Politics

I am definitely not a political junkie, or even a political person. I never speak out about the politics of our government but I fear I can be silent no longer.  I write today, not as a priest of the church (though it is hard to separate that fact); I write today as a citizen of this country who is worried, upset and, frankly, terrified.

The current fiasco that is happening in Ottawa regarding the spending of tax dollars on certain Senators feels to me like a boil that has been festering under skin and it is about to either erupt or be lanced.

It is our own fault really.  Canadians elected the government we have knowing full well what they were capable of.  What seems to get lost in all of this is exactly how we went into the last general election.  The governing party was found “in contempt of Parliament”.  The Conservative Party of Canada was deemed to be so filled with disdain for the rules of order and the rules of parliament that their minority government fell and we all dutifully headed back to the polls.

And we rewarded their contempt with a majority government.

This tells me two things. 

First, the Conservatives have absolutely no scruples when it comes to the rules of order or the rules of parliament and they have been given permission to run rough shod over the people who pay their substantial salaries and benefits.

Second, we – the Canadian people – have contempt for Parliament.  Our apathy has sunk to such a level that we simply do not care anymore.  Abuse and distain has become the norm for us and so we do not expect anything else.

What I see coming out of the Parliament of our country is nothing short of terrifying.  We are governed (I will refrain from saying “we are lead”) by a group of people who are condescending, arrogant, smug and domineering.  The Minister of Finance said recently about a wide ranging bill that “You don’t need to read all of the pages in it because it is mostly just technical stuff” – or words to that effect.  This kind of “childification” – to coin a word – of the Canadian public is repugnant and alarming.

What I heard from Senator Duffy this week serves to prove to me that the person who sits in the centre chair and heads up the Prime Minister’s Office is nothing more than a bully whose only interest is in making rich people richer.

The Prime Minister is systematically eroding all of the things that made me proud to say I was Canadian all for the call of the almighty dollar and the promise of a better economy.  Our government has slipped into that root of all evil – the love of money.  Greed for more is driving the agenda and don’t let things like “rules” or “promises”  or "ethics" get in the way.

In the end we have given a bully an unaccountable blank cheque and I am distraught that what Mr. Harper said will come true when he exclaimed, “By the end of my term in office you won’t recognize Canada.”

Mission accomplished.