Disproportionate contributions

There can be little doubt that the spring session of Parliament was marked by a strong opposition push against Deceivin' Stephen's Cons. But the NDP has some surprising numbers on the relative contributions of the different opposition parties:

(T)he Liberals had the worst record of any party on being in the House for votes with a staggering 16% absentee rate for any given vote. Conversely, the NDP had the best attendance of any opposition party, tabled the most private member's bills and tabled (more) written questions on the order paper than any other opposition party.

Cullen took aim at the Bloc Quebecois, who despite holding 16 percent of the seats in the House of Commons tabled 3 percent of private members motions, less than 8 percent of private member's bills and less than 7 percent of written questions...

Wasylycia-Leis said that when it comes to private member’s bills, motions and written questions, one NDP MP did the work of 9 Liberal MPs and 18 Bloc MPs.

Now, quantity alone doesn't necessarily prove anything as to the quality of a party's opposition efforts. But to my recollection, the NDP has at least held its own with the Libs in breaking stories about the Cons through its own research as well. And if the NDP has managed to accomplish no less than the Libs with less than a third as many seats (and a correspondingly smaller media platform to work from), then it has to be worth contemplating how much more it could do with additional MPs in the House of Commons.

Of course, it remains to be seen whether Canadians will indeed respond by putting more Dippers - hopefully starting with Thomas Mulcair - into Parliament. And it could be that the other opposition parties will follow the NDP's lead this fall...which would be all the better news in the goal of holding the Cons to account.

But one way or another, the NDP looks to have every reason to be proud of its contribution in the spring session. And Harper and company surely can't be looking forward to seeing what more is in store for them once Parliament reconvenes.