MPs' favourite words

Someone just tipped me to this amusing diversion: The openparliament.ca website, a great resource in itself, is able to figure out the words most used in the Commons by individual MPs. The results are amusing and perhaps instructive. Here are a few:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper: liberal

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff: public

New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton: going

Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe: Quebec

Government House Leader John Baird: liberal

Human Resources Minister Diane Finley: help

Industry Minister Tony Clement: health

Deputy Liberal leader Ralph Goodale: respect

Liberal MP Justin Trudeau: young

Liberal MP Bob Rae: question

NDP MP Olivia Chow: child

Heritage Minister James Moore: air

Independent MP Helena Guergis: women

Liberal MP Dominic LeBlanc: important 

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty: tax

Treasury Board President Stockwell Day: fact

Update: Here's Justin Trudeau's take on the favourite words, made in the members' statements before Question Period on Thursday.

M. Justin Trudeau: Monsieur le Président, malgré le fait que nous faisons face à un gouvernement pour qui l'opacité et l'obscurcissement sont la norme, une analyse des interventions dans cette Chambre s'avère bien révélatrice.

 

After eliminating words common to all, openparliament.ca reveals that the word most commonly used by the member for Edmonton East is “war”. While we might understand the finance minister's overuse of the word “tax”, why the ministers for seniors and immigration favour “tax” too is beyond me.

 

 

...    Notre ministre des Affaires étrangères, au lieu d'être tourné vers le monde, est plutôt obsédé par le Bloc.

 

Among the words that Liberals prefer that do not appear from Conservatives are “development”, “respect”, “care”, “jobs”, “children”, “change”, and my own word, “young”, but the most telling contrast is that while our Leader of the Opposition is most focused on the interests of the public, our Conservative PM is instead obsessed with opposing Liberals.

 

 

Comments

[Gabby in QC]

You'll be thrilled to know the young Trudeau reads your blog.
He "borrowed" your blog post for his own schtick during Members' Statements today.

[Frank Docherty]

The Prime Minister's favourite word is "Iamabovethelaw". ( http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/stephenharper/article/872021--release-pm-s-daily-agendas-supreme-court-urged ) He might not use it in public, much like his top-secret "abuse of power behind closed doors" way of governing Canada, which perhaps explains his "Canadians can't handle the truth" democratic dictatorship - however, this is not Germany and the year is not 1940. My favourite word: "nopersonisabovethelaw"...

[Frank Docherty]

Bureaucrats favourite word: "Harpermademedoit"... ( http://fairwhistleblower.ca/content/bureaucrats-meet-discuss-whistleblower-law ) Why do Canadian bureaucrats in the year 2010 fear telling the truth??? Why should they fear for telling the truth in a country that is attempting to qualify for a seat on the UN Security Council???

[Frank Docherty]

Integrity Commissioner's favourite word: "herenoevilseenoevilspeaknoevil" ( http://fairwhistleblower.ca/content/integrity-commissioners-third-annual-report-published ) Isn't that also Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's favourite word??? Where did the Integrity Commissioner graduate from - The Barney Fife School of Pain? Is a breech of privacy ( http://fairwhistleblower.ca/content/ctv-privacy-commissioner-report-veterans-affairs-broke-law ) not also a breech of integrity?

[Frank Docherty]

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's newest favourite word: "tellpresidentobamaiwillcallhimbackiamworkingontherewriteofmyrememberancedayspeech" ( http://fairwhistleblower.ca/content/watchdog-slams-%E2%80%98alarming%E2%80%99-breach-veteran%E2%80%99s-privacy ) They call him PM for short, but not for long.

[Frank Docherty]

Might this be the Prime Minister's next favourite word: "howmuchisitgoingtocosttomuzzleSeanBruyea"??? ( http://fairwhistleblower.ca/content/veteran-calls-public-inquiry-privacy-breach ) I got a funny feeling, call it a hunch, that Sean Bruyea will not sell out, be bought. With the support of people like Pat Stogran, our vets are in good hands. It is people like Sean and Pat that make our world a better place - we owe them a debt that we will never be able to repay.

[Frank Docherty]

My new favourite word: "True Colours" ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmfqLOLCNi8 ) Just imagine, ... a world full of people not afraid to let their true colours show... in a world with world leaders whose true colours were all there for us to see. Call me crazy for having such a dream, but they also thought Rosa Parks was crazy - Rosa Parks made our world a better place, one mind at a time...

[Frank Docherty]

The so called civilized world's favourite word: "world peace" ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z6dxQVhE8o&ob=av2e ) John Lennon is not the only person who truely believed in world peace. World peace is a possibility within our grasp. However, such a reallity is such a reallity that arises in language. Providing all of mankind with the feeling of being happy and feeling good to be alive is a worthy cause. We could make this happen, right here right now. How can we justify depriving the less fortunate in our world a chance at a decent life because of greed and corruption??? How can we let the less fortunate suffer because the elete value blood diamonds?

There are places on this planet that hotdogs are more valuable than diamonds??

[Frank Docherty]

The PM's other favourite word: "Obtuse"... ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oepXF2B5NK4 ) ... Is this the world we live in???

[Frank Docherty]

There are those who make a differance... ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiCRZLr9oRw&feature=related ) They are those who inspire... Our troubled world has champions who still believe...

[Frank Docherty]

The Grandaddy of favourite words: "Eminance Front" ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-u0GJdNu1Ds&feature=related ) When the world lies, people forget!

[Frank Docherty]

Harper Conservatives: "alwayswantoplaybutneverwanttolose" ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-iepu3EtyE&feature=channel ) It's easy to lose on the dime of the taxpayer...