Paul Samyn OTTAWA -- There are many ways to score the parliamentary session that was. For Prime Minister Paul Martin, the fact his minority government is
still standing was the best measure of success. "If you take a look at it, it was a tumultuous session," Martin said last week as MPs headed home for the summer. "I think that there were some 40 votes of confidence, all of which we won. And while the session certainly was one that drew a lot of attention, it was also a session in which a great deal was accomplished.

Fundamentally we got the job done.'' But in politics, getting the job done means talking, talking and even more talking. And when it came to talking, the country's top politician was far from the top talker. In fact, if words, not actions, are the litmus test we want to apply to the past session, then the prime minister was but 56th on the list of 308
MPs. All we got out of Martin in a session that started in October and dragged on until the end of June was 36,298 words.

Tsk, tsk variety By comparison, the No. 1 politician, at least verbally, was another Paul by the name of Szabo, who was good for 107,873 words. The Ontario backbench Liberal not only talked circles around the PM but was also 6,000 words ahead of the No. 2 talker, the aptly named Speaker of the Commons, Peter Milliken. Interestingly, most of Milliken's words in this meanest of parliaments tended to be of the tsk, tsk variety, as he was forced to speak 2,164 times, usually in a vain attempt to bring
order to the House of Disorder.

Now, don't go thinking that my office abacus is keeping a running word count. Instead, this numerical minority report comes courtesy of a new website, www.howdtheyvote.ca , which takes every and all parliamentary utterances recorded in Hansard and then turns them into user-friendly stats for each and every MP.

From his computer in Kamloops, Corey Horner has been running the non-partisan website, which he hopes will be a tool for political accountability by allowing voters to find out who said what, how often they spoke, how they voted -- and even when they were absent.

Now, our MPs aren't paid by the word. And for Minister of State Claudette Bradshaw of New Brunswick, that's a good thing, because she apparently didn't open her mouth once during the past session.

I'm not sure how exactly a minister of the Crown can get away with
keeping it zipped for nine months, but alas, her office couldn't be
reached to comment on her lack of comments.

Tory Leader Stephen Harper is no closer to 24 Sussex Drive than he was a year ago, but he may take some solace in the fact that he nearly double-talked the prime minister, recording 63,464 words, good for 16th
place.

Alas for Harper, the top-talking Tory was deputy leader Peter MacKay, whose 73,319 words took him to sixth place. With Belinda Stronach (No. 157) only good for 18,157 words, one would have to assume that MacKay did most of the talking when they were still both Tories in love.

 

Manitoba may only have 14 MPs, but with the likes of Pat Martin and Judy Wasylycia-Leis around, there should be no problem with the province's concerns being voiced.

Martin, the NDP MP from Winnipeg Centre, was the fourth-most-talkative MP on Parliament Hill, with 90,571 words on the record. Wasylycia-Leis, his colleague from Winnipeg North, was right behind him in fifth spot with 83,319 words.

Treasury Board President Reg Alcock may have the car and driver that come from being the province's cabinet minister, but in terms of his talkative colleagues, he ranked only seventh among Manitoba MPs with
26,091 words.

By comparison, Steven Fletcher, who can't stand in the Commons because he is paralysed, managed to speak 140 times to get nearly 39,000 words on the record. As for the quietest Manitoba, try Inky Mark (Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette) who spoke just 8,795 words.

So what are to make of this session by the numbers? At some level, it indicates a level of activity in the Commons. As speaking time is limited and Questions Period spots prized among opposition MPs, the more said the better. However, much of what is said in the Commons is rarely ever listened to. Once the 45-minute daily drama of Question Period is
finished, the chamber is usually all but empty, leaving those who are speaking to spend much of their time talking to themselves.

Proving, once again, that talk is cheap.

Top Ten Talking MPs
1. Paul Szabo (Lib-Ont.) 107,873
2. Peter Milliken (Lib. Ont.) 101,743
3. Don Boudria (Lib-Ont.) 100,331
4. Pat Martin (NDP, Man.) 90,571
5. Judy Wasylycia-Leis (NDP, Man.) 83,319
6. Peter MacKay (Tory, N.S.) 79,319
7. Louise Thibault (BQ, Que.) 78,343
8. John McKay (Lib,Ont.) 77,956
9. Roy Cullen (Lib, Ont.) 73,938
10. Jay Hill (Tory, B.C.) 73,886

Source:
www.howdtheyvote.ca