A6 www.trailtimes.ca
OPINION
Thursday, April 17, 2014 Trail Times
Published by Black Press Tuesday to Friday, except statutory holidays SECOND CLASS MAIL REGISTRATION #0011
1163 Cedar Avenue Trail, B.C. • V1R 4B8 OFFICE Ph: 250-368-8551 Fax: 250-368-8550 NEWSROOM 250-364-1242 SALES 250-364-1416 CIRCULATION 250-364-1413
Barbara Blatchford PUBLISHER, ext. 200 publisher@trailtimes.ca
Guy Bertrand EDITOR, ext. 211 editor@trailtimes.ca
Michelle Bedford
CIRCULATION MANAGER, ext. 206 circulation@trailtimes.ca
Jim Bailey SPORTS EDITOR, ext. 210 sports@trailtimes.ca
Valerie Rossi REPORTER, ext. 212 reporter@trailtimes.ca
Sheri Regnier REPORTER, ext. 208 newsroom@trailtimes.ca
Art Harrison REPORTER, ext. 213 newsdesk@trailtimes.ca
Dave Dykstra SALES ASSOCIATE, ext. 203 d.dykstra@trailtimes.ca
Lonnie Hart
SALES ASSOCIATE, ext. 201 l.hart@trailtimes.ca
Jeanine Margoreeth
CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING CLERK, ext. 204 nationals@trailtimes.ca
Kevin Macintyre
PRODUCTION MANAGER, ext 209 ads@trailtimes.ca
Shannon McIlmoyle PRODUCTION, ext 209 production@trailtimes.ca
All rights reserved. Contents copyright by the Trail Times. Any reproduction of material contained in this publication in whole or in part is forbidden without the expressed written consent of the publisher. It is agreed that the Trail Times will not be responsible for errors or omissions and is not liable for any amount exceeding the cost of the space used and then only such portion where the errors actually appeared. We reserve the right to edit or reject any submission or advertisement that is contrary to our publishing guidelines.
The portents of political change in Canada
T
he public’s sorrow about the death of much-respected Conservative Jim Flaherty, who had just resigned as Canada’s Finance Minister, reminds us of the essential humanity shared by politicians of all stripes. It is easy to forget, in the hubbub of partisan politics, how much we should honour those who enter the often unforgiving public arena. Flaherty showed competence, compassion and integrity and will be greatly missed. It is hard to see any replacement for him in the front ranks of the governing party. Yet not all politicians live up to the high ideals which no doubt originally impelled them to choose this career. The Conservative Party, for whom Flaherty served as a happy but partisan warrior, is the home of many less impressive practitioners. And their antics are coming back to haunt them. For example, the same week as Flaherty’s death saw the overdue unfrocking of Rob Anders, who lost a bruising nomination fight in Calgary’s new Signal Hill riding. Anders is a 17-year veteran of the House and is seen by many as Canada’s worst MP. He often behaved like an ideologically-driven, unsophisticated buffoon, one who, alone,
vetoed honouring Nelson Mandela, fell asleep during a meeting with veterans, calling some of them “NDP hacks who praise Vladimir Putin,” and who suggested that New Democratic Party leader Thomas Mulcair “hastened the death” of former NDP leader Jack Layton by encouraging an election while Layton was in questionable health. In fact, many thought the only thing he had going for him was that he was a Harper loyalist. So, of course, was Finance Minister Flaherty and we should recall that he wasn’t perfect: he, together with Anders and the rest of the Conservative caucus, must bear responsibility for the Harper government’s many abuses of democracy and other utterly misguided policies pursued in spite of evidence to the contrary. In fact, Flaherty’s own omnibus budget bills (two of which topped 400 pages) formed part of a pattern of disrespect for parliamentary tradition. (When in opposition, Harper denounced the Liberals for presenting an omnibus bill totalling a whopping 24 (this is not a misprint) pages!) So we can’t blame only hyper-partisans like Pierre Poilievre, Minister of State (Democratic Reform), who is ramming the socalled Fair Elections Act through Parliament, or
PHIL
ELDER
Troy Media
Dean del Mastro, former Parliamentary Secretary for Stephen Harper, although dropped from the Conservative caucus after being charged under the Canada Elections Act. The whole Conservative caucus has contributed to the political dumbingdown of Canada, where no personal attack is too mean. This is worth keeping in mind, even as we eulogize Flaherty, or rejoice over Anders’ de-frocking. In fact, speaking of responsibility, the man who took away the nomination from Anders, Ron Liepert himself, has a blemished record. He used to be a cabinet minister in the PC government of Alberta, that complacent group with such a complacent sense of entitlement that, when travelling, they treat taxpayers’ money as their own. Well-known political blogger David Climenhaga opined on April 13 that
“a short-tempered minister given the Education portfolio by Mr. Stelmach, he (Liepert) soon roused Alberta’s teachers, hitherto practically a branch of the Progressive Conservative Party, to a state of open rebellion. “Later, as minister of health and wellness, he launched Alberta’s catastrophic experiment in health-care centralization, pushed seniors’ care toward a high-cost private model, watched a crisis in the province’s emergency rooms boil over, and brought in Stephen Duckett, the egotistical and undiplomatic Australian PhD economist, to lead Alberta Health Services into a black hole, where it remains. “Mr. Liepert became so unpopular as health minister seniors would boo spontaneously when he walked into a room.” This pattern of behaviour spells big trouble for Canada’s conservatives in the federal and Alberta elections in 2015 and ‘16, unless their leaders change their ways. For Canadians are turning against attack-dog politics, as practiced by the Conservatives. Much has been written about low voter turnouts reflecting people’s increased disillusionment about the political process, especially among the young. This is a danger signal about the
ill-health of our democracy. New approaches to politics including grassroots calls for inter-party cooperation, instead of beating each other’s’ brains out, are taking hold. Another example of new thinking occurred in Calgary the same day Liepert was busy defeating Rob Anders. Federal and Alberta Green Party leaders Elizabeth May and Janet Keeping spoke in Calgary about “doing politics differently”. Ideas included increased civility and cooperation among the parties, combining in various ways to pass legislation in the long-term public interest, like proportional representation, instead of using wedge politics pandering to small but vocal groups for short-term partisan advantage. One lovely thing about the Greens is that they don’t try to jam anything down anybody’s throat, or ignore expert opinion. Instead, they speak “politics in complete sentences”, in Calgary Mayor Nenshi’s phrase, and just make suggestions for us to consider. Stephen Harper, Pierre Poilievre, are you listening? Phil Elder is Emeritus Professor of Environmental and Planning Law with the Faculty of Environmental Design at the University of Calgary.