Roger Varley has been in the news business almost 40 years with The Canadian Press/Broadcast News, Uxbnridge Times-Journal, Richmond Hill Liberal and Uxbridge Cosmos. Co-winner with two others of CCNA national feature writing award. In Scout movement over 30 years, almost 25 as a leader. Took Uxbridge youths to World Jamboree in Holland. Involved in community theatre for 20 years as actor, director, playwright, stage manager etc. Born in England, came to Canada at 16, lived most of life north and east of Toronto with a five-year period in B.C.
Waiting on the edge jof my seat
This time next week, we will know the makeup of our next Parliament. I, for one, am finding it harder to wait for the results of Monday's vote than I did waiting for Christmas as a child.
For most of the past three weeks, I have been hunkered down in my flat, fighting some kind of bug that really hit me hard. That is why you haven't seen my byline in the Cosmos for a while. The only excursion of any length made in that three-week period was to the all-candidates meeting at the Seniors’ Centre and even then I had planned to stay only for the first half-hour or so.
Most of my self-imposed quarantine was spent poring over just about any election news I could find. One might say I have been almost obsessed with this particular election. Obsessed, in fact, to the point where I believe it delayed my recovery from whatever bug had hold of me. I became agitated, restless and sleepless. Never has a federal election – or any election – grabbed my attention like this one.
I've read and watched the polls, the analyses, the pundits from every political stripe. I've read posts on Twitter and Facebook and seen the exchanges on numerous forums from coast to coast. And it hasn't been pretty.
Never in my life have I seen this country so divided - virulently so – over an election. The name calling, the mud slinging, the attack ads and the dirty tricks have relegated what should be an exercise in democracy into little more than a street brawl.
As Canadians, we should demand better.
And the best place to start doing better is in the new Parliament, whatever its makeup. The people we elect to represent us in the (once) hallowed halls of the House of Commons are paid handsomely to be there. And since we are the ones paying their salaries, we deserve to receive our money's worth.
We need to let all members of Parliament know that we are fed up with the nonsense that has been passed off as representation for the last number of years. We need to let the governing party know – especially if it has a majority – that it is there to look out for the welfare and well-being of all Canadians, not just the ridings that elected its members. And if there is a party with a majority, that doesn't mean it can ignore the opposition parties. The opposition parties also represent Canadians and those Canadians need to have their concerns heard.
If there is another minority situation, we need to let all members know that they have been sent to Ottawa to work together for the good of the country, not just to look for opportunities to accuse each other of this and that, or for political one-up-manship. It is a difficult job governing a country and not one party has all the right answers. When there are differences of opinion, that is the time for debate. Sadly, the definition of debate has been lost for years on those who occupy seats in the House of Commons. It has been replaced with the idea that debate consists of slamming your opponent any way you can.
The first and most important task facing the new Parliament is to re-establish a sense of duty and decorum and respect for an opponent's opinion, even if it is in direct contradiction to one's own. A member who denigrates an opponent because of the difference in their positions also denigrates the Canadian citizens who sent the opponent to Ottawa.
It seems to me this denigration, so abundantly spread through the Commons in the last Parliament, is a major cause of the division we are now seeing among Canadians in general. I recently exchanged some less than kind words with a gentleman whom I like and respect because we disagreed on our choice of candidate. I've never done that before and I don't like it.
It seems to me, however, that we average Canadians must play a large role in bringing about change. I would suggest we all keep our MP's telephone number and e-mail address posted close to our computers and let him or her know quickly and often when we see them neglecting the nation's business in favour of party business.
Tell me, am I wrong?
