Arp! Arp! Arp!

So the House has voted to extend the military mission against ISIL. For the record, I favour this decision. But notice that not one Tory voted "Nay" while not a single Liberal, NDP or Green MP voted "Aye." What worries me about this rigid partisanship, on all sides of the aisle, is that it no longer surprises us. Indeed, we'd be surprised and possibly offended if we discovered voters in some riding had inadvertently sent something other than a trained seal to Parliament.

Some nearly did. Liberal MP Irwin Cotler almost deserves a Profile-in-Courage award for abstaining because the issue is complex. But refusing to choose isn't much of a moral triumph.

Interestingly, one former Tory voted Nay and one former Liberal voted Aye. Presumably many still in both caucuses also have doubts about the party line. If they could find the guts to cross it, or at least boldly to abstain, we might get real parliamentary debates.

Where shall we find such parliamentarians? Oh yeah. We have to elect them.

Dang.