CP/Fred Chartrand

If anyone in Labrador has any questions about how effective their former minister, Peter Penashue, is in the House of Commons, a new tally from democracy advocacy group, Samara, might help.

The group’s study tallies how many words MPs spoke in the House in 2012. At the top are New Democrat Peter Julian and Liberal Kevin Lamoureaux. For Hill watchers, neither of those comes as much of a surprise.

However, way down near the bottom of the list is Penashue, who left Ottawa under a cloud of allegations that his campaign team overspent its allowable limit during the 2011 election. By Samara’s count, Penashue only managed to say 977 words in all of 2012 in the House of Commons.

He wasn’t the worst. Below him are two other Conservatives: Calgary MP Rob Anders said only 963 words, and Fisheries and Oceans Minister Keith Ashfield came in at the very bottom, having only spoken 922 words in 2012. (See update below)

After Penashue stepped down from his position as minister for intergovernmental affairs, his former colleagues in the Conservative caucus defended his performance during question period.

“Thank goodness the people of Labrador have a strong voice in Peter Penashue, a voice that we believe will continue to speak loudly on their behalf,” Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre told the House during question period back in March.

Labarador votes Monday with Penshue trailing in the polls.

More on the byelection, here.

UPDATE:

It seems Samara was wrong on the Ashfield numbers. From a correction and apology on its website:

“In a thorough review of original data and analysis since publication, we realized that the total word count for the Hon. Keith Ashfield (Fredericton) was incorrect. In fact, his predicted total word count for 2012 should have been 9529 words, rather than 922.”

Equal apologies here for the inaccuracy.