Care of How'd They Vote? (via Pundits' Guide) are some statistics for Members of Parliament from Alberta during the last session of Parliament. Perhaps Alberta's MPs don't need the kind of 500 word prefaces that MPs from Toronto do, but it is a little concerning that out of 308 MPs, 19 of Alberta's 28 representatives in Ottawa find themselves in the lower half of spoken words.
Words Spoken (42nd Parliament, 2nd Session): Alberta MPs
16th: Ted Menzies (Macleod): 38940 words
17th: Linda Duncan (Edmonton-Strathcona): 37654 words
55th: Brian Jean (Fort McMurray-Athabasca): 21003 words
63rd: Stephen Harper (Calgary-Southwest): 19212 words
83rd: Deepak Obhrai (Calgary-East): 16894 words
107th: Laurie Hawn (Edmonton-Centre): 14156 words
113th: Mike Lake (Edmonton-Mill Woods-Beaumont): 13617 words
141st: James Rajotte (Edmonton-Leduc): 10671 words
142nd: Brent Rathgeber (Edmonton-St. Albert): 10555 words
176th: Blaine Calkins (Wetaskiwin): 7885 words
178th: Jim Prentice (Calgary-North Centre): 7592 words
198th: Chris Warkentin (Peace River): 6107 words
214th: Rob Merrifield (Yellowhead): 5145 words
223rd: Kevin Sorenson (Crowfoot): 4546 words
230th: Jason Kenney (Calgary-Southeast): 4304 words
231st: Blake Richards (Crowfoot): 4272 words
233rd: LaVar Payne (Medicine Hat): 4203 words
237th: Lee Richardson (Calgary-Centre): 3951 words
239th: Tim Uppal (Edmonton-Sherwood Park): 3822 words
243rd: Leon Benoit (Vegreville—Wainwright): 3650 words
245th: Earl Dreeshen (Red Deer): 3610 words
259th: Brian Storseth (Westlock-St. Paul): 2934 words
287th: Rick Casson (Lethrbridge): 1376 words
291st: Diane Ablonczy (Calgary-Nose Hill): 940 words
295th: Devinder Shory (Calgary-Northeast): 769 words
300th: Peter Goldring (Edmonton-East): 506 words
301st: Rob Anders (Calgary-West): 355 words
303rd: Rona Ambrose (Edmonton-Spruce Grove): 202 words
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Some real eye-openers there. Peter Goldring, Rob Anders, and Rona Ambrose in particular.
ReplyDeleteSomething tells me Ray Martin will have a field day with this in Edmonton East.
Goldring? An eye-opener. Many AB Tories are there to keep the seat warm, and show up occasionally when the threat of defeat on a confidence motion is made [again].
ReplyDeleteWhat amazed me was how high Laurie Hawn is. I guess all those questions he asks the government really paid off.
355 words from Rob Anders is 355 too many...
ReplyDeleteNice (but not unexpected) to see Linda Duncan place so high, Menzies surprised at the top spot, for sure...
These must not count words spoken in Parliamentary Committees though, am I right?
Jeff - I'm pretty sure these are directly from Hansards so likely not.
ReplyDeleteIt's (un?)fortunate that the Prime Minister and much of his Cabinet places so low. You'd hope that your government would be willing to stand up and defend itself.
Have you ever listed to Linda Duncan? Just because she said 37654 words doesn't mean they had any value.
ReplyDeleteThe only real eye opener here is how blatantly partisan this blog is becoming. The blogger should be ashamed of himself!
ReplyDeleteI'm not 100% sure, but I believe that these are words spoken on the floor of the House of Commons (so, not including committees, but I will look into it). I'm well aware that the amount of words spoken doesn't exactly prove if an MP is doing a good job or not, but I was a little shocked that our MPs placed so low on the amount of spoken words compared to the rest of Canada.
ReplyDeleteWho is Ted Menzies and what is he speaking about so much? I'm impressed.
ReplyDeleteI presume Anders was struggling to get the words out past a Harper-placed gag. Come on Harper! Use a better gag!
ReplyDeleteBut what is Rona's excuse?
I'm sure there are many like myself that consider Rona to greatly enhance Parliament even if she says nothing.
ReplyDeleteHow much time did it take to do this?
ReplyDeleteAnd how about our provincial MLA's?
Dave;
ReplyDelete"I was a little shocked that our MPs placed so low on the amount of spoken words compared to the rest of Canada."
Well, I guess the old sneer that Albertans are just "a lot of talk," can be laid to rest now.
And is Rajotte the only one in the top half of that list who has dissented from the party line? Kinda looks that way, just scanning over the list....