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What MPs are saying about their all-nighter on the Hill

Members of Parliament are hunkered down on the Hill to vote on hundreds of amendments to the budget bill. Here's what some of them are saying about the experience.
Meagan Fitzpatrick · CBC News ·

Members of Parliament pulled an all-nighter on Parliament Hill to vote on amendments to the budget implementation bill. Votes started just after 1 a.m. ET will continue non-stop until they are all finished, stretching potentially into the wee hours of Friday morning. 

MPs prepared for the marathon voting session in various ways. Here's what some of them had to say Wednesday about how they were getting ready and how they will pass the time sitting in the House of Commons for hours on end.

"I'm chatting with my colleagues and paying attention to the votes." — Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae

"I'm just going to read documents." — Labour Minister Lisa Raitt

"The best advice I got was dark chocolate, to stay awake." — Finance Minister Jim Flaherty

"I'll be bringing work, constituency work. I'll have my laptop so I'll be using every minute ... it will go by pretty quickly I think."     — NDP MP Peter Julian

"I'll be paying attention. It's going to be a long night. I've got work to do." — NDP MP Charlie Angus

"I tried to get the longest sleep of my parliamentary career last night ... I think we're just going to try and keep calm, keep focused and probably crack a few jokes here and there." — NDP MP Andrew Cash

Parliament Hill will have a full House of Commons through the night on Wednesday as MPs vote on amendments to the budget bill for at least 24 consecutive hours. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

"Drink lots of water, stay hydrated. Well, not too much water, you don't want to have to leave. I drink coffee to stay awake, and don't eat too much." — NDP MP Peggy Nash

"I'm going to be reading my briefing materials, getting caught up, I'm going to see if I have time for a novel. I may even watch a movie which I'm downloading on my iPad, and try and stay awake." — Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver

"I had a great night's sleep and I'm going to get through a lot of files." — Conservative MP Michelle Rempel

"It's going to be like university, rememeber when we used to do those all-nighters in school? We'll be alright, we'll make it through." — Conservative MP Ed Holder

"I've got several changes of shirts, and some Tic-Tacs, and some mints. We're going to be good." — Conservative MP Chris Warkentin

Read our live feed of MPs tweets from inside the House of Commons throughout the marathon vote:

Mobile users, follow the MPs tweets here.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Meagan Fitzpatrick

Reporter

Meagan Fitzpatrick is a multiplatform reporter with CBC News in Toronto. She joined the CBC in 2011 and previously worked in the Parliament Hill and Washington bureaus. She has also reported for the CBC from Hong Kong. Meagan started her career as a print reporter in Ottawa.

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