Liberal MP's turnout lower than 2006 voter turnout

Ouch... seems that Liberal MP's are, on average, showing up to vote at a lower rate than the Canadian electorate at large. It's a bit ironic, considering they're the ones who like to talk so much about "voter apathy" and such.

So... could one say the Liberals are suffering from "MP apathy"? Or, could you say that it might be more like "Leader apathy"?

Well, let's put it this way... if they'd rather not show up to the House to vote, they should all step aside to allow some fresh new Conservative and NDP MP's report for duty in the House to, you know, do the job we pay them for.

Absent Liberals under fire for giving Tories de facto majority
Official Opposition skips votes to avoid toppling government
Glen McGregor, with files from Elizabeth Thompson, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Thursday, March 27, 2008

Liberal MPs are casting votes in Parliament at a rate lower than the turnout of Canadian voters who made it to the ballot box in the last federal election.

By choosing to sit out confidence motions that could topple the minority government, Liberal MPs on average participated in only 64 per cent of recorded votes in the House this parliamentary session --just below the 64.7 per cent of eligible voters who cast valid ballots in the 2006 general election, a Citizen analysis shows.

When they did show up for votes, more often than not the Liberals voted in line with the Harper government. More than 60 per cent of votes by Liberals on bills, amendments and motions before the House were in step with the Conservatives. The official Opposition supported the government on extending the Canadian mission in Afghanistan, motions on its centrepiece crime bill, and on other parliamentary arcana, such as a bill regarding the settlement of international investment disputes."