Unsure how to feel

The House of Commons rejected a painfully obvious checkmark on Stephen Harper's election promise list tonight.

First, Harper's motion was transparent and by having a free vote, he ensured that the motion would not succeed, thereby trying to take-away the "He will try to remove rights, just imagine if he had a majority" argument in the next campaign.

I should be pleased that his motion was defeated, but I am somewhat depressed that there are about the same number of members of the Liberal Caucus who were duped and/or are knuckle-draggers as there are "progressives" in the Government Caucus.

In any event, Steve will need to wait until another day to attack gay rights, women's rights, the rights of the disabled, support for seniors and the illiterate. On this day when they light the Christmas lights on the Hill, it is nice to know that no matter how badly he wants to, Steve is in charge of a minority government and for the time being has to keep his hands off Canadians' Charter Rights.

Also on the Hill, the Liberals need to get their act together and kill BQ Bill C-257 (An Act to Amend the Labour Code) which would have severe and negative impacts on Northern, remote and Aboriginal Communities.