This entire contempt of Parliament is a load of donkey S**t. It really means nothing at all. All it was, was the opposition ganging up on the government. They could have put forward a motion asking the government to produce a rock from Mars, and when they didn't, they would have voted in contempt.
Why has it never happend before? Because Canada usually has a majority government, thus, the opposition could never pass a contempt of Parliament vote.
This is no different than when the Reform party demanded all the financial info for the gun registery, Chretien would not provide it. There was nothing the opposition could do but yell in the House of Commons. They could not get a contempt of Parliament vote passed because they would have needed the Chretien government to support it.
This is nothing but smoke and mirrors by the opposition.
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