This Explains a Lot

In case anybody thought recent parliamentary committee incidents like this and this were just random expressions of partisan asshattery... well, shame on you for thinking PM Harper didn't have everything firmly clenched in his iron grip.

Don Martin of the National Post has discovered that there is actually a Conservative handbook for committee chairs which lays out in explicit detail exactly how to keep the opposition from Getting Things Done.

Here are a few of the tactics outlined in this little manual:

• That the Conservative party helps pick committee witnesses. The chairman "should ensure that witnesses suggested by the Conservative Party of Canada are favourable to the government and ministry," the document warns.

• The chairmen should also seek to "include witnesses from Conservative ridings across Canada" and make sure their local MPs take the place of a member at the committee when a constituent appears, to show they listen and care.

• The chairmen should "meet with witnesses so as to review testimony and assist in question preparation."

• Procedural notes tell the chairmen to always recognize a Conservative member just before a motion is put to a vote "and let them speak as long as they wish" - a maneuver used to kickstart a filibuster as a stall tactic.

• Chairmen are told to notify all affected ministries prior to a motion being voted upon. "Communicate concerns with the Prime Minister's Office, House Leader or Whip," the document insists. "Try to anticipate the response of the press and how party could be portrayed."

• The guide says a "disruptive" committee should be adjourned by the chairman on short notice. "Such authority is solely in the discretion of the chair. No debate, no appeal possible." By failing to appoint the vice chair to run the meeting, the adjournment will last until the chair is ready to reconvene the committee.

I'm surprised it wasn't marked "Copyright 2001, Republican National Committee, Washington, DC"