This is an odd story. It’s about the peace-loving socialist New Democratic Party pacifist anti-war, anti-violence, well, NDP’er, who carried a knife to work—in the Manitoba Legislature—as an MLA. Of course he regularly carries a knife to work apparently, oh and a pair of scissors, and naturally also… a spoon, too. Duh!
Paring knife causes minor flap in legislature
Last Updated Mar 16 2005 05:04 PM CST
CBC NewsWINNIPEG — The Speaker of the Manitoba legislature was asked to make a ruling Wednesday after a complaint that an MLA brought a weapon into the chamber.
Conservative MLA Dennis Rocan noticed something odd during Question Period on Wednesday. Across the aisle, towards the backbenches of the NDP caucus, he spotted New Democrat MLA Conrad Santos shredding paper using a small paring knife.
Technically, knives of any kind aren’t allowed inside the chamber. So the opposition member interrupted Question Period to raise a point of order.
“Now, when we start carrying weapons into the chamber, sir, I find that of grave concern,” said Rocan.
“I do not believe that this is a place where anybody should have to sheath a knife. I can understand a letter opener. I can understand a toenail clipper. I can understand these things. But when you start sheathing a knife, I have a problem.”
Santos should know what’s appropriate to bring inside the chamber; he’s the deputy Speaker. Santos apologized to the legislature, saying he regularly keeps a knife, a spoon and scissors tucked away in his shirt pocket.
The Speaker is consulting with all parties to determine precisely what can be allowed inside the chamber.
What? No box-cutter?
The intrepid CBC reporter apparently asked no questions of the NDP Member, seeing nothing unusual about this behavior from the peacenik NDP’er. I imagine if he were a Conservative Party Member, it would hardly be a “minor flap”, as the CBC story headlined this one on the state-run CBC.CA people’s web site. The Conservative Party “jihadist” would already be on the front page of every newspaper in the country, castigated for carrying deadly weaponry with a “CONSERVATIVE HIDDEN AGENDA TO KILL!”—and unregistered weaponry at that—into the chamber. There’d be a hew and cry from the liberal-left for a national universal scissor registry program, and a knife-carrying educational plan.
Perhaps that’s why the NDP Member carries a pair of scissors—to cut out such news stories when they pop-up, for his “All About Canada” photo album.
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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