There is a time when the nation’s reputation is at stake, when Canada’s vaunted ability to punch above her weight on the international scene is at risk. At that time, no matter what the cause, if all Canadians put aside their petty differences we can present a confident front to the world, with the motivation to do what must be done to correct the matter.
Which did not happen.
The Problem with Fear
Concern for your personal well-being is a great motivator, but unfortunately it sends you in two different directions. The first direction is save-your-skin selfish. This causes people to vote for anyone who promises an easy solution to the problem. Which, of course, always turns out to the advantage of someone’s political power and not much else.
Much later, often after it is too late, when the real danger is staring them in the face, do people look around to see who is in the same boat, and find ways to cooperate to keep it from sinking.
What Should Have Happened Last Week.
Parliament should, as a group, have realized that the Speaker is their leader, so they were responsible for fixing the internal problem. Both the Bloc Québécois and the NDP presented solutions very early in the game. It was up to the Prime Minister to immediately reach out to those most injured and reassure them of our true intentions.
You can imagine President Zelensky’s response to Trudeau’s explanation. It would probably go along the lines of, “You westerners have no idea what kind of a mess our country was in 1945. We all knew that Russia was the real enemy, and the only force to counter them was Germany. A lot of people made difficult choices. We don’t tend to dig too deeply into anyone’s WWII record because we might find out things we don’t want to hear. Thanks for the apology, though.”
What Happened Instead
The Leader of the Opposition got up in parliament with the completely inane supposition that the Prime Minister was responsible. This forced Trudeau to waste his time worrying about internal matters and slowed our preferred response into the “too little too late” bracket.
For the Record
The very last thing Parliament and the rest of Canada wants is the Prime Minister’s Office sticking its fingers into anything else that happens on Parliament Hill. Poilievre, as usual, wants Trudeau to be responsible for everything that goes wrong, but not to have the power to fix anything.
Bottom Line: The Meaning of “Responsibility.”
I have mentioned this before. There are two types of responsibility. One is directed at the person or persons who were the direct cause of the problem. In this case, there is little doubt the Speaker and his office were at fault. The Speaker has resigned, and a couple of his minions might have to put their necks on the block as well.
The second is the responsibility to secure the future. To make sure something like this never happens again. And the Prime Minister should keep at arm’s length on this action, as should the leaders of the other parties. This is a problem for Parliament, and an all-party committee needs to fix it.
Are you listening, Mr. Poilievre, or are your ears too full of the sound of political points being scored?
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