Discovering that there's a Penguin Book of penguins made me irrationally happy

Also on this day in Canadian parliamentary history - September 27, 1990 - Senate stranger danger! Or was it just the press?

Sure, the Scottish Highlands are nice. But have you ever read a well-drafted Scottish Statutory Instrument while visiting the Highlands? #LivingMyBestLife

For the parliament and constitutional law nerds -- tomorrow (September 27) marks 35 years since PM Mulroney used the constitutional power to temporarily expand the Senate for the first time in Canadian history. Here's the next day's Citizen front page.

On this day in Canadian parliamentary history - September 26, 1990 - the statue of Lester B. Pearson is unveiled on Parliament Hill (the House suspended for the ceremony). Picture: his great-granddaughter playing under the statue.

What's everyone reading these days?

On this day in Canadian parliamentary history - September 25, 1968 - brings us a Speaker's ruling after an uproar over a document included as a Senate Hansard appendix. I think I'll just share the press clip calling it "the hardest-core pornography ever to be typed by the Queen’s printer."

Hansard things I think about from time to time

From the parliamentary recipe book collection...

Friend regaled me with this one - office asked their student to cut something down by 1000 words. Student asked AI, which dutifully cut the last 1000 words, ending the document mid-sentence and without a conclusion. Student didn't read before sending on. Well played, AI! 🤣

🎼 Do you remember the 21st night of September?? Yes, the House sat late as the committee of the whole considered resolutions. Why is the rest of that song so inaccurate?!? :p

Wait till you get to the 90s and this Canadian Senate classic... @joshuajfriedman.com :p

As we head into Rosh Hashanah, a very important point of order from Canadian Senate Hansard (1984) :p

Today's Hansard reading spot

Great visit to Northern Ireland's Assembly at Stormont today -- learned many interesting things, including about its now-abolished Senate and that chamber's use during WWII by the Royal Air Force as an operations command centre!

The Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel (CALC) Conference — Belfast has been fantastic! A huge thanks to the organizers for a great conference :) And, a huge thanks to my fellow attendees for putting up with me for a full 40 minutes on a possibly apocryphal statutory provision :p

The Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel (CALC) Conference — Belfast has been fantastic! A huge thanks to the organizers for a great conference :) And, a huge thanks to my fellow attendees for putting up with me for a full 40 minutes on a possibly apocryphal statutory provision :p

Having a blast the Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel (CALC) conference here in Belfast. Looking forward to day two tomorrow!

Love that Alanis is quoted by the Supreme Court of Canada in a footnote...

Tomorrow - the Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel (CALC) Europe Conference in Belfast! Very excited to talk about when Parliament said a law must be "taken out of the Roll of Parliament, and be cancelled and [burnt], and be put in perpetual oblivion" See you there!

Hansard, 1976

Using the plane ride to practice my conference slides for later in the week. The passenger next to me keeps looking at my screen and has snickered twice. Seems very touched by this one

Excellent spot for reading recent Supreme Court of Canada jurisprudence while in Berlin.

Visited the Bundestag -- an absolutely fascinating place. Did not expect the preservation of graffiti from Soviet soliders from after the building was captured in 1945 1/2

For the e-petition fans... www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

Oh! Oh!

Should you want the recipes of Edward Heath and Margaret Thatcher...

The latest edition of @cpa-secretariat.bsky.social's The Parliamentarian - Journal of Commonwealth Parliaments is now out and features a piece from me on parliamentary cookbooks! Yup... they're a thing :p Culinary content aside, it's a great issue - check it out here: www.cpahq.org/knowledge-ce...

On this day in Canadian parliamentary history - September 9, 1985: The Speaker welcomes the new Pages and makes a slight admission :-P

The new issue of Canadian Parliamentary Review is online and is all about languages in Parliament. Find it on CanLII or wherever you get your finer parliamentary publications :-) www.canlii.org/en/commentar...

Happy "time to update the bill header for the regnal year" day to the legislative nerds who celebrate -- I hope both of you have a great day! 👑

September 8, 1930: George Black (Yukon) becomes Canada's Commons Speaker. He is most remembered not for his presiding over the House but the story of him shooting six rabbits on Parliament Hill from his office window (some question the veracity of the tale, I should add :-p)

Public transit stations near legislatures that explain things about the legislature? Yes please!!

Returning to regular programming, on this day in Canadian parliamentary history brings us to September 7, 2008: Dissolution for an election earlier than some expected given the then-new fixed date election law. It was challenged (unsuccessfully) in the courts.

Will embarrass myself by telling my Ken Dryden story -- I was a young Hill staffer and there was a reception at the NAC celebrating the Quebec Symphony Orchestra. A colleague attempted in French to get a drink ticket and ended up with a concert ticket. /1

Keeping the legislative tourism going, greetings from the Congrès du Parlement français which is open at Versailles on weekends! Also open is the apartment of the President of the Congress :)

On this day in Canadian parliamentary history - September 5, 1919: Introduction of The Treaty of Peace Act, 1919 allowing the Governor in Council to issue orders in relation to the Treaty of Versailles between the Allied and Associated Powers and Germany.

🔺Revealed: Phone was hidden in Commons to play ‘sex noises’ during PMQs An investigation has begun into how the phone was planted near the front bench in a serious breach of parliamentary security

Fun fact: US House Speaker Garner broke so many gavels his constituents sent him a 400-pound one, pictured here: history.house.gov/Historical-H...

My talented friend (an award-winning playwright!) & former colleague Michael Milech has written a new play "Where the Power Is" based on his time as a political staffer & years of interviews with people who’ve experienced prison in Canada. He's crowd-funding a workshop to take place in Ottawa 1/2

Curious when parliament is back whether some summer fashions might appear -- after all, there is a precedent from 1967... :-p

The research into Canadian parliamentary parody songs continues...

And now, a Canadian Senate Hansard classic -- "ginger-ale research" (1986) (The image is a composite because the intervention splits a page in Hansard)

Thinking about when CBC aired a miniseries about Parliament (2004) and the critique was that the people were too attractive for it to look like Ottawa.

Today's Hansard reading spot was the Folketing, Denmark's Parliament! 🇩🇰 Prime Ministers pick their portrait artist, which has resulted in some interesting works (see last photo) :)

I know it's tough to be a backbencher but please do not show the Speaker your back bench (article from 1986)

Parliamentary accidents happen! Here’s one for the law and procedure nerds: the time in 1844 that a bill received royal assent after passing only one House of Parliament! /1

From 1927... (click to expand)

On this day in Canadian parliamentary history - August 27, 1927: The 'Famous Five' ask the GG to refer to the question of women serving in the Senate to the Supreme Court of Canada.

AI: Putting slop into parliamentary speeches. Humans: Challenging themselves to work in uncommon vocabulary words as a parliamentary game :p www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/art...