Really? Our entire democratic process can be sidetracked this easily?

Next year’s pivotal federal budget that could trigger an election will be put together without the legally required input from Parliament. The Commons finance committee has decided to shelve its prebudget report after a draft was leaked to lobbyists by a low-level Parliament Hill staffer. “It’s unfortunate,” said Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who will be making key decisions on the contents of the 2011 budget without the report from MPs on the finance committee... Conservative MP Kelly Block apologized for the leak and said she has fired her assistant – Russell Ullyatt – who forwarded the draft documents to several lobbyists minutes after they arrived in his inbox.

That's it? We can't do any work around for one of the most important budgets in recent memory? A thousand years of parliamentary tradition going back to the Vikings and Saxons and Kelly Block gets to apologize?