Poor Betty

Conservative MP Betty Hinton (Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo) finds her competence questioned. Speaking recently to a newspaper in Kamloops, Hinton was criticizing NDP leader Jack Layton when she added her own particular insight into how government works. "I am a member of the governing party," she said. "I'm part of the Cabinet."

Unfortunately for Betty, this is not true. While she is a member of the governing party, she is not a member of PM Steve's Cabinet. Her official-sounding title is Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs.

NDP MP Jean Crowder tried to get to the bottom of this during QP, asking: "Mr. Speaker, for the second time in four weeks, the MP for Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo told her local papers that she is a member of Cabinet. This is somewhat confusing as Parliamentary Secretaries do not sit in cabinet. Ask any child studying Grade 8 social sciences. Could the Prime Minister explain when his cabinet grew to include the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs?"

Conservative House Leader Peter Van Loan shrugged off the question. The Kamloops Daily News asked Hinton for clarification. "I don't believe I ever said I was part of Cabinet," Hinton told the Daily News. "I do go into meetings on a daily basis with members of cabinet."

Ahh, the meetings with Members of Cabinet defense. I wonder what that logic would make Peter MacKay vis a vis Karlheinz Schreiber? Dumb and convenient as it would be to seize upon this statement, meeting with Ministers does not make someone a Cabinet Minister. But Hinton insisted she was more than just an MP - that, in her words, "I'm not a backbencher."

Neither the Conservative party's website nor the official site of the House of Commons list Hinton among the government's current ministry. Being a Member of Parliament is a noble vocation and Ms. Hinton should be honoured to represent the citizens of her riding, even if it is as an ordinary, if ill-informed, backbencher.