Parliament is back in full swing and the events so far can be summed up by a simple acronym, RHE. It stands for many things, sadly for taxpayers, none of them are positive.

To start, the Canadian Alliance showed that it has had a severe bout of RHE when it comes to MP pensions. In this case, RHE stands for Rejecting Historic Expressions given the almost en-masse flip-flop by Alliance caucus members elected in 1993 as Reformers who have bought back into the MP pension plan they once vehemently opposed.

Admittedly, all MPs were forced back into the plan as of June 2000. But the question remained whether or not MPs who opted out in 1995 and had stayed out in 1998 would opt back in. Now we learn that all but three MPs that remain from the class of '93 have opted back into the plan. Most Alliance MPs rejected their historic expressions faster than an Olympic sprinter on steroids.

On the government side of things, the feds would like to tell you that RHE stands for the $1.3 billion GST rebate scheme to provide Relief for Heating Expenses. Announced in last October's mini-budget, the government said it would provide one-time relief to help low- and modest-income Canadians with high home heating costs. Individual Canadians receiving GST rebate cheques (based on data from the 1999 taxation year) would get $125 while families would qualify for up to $250.

Now that the cheques have started to flow, Ottawa should rename this RHE program as Raising HMV Expenditures. Over a million cheques have gone out and thousands, it not tens of thousands of them, are ending up in the hands of people who definitely won't be using them to offset the costs of skyrocketing home heating fuels.

Students living at home or in college dorms are getting cheques. This explains the long lineups at HMV on the weekend and the fact that many Top 20 CDs were sold out. But it gets better, or should we say worse Dead folk are also receiving cheques. Granted it's probably pretty cold some six feet underground, but rebates for the nearly and dearly departed prove the folly of this convoluted rebate scheme.

Even more perplexing, is the fact that convicts and prison inmates are also receiving these rebates. Excuse us, but the only thing these folks are paying is their debt to society and not the prison's heating bill.

Meanwhile, millions of modest income Canadians who could actually use some help in defraying increasing home heating costs have been left out in the cold. Greater tax relief would have been the most efficient and effective route to help Canadians cope with spiking utility costs instead of this debacle.

Finally, a quick survey of commons votes shows that RHE surely stands for Resounding Hypocrisy Everlasting. Liberal Ministers and backbenchers (all except for two of them) voted against a Canadian Alliance motion calling for the appointment of an independent Ethics Counselor. The irony is that the motion was lifted word for word from the 1993 Liberal election platform. The current Ethics Counselor, Howard Wilson, only reports to the Prime Minister.

Public Works Minister Alfonso Gagliano, in attempting to defend the government's blatant about face told the CBC "after we formed the government we got the explanation that it was not the proper way to do it and that's why (Wilson) reports to the prime minister."

Oh really! Are we then to assume that provinces like Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, just to name a few, with their respective Integrity and/or Conflict of Interest Commissioners all reporting directly to their respective legislatures, have got it all wrong Welcome to Parliament Hill where it Rains Hypocrisy Everyday.