Speaker of the House Lockwood Smith has approved permanent funding to allow deaf MP Mojo Mathers to do her job. Good. But I'm still left wondering what took him so long. Mojo was elected back in November, and the House first met in December. That's four months in which the Speaker sat on his hands and did nothing (despite being able to call a meeting of the interim Parliamentary Services Commission at any time). Even once the issue was raised publicly in an effort to shame him into action, it took almost a month for him to do anything.
But at least its now solved, and there will be permanent funding to allow MPs to work regardless of disability. And it looks like Parliament TV will be captioned in the near future. But I'm still left with the feeling that its all taken far too long. This has not been one of Smith's finest moments, and it has eroded both his own mana, and that of the House as a whole.
