Independent MP calls for ‘random’ Commons seating plan<\/strong><\/p>\n NDP-turned-Independent MP Bruce Hyer told the CBC’s Julie Van Dusen Thursday he’s introducing a private member’s motion calling for random seating in the House of Commons. The seating plan could change a few times a year, with MPs dispersed among representatives of other parties.<\/p>\n “We would no longer be sitting in hockey teams, with our coaches dying to send us over the boards for a brawl,” Hyer said. “We’d get to know them as people.”<\/p>\n The MP, who is now free to speak and vote as he wishes, thinks the move would end the “mindless solidarity and tribalism” he sees around him and improve cooperation and decorum.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Now, as the seating chart below will attest, Bruce is currently in what we call “the cheap seats”, sandwiched in the back corner of the House between another ex-Dipper and what’s left of the Bloc. So the cynic in me thinks Hyer might be proposing this for the same reason I’d be down for a random seat draw any time I find myself in the nosebleeds at a hockey game.<\/p>\n My first instinct was to dismiss this as a trivial suggestion that would be no more productive than having MPs partake in ice breaker games before QP each day (I’d suggest having them play “two truths and a lie”, but I’m not sure how many MPs would be capable of coming up with two<\/em> truths). After all, it seems hard to believe a new seating plan would do anything to clean up the bile that has soaked into every crevace of the House of Commons.<\/p>\n But the more I think about it, the more I like Hyer’s suggestion. Just imagine the matchmaking possibilities this creates! Consider the following desk-mates who could theoretically be paired at random:<\/p>\n John Baird & Rob Anders<\/strong>: At the very least, siting Anders next to one of the loudest MPs in Ottawa would prevent him from dozing off <\/a>in the House.<\/p>\n James Moore & Irene Mathyseen<\/strong>: This would ensure Mathyseen has a good view of Moore’s laptop, so that she can dutifully report back to the media <\/a>on every web page he views.<\/p>\n Vic Toews & Justin Trudeau<\/strong>: Maybe they’d be able to\u00a0settle their issues<\/a> by talking to each other, rather than through passive agressive tweets.<\/p>\n Peter MacKay & Peter Goldring<\/strong>: Goldring may be without a drivers license<\/a> for a while, so MacKay can always lend him the search & rescue helicopter<\/a>\u00a0on weekends.<\/p>\n Pat Martin & Pierre Poilievre<\/strong>: Non-stop hilarious hijinks! Keep a camera on them, and CPAC would have more than enough material for its first ever sitcom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Independent MP Bruce Hyer has put forward a motion to improve House of Commons decorum: Independent MP calls for ‘random’ Commons seating plan NDP-turned-Independent MP Bruce Hyer told the CBC’s Julie Van Dusen Thursday he’s introducing a private member’s motion calling for random seating in the House of Commons. The seating plan could change a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[983,28],"tags":[1164,1165],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3693"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3693"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3717,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3693\/revisions\/3717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Seating-Plan.jpg\" "\\"House")
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