Amid the hurly burly of the House of Commons foyer after Question Period, it’s usually easy to spot the Stetson of Myron Thompson (left), the Conservative MP from Wild Rose, Alberta. Reporters can usually count on him for some straight talk. And on Friday, as he prepared to fly back to Calgary for the weekend, we tried to pin him down on how he will vote tomorrow night. We didn’t have much success — but it sure was fun talkin’ to him:
Question: Can you tell me in terms of all this debate going on about the Quebec nation, what do your constituents say?
Myron Thompson: You know, I haven’t heard a thing yet.
Question: What does it mean to you then, this whole notion of …
Thompson: I don’t have any comment because I haven’t figured that out just yet.
Question: You mean?
Thompson: I haven’t figured out exactly what it means.
Question: What do you think it means?
Thompson: I don’t have any comment because I don’t know yet. I don’t even know what to think.
Question: How are you going to vote?
Thompson: I don’t know that.
Question: Are you struggling with the idea?
Thompson: I don’t struggle with anything. When you get to be my age, it is a struggle to get down here to work, you know, so I don’t struggle with these issues, so…
Question: What about your constituents, what do they think?
Thompson: I haven’t heard a thing yet, nothing yet. I’m waiting for the emails and the phone calls and so far, zero.
Question: But you don’t have much time to think about this!
Thompson: Honey, I don’t have much time to live probably. I’m getting pretty old you know.