For Moose Jaw’s federal Tory representative, delaying the return to Parliament shouldn’t be considered as big a deal as the Grits make it out to be.
In fact, Palliser Conservative MP Ray Boughen said the federal government shutting down Parliament is certainly not unusual and the Liberal Party conducted similar shutdowns when Jean Chretien was prime minister.
“(The Liberals) say nobody shuts down Parliament, but yes they do and for various reasons,” Boughen said, adding the Liberals shut down Parliament in 1996, 1999, 2002 and 2003.
Earlier this year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper shutdown Parliament past the initial Jan. 25 return date, keeping the House closed until March 3.
Although there won’t be any legislation passed until after all politicians head back to Ottawa in March, Boughen said the House is just one aspect of what an MP does on a regular basis.
“I plan to be here (in Palliser) every day from now until we go back to the House,” he told the Times-Herald on Wednesday, adding an MP facilitates between his or her riding and the various ministries, doing such things as campaigning for federal funding.
For more on this story, read an upcoming edition of the Times-Herald.
