Cheers & Jeers

Jeers: to nastiness. Progressive Conservative MHA Sandy Collins took to Twitter last week to lambaste Liberal MHA and Municipal Affairs and Environment Minister Eddie Joyce for his alleged lack of familiarity with the issue of carbon tax. Now, granted, ministers should be on top of the issues within their purview. But if you think they’re not, surely there are more professional and mature ways to make that point than by comparing the minister to a water glass and finding the minister lacking. For shame.

Jeers: to the race to get it wrong first. Several American media outlets were reporting the death of former teen heartthrob David Cassidy on Nov. 19, when in fact Cassidy was gravely ill in hospital with organ failure. He died Nov. 21. Similar premature death reports happened in hours before rocker Tom Petty died Oct. 2. Surely there is nothing to be gained by jumping the gun on such events except a reputation for being less than credible.

Cheers: to collectors. Thanks to the website ipolitics.ca for compiling a list of “The 106 things you can’t say in Parliament.” We’re not sure if any MPS from Newfoundland and Labrador are responsible for any of the utterances on this list, but some of them are pretty colourful. Here’s a smattering, with the year they were made given in parentheses: “inspired by forty-rod whiskey” (1881); “a parliamentary babe and suckling” (1890); “a dim-witted saboteur” (1956); and “trained seal” (1961).

Cheers: to things you might look forward to. In parts of the U.S. where pot is legal, marijuana sellers were offering Black Friday deals last week. As the Associated Press reported in advance of the sales, “Some dispensaries will offer an eighth of an ounce of select flower products for $35, down from $53. One dispensary will gift shoppers a 10-pack of fruit chew edibles with any purchase, while another one will have a buy-one-get-one-free special on edibles.”