Election Speculation At Fever Pitch After Speaker’s Ruling

Peter Milliken ruled that the Conservatives appear to have breached parliamentary privilege.

Hold on to your hats, Canadian politicos, we’re in for a bumpy two weeks. House Speaker Peter Milliken ruled Wednesday that the government appears to have misled Parliament over the Bev Oda affair and improperly withheld information about the cost of its prison legislation. The matters are now referred back to Commons committees dominated by opposition MPs, who will use every opportunity to hammer the Conservatives with accusations that they have abused their power. That means two weeks of rancorous political theatre until the committees on Oda and prison legislation wrap up on March 21 and 25 respectively. On March 22 the government tables its budget, and any one of those three issues could trigger an election.