A Conservative politician  has an idea that most Canadians - regardless of political stripe - would probably agree with.

In an op-ed column published in the National Post Tuesday, Ontario MPP Randy Hillier explains that  he wants to tie public servant wages to economic performance and fiscal prudence.

In other words, if politicians aren't able to produce deficit reductions or create real growth in GDP than their pay should be docked.

"Unlike most people, I have a job that pays me a healthy wage regardless of the economy," Hillier wrote."

"I'm not subject to layoffs, firings, or work shortages, except once every four years. There is no clock for me to punch and I'm free to work as little or as much as I desire without additional reward or consequence. That's not right. I want to be treated the same as those who pay me. Even if that means I end up with a pay cut."

Hillier adds that the activities of legislators and civil servants are often without consequences.

"Unlike the rest of

Tough on crime Americans are urging Canadian lawmakers to lighten-up on drug offenders.

In an open letter released to media Wednesday, two dozen former U.S. law enforcement professionals are asking Stephen Harper to reconsider passage of Bill C-10 which would impose minimum sentences for marijuana and drug offences.

"The Canadian government believes the answer is to get tougher on criminals," notes the letter released to media Wednesday.

"But as we've learned with our decades-long failed experiment with the 'war on drugs,' the stricter sentencing proposed in the bill will only serve to help fill jails. It will not reduce harms related to the illicit marijuana trade, make Canadian streets safer or diminish gang activity.

The letter, distributed by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), also suggests that marijuana policies in the Unites States have become much more progressive than those in Canada.

"Sixteen US states and the District of Columbia have passed laws allowing some

In some ways the New Democrats are still Canada's third party.

The NDP released membership numbers Tuesday claiming to  have 128,351 card-carrying members across the country. That's an increase of about 45,000 members since the start of the leadership campaign in October.

The NDP are touting the increase as "massive" and "historic."

"Canadians are really engaged and involved in our leadership race — as these historic numbers show," New Democrat National Director Chantal Vallerand said in a party release.

"Canadians are turning to New Democrats in record amounts in order to defeat Stephen Harper and elect a Prime Minister for all Canadians."

Brad Lavigne, the Principal Secretary to interim leader Nycole Turmel tweeted: "#NDP membership grows by 44,527 since October to 128,351. Jack would be proud."

But as Conservative insider Stephen Taylor pointed out in his blog, the numbers aren't as great as the NDP would want you to think.

Taylor compares the NDP numbers to the Conservative party

NDP MP Peter Julian speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons.Here's a novel idea: allow Canadians to have a say about what's being debated in the House of Commons.

Two New Democrat MPs put forward a motion last week, which would allow for an e-petition submission process where certified petitions garnering 50,000 or more signatures would trigger an hour of Parliamentary debate.

"Democratic decline, as can be readily seen in collapsing voter turnout rates and diminishing levels of social capital, is a distributing trend governments need to address," notes a statement released by the NDP.

"A modern petitions process would be able to harness the robust dialogue happening on important issues."

The e-petition motion, which if passed would be non-binding on government, means any Canadian resident would be able to request a petition on any topic, with the support of any MP. It would then be created and posted on a parliamentary website, with its own URL web address for people to distribute electronically.

To protect privacy, names and email addresses

Instead of debating the economy, health care, or how they could better serve their constituents, 12 MPs took time out of their busy schedules to discuss how they looked on television.

Last Tuesday, the House Affairs Committee convened to look at broadcasting guidelines in light of complaints by Members that guidelines respecting the broadcasting of the Chamber had not been complied with recently.

The complaints were no doubt instigated after several MPs were recently caught on camera doing embarrassing things.

Who could forget the widely viewed YouTube video in November, showing Conservative MP Rob Anders falling asleep during question period in the House of Commons?

And earlier this month, NDP MP Jonathan Genest-Jourdain was caught on video while checking out his hair on his iPhone, and then falling asleep as his NDP colleague addressed parliament.

But instead of addressing the root problem of unprofessional conduct in the House, MPs appear to want to hide from taxpayers.

As

It's been one year since Libya's pro-democracy uprising, four months since the death of Moammar Gadhafi and almost almost three months since Stephen Harper declared NATO's mission in Libya a success.

"Today is special because we are celebrating a great military success," Harper told hundreds of air force and navy personnel at a lavish Parliament Hill ceremony last November.

"It is a day to pay tribute to the extraordinary men and women of our armed forces who played their part. And yes, it is a day to honour the great Canadian who led them."

But as the Ottawa Citizen's David Pugliese writes, NATO's "success" hasn't necessarily equated to Libya's success.

"In Libya, the war was over, but the fighting went on. The country's new leaders were dealing with their own problems as rebel groups, representing various factions, started to fight each other for control of the country," Pugliese writes, noting an estimated 8,500 people are being held in detention and some are being tortured and

Prime Minister Stephen Harper speaks during Question Period. REUTERS/Chris WattieIn response to Justin Trudeau's musings, last week,  about Stephen Harper's Canada and Quebec separation, CBC's At Issue panelist Andrew Coyne had this to say:

"There's all too much of a temptation, for Liberals in particular, to view the Harper government as fundamentally illegitimate. Not just somebody they disagree with but an abhorrent that has somehow got itself in power."

Coyne is right on this point.

The very vocal 'illegitimate government theorists' consistently reference the fact that Stephen Harper's government only received 39 per cent of the popular vote in the last federal election and, therefore, doesn't have a true mandate.

But the anti-Conservatives conveniently forget that Jean Chretien's three governments didn't fair much better at the polls.

His party's popular vote percentages in back-to-back-to-back majorities were 41.2 per cent, 39.5 per cent and 40.8 per cent respectively.

Brian Mulroney introduced the G.S.T. and signed on to NAFTA with a mandate from only 43 per

MPs of different political stripes don't often agree on much - at least not publicly.

But when it comes their perks and privileges, there seems to be a little more unanimity.

CTV News is reporting that the Harper government's budget, due to be presented next month, may include a 5 to 10 per cent contraction of the Parliamentary budget.

That could result in a scaling back of MP office budgets, a drop in round-trip flights from 64 to 52, and the elimination of all business-class flights for MPs.

In the spirit of the 'NIMBY' (not in my backyard) principle, however, some MPs are voicing their displeasure about the pending cuts.

"I would hope they wouldn't cut back on that travel, because that enables constituents to talk directly to us," NDP MP Linda Duncan told CTV News.

Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz says he needs to fly "business class."

"It is needed. The time is needed to get a lot of work done. That's what I do," he said.

Over the past couple of weeks, several MPs have also gone on