about it. Maybe it’d be nicer if government at those high levels was a little more organized and aware, but I certainly wouldn’t want it at the expense of our light-hearted attitude.