2013 not the first year Patrick Brown skipped Parliament duties for Gretzky fantasy camp

According to Hansard, Barrie MP Patrick Brown did not participate in any of the votes in the House of Commons on February 8, 2012.

There were no recorded votes in the House of Commons on February 9 or 10.

Minutes of the February 9, 2012 meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health indicate that Patrick Brown, a member of that committee, did not attend the meeting.

Brown's absence from the committee meeting was noted by another Conservative MP on the committee:

"Rita, I was interested in your presentation as well. I'm sorry that Patrick wasn't here; I know he has developed some mobile applications as well, although not, I believe, at the same level as what you're looking at."

The reason for Mr. Brown not attending the meeting and lending his experience using mobile apps to the committee's study of 'health promotion and disease prevention'?

He was at the Wayne Gretzky hockey fantasy camp in Las Vegas, just as he would be again when Parliament resumed in January of 2013.

According to Wayne Gretzky's web site, the games of his 2012 hockey fantasy camp took place on February 9, 10 and 11.

The team rosters for the 2012 fantasy camp show Brown's name on the roster of 'Team C', coached by Walter Gretzky.

Videos posted on Wayne Gretzky's web site show Brown at the 2012 hockey fantasy camp:

Barrie MP Patrick Brown at Wayne Gretzky's 'Fantasy Camp X'

Patrick Brown, Barrie Colts President Howie Campbell and Walter Gretzky

Brown Skips Parliament Duties for Hockey Fantasy Camp

According to Hansard for Wednesday, January 30, 2013, Barrie MP Patrick Brown did not take part in any of the 5 votes that took place in the House of Commons that day.

Minutes of the Thursday, January 31, 2013 meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health indicate that Patrick Brown, a member of that committee, did not attend.

Brown's twitter feed gives us a clue as to his whereabouts ...

To see what Brown was referring to, I checked out Alan Thicke's twitter feed and found the following:

I did some searching and discovered that Wayne Gretzky was running a hockey fantasy camp at the Bellagio in Las Vegas from January 27 to January 31, 2013.

The roster of players for the fantasy camp was posted on Gretzky's Facebook Page.

As you can see, Brown is listed on the roster of 'Team Keenan', while Thicke is listed on the roster of 'Team Keith'.

A video of the hockey camp final game, posted on YouTube, shows Brown playing.

It's worth a watch. The commentary is rather humourous.

In another video, Brown is mentioned specifically.

Was this hockey fantasy camp more important than the votes on Bill C-43, the Faster Removal of Foreign Criminals Act, which took place on January 30, 2013?

  

Was it more important than 'the study of technological innovation, including best practices, in health care' which was discussed at the January 31, 2013 meeting of the Sanding Committee on Health?

What is your answer, Mr. Brown?

This is not the first time Patrick Brown has put a hockey game before his duties as a parliamentarian.

In hockey, as in politics, if you don't show up for practice, you just might get cut from the team.

Mr. Brown might want to think about that.