Up In Arms

You know how everybody gets when they can see the end of a long, marathon session of hard work coming to a close; people's nerves fray and tempers flare, because everybody's getting sick of everybody else and they just want to get the job over with.

Thus all the flailing and screaming about Pierre Poilievre and Jacques Gourde giving the Italian salute in the House, much ado about nothing except a little parliamentary indecorum:

It all began during a charged vote Tuesday evening on imports of milk proteins.

The opposition had been heckling Quebec Conservative MP Jacques Gourde, parliamentary secretary to the agriculture minister, for voting against the motion that would have aided Quebec dairy farmers.

Gourde responded with a rude arm gesture toward the opposition.

That set the House into an uproar. The opposition parties began yelling, and the Conservatives - still in the middle of voting - began to tell each other what had just transpired. Even Justice Minister Vic Toews discreetly showed another MP the gesture in question.

But Tory MP Pierre Poilievre showed the gesture to a seatmate in full view, creating yet another outcry among the opposition, who interpreted it as another affront.

Trudeau used to give journalists the finger and say "fuddle duddle" on the floor of the House, but his supporters thought it was dashing, not disgraceful.

The Italian salute is a rude gesture, but not the rudest of gestures, and a simple apology to the House should have ended the matter.

For making such a fuss, I'd like to give the Liberals an Italian salute of my own.

Source: Yahoo!