The chamber of the House of Commons in Ottawa.FRED CHARTRAND
1. Turn on the television cameras in the morning for coverage of all debates in the House of Commons.
2. Turn off the cameras at precisely 2:15 p.m. (Ottawa time).
3. Turn the cameras back on at 3 p.m. to resume coverage of parliamentary debates.
Here's what will happen:
Reporters from the press gallery and perhaps a few bloggers will throng to the House of Commons to report on what happens during the 45 minutes of off-camera exchanges - through live blogging and Twitter almost immediately, on websites such as this one and in radio and television stand-ups shortly thereafter and in print the next day. I can almost guarantee that the exchanges between and among MPs will be more substantive and more civil than they are today.
You doubt me? Try this for one session of Parliament on an experimental basis: all we have to lose are the histrionics - of MPs and media alike.