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More than the
MPs, Canadians are looking forward to this summer
Parliamentary recess because what we've seen in this
spring session is a futile, at the best, and
shameful, at the worst, debate between all political
parties.
To get an idea
of how futile and hypocritical the debate is in the
House these days, you only need to listen to the
daily tirades of the opposition parties against the
government during Question Period.
From the sounds
of the opposition party leaders, they're fighting
against the worst government in Canada, ever. Mind
you, we've heard this song before, but this time
there's a minor difference: they have the power to
defeat "the worst government Canada ever had" but
they haven't.
This means that
they're either lying about the government or they
don't have the guts to rid Canadians of it.
I've heard many
of them saying that "Mr. Harper has to remember that
he did not receive the mandate from the majority of
Canadians." True, but definitely he received the
approval of the majority of the MPs in the House,
otherwise we would now be facing another election.
Canadians are
aware of this and are not paying attention to the
daily rants of the opposition parties on every issue
on the table, from the environment to the economy
and from Afghanistan to federal-provincial
relations.
Canadians are
looking for real answers, real debate, not a riot on
every single initiative the government takes.
Unfortunately,
while Canadians didn't pay any attention to this
squalid cheap way of doing politics, the government
did.
In doing so,
the government had to lower itself to the same
standard, returning to the sender, in kind, all the
mud thrown at it.
We've heard
Liberals accusing the Conservatives of mishandling
every issue they could find on the front pages of
major newspapers and the Conservatives responding by
reminding the Liberals that they did much worse.
In my opinion,
this has been the wrong approach because Canadians
did not need to be reminded of the Liberals'
downfalls. Canadians do know them all which is why
Stephen Harper is now the Prime Minister of Canada.
However, while
the Liberal deficiencies were enough to bring Mr.
Harper in government, Canadians need to know more
from the Conservative leadership before they give
them a majority mandate to govern.
It was not a
coincidence that the polls were more generous with
the Conservatives in their first year of power when
they engaged Canadians in debate and it seemed like
their treasured majority was just around the corner.
That opportunity faded when the governing
Conservatives switched their focus of debate with
Canadians to engaging the opposition parties.
This was clear
after the shuffle Mr. Harper introduced last
January. From that moment on the possibility of a
Conservative majority government disappeared from
the polls. It's also interesting to note that the
popularity of the Liberals or the other opposition
parties did not go up.
This means that
a vote today would produce the same results as last
January's election: a minority government.
Canadians know
that the Liberals, aside from the daily 45-minute
noise they produce in the House during Question
Period, are still an empty shell in terms of
policies, organization, and financial support. The
presence of the NDP in the House, even with the
much-improved leadership of Jack Layton, is welcomed
by Canadians as a good condiment for the meal, but
still not the meal.
As for the Bloc
Québécois, we know that their influence in Canadian
politics is very important, but to decide who,
between Liberals and Conservatives, is going to lead
the government.
So, at this
time, the only party that has a chance to form a
majority government is still Prime Minister Harper's
Conservative Party, as long as the Tories stop
engaging in the futile debate with the opposition
parties and start, again, one with Canadians.
This recess is
a good opportunity for Mr. Harper to retool his
government by putting people in charge who have the
ability to engage and inspire Canadians, not those
whose only skills are to handle the mud thrown at
them by the Liberals.
Canadians are
never impressed by mud, from wherever it comes and
wherever it lands.
It might have
been needed for the time being, just to tell
Liberals that mud is not enough to bring them back
to government, but by now the Conservative
strategists should also see that mud is not enough
to give them a majority.
Contrary to
what the opposition parties are saying, the
Conservative minority government hasn't done a bad
job, considering that the economy is still booming,
people are working, and Canada is still a good and
better place to live. Of course, they made mistakes
and there are still many issues to deal with and in
order to deal with the issues, I believe that Mr.
Harper will soon present to Canadians a government
that is more focused on engaging in a debate with
them and less with the opposition parties. I
wouldn't be surprised to see a shuffle as soon as
the House goes into recess.
The last thing
Canadians are looking forward to is to see the same
level of debate in the House when they go back to
work after the summer holidays. |
