The People Won, the Media Lost

There were many winners in the federal election. Stephen Harper, Jack Layton, and of course, the Canadian people. The people were big winners because they brought in a two-party Parliament in which the Conservatives and New Democrats ignore each other at their own future peril.

The big losers, aside from the Bloc Quebecois and Liberals, were the news media. The media tried desperately to deny the Conservatives another win. In almost 50 years of journalism I have never seen such biased reporting, pretty much throughout the media.  

The media just can’t seem to accept the message that its role is to shed the huge egos, find unspun and unvarnished facts, report them clearly and fairly, and let the people decide for themselves what kind of government they want. The media must take blame for much of the increasingly dysfunctional politics we have seen during the last decade.

The people have demanded a return to a sane, functional and productive system. Harper and Layton and their parties must start performing their jobs with respect, constructive criticism, and a willingness to listen to the ideas of others.

Where I live, Helena Guergis was defeated, which is not a surprise. She exhibited poor judgment on several fronts. However, what she and the riding which elected her originally did not deserve was the shabby treatment from the prime minister. Harper had every right to fire her from cabinet and have her driven from the Conservative caucus. His haughtiness, and the fact he did not come to the riding and explain to the people why he dumped their representative, is inexcusable.

Maybe with the New Democrats breathing down his back, Harper will learn to be more open and more tolerant of other people’s views. And, now much closer to real power, perhaps Layton will become more realistic about the serious problems that face this country.

Most Canadians are fiscal Conservatives and social democrats. They will be watching Harper and Layton closely and in future will not hesitate to swing between the right and the left to get what they want and need.

Steve and Jack's Wonderful Adventure

The federal election is driving me so crazy that I’m starting to hallucinate. This morning I was having my coffee when suddenly I had a vision of Stephen Harper and Jack Layton together in government. Harper got another minority and invited Jack and a couple of his pals into the cabinet to help the Conservatives stay in power. Imagine, Attila the Harper and Comrade Layton working together!

Crazily impossible, yes, but my hallucination led me to think about possible positives. If my hallucination became reality, these politicians would have to listen to what the other was saying, and adopt stances that were best for the people instead of themselves and their parties.

Stevie might uncoil a bit, Jackie might stop with the unrealistic promises. Stevie would adopt some NDP ideas that might help everyone (remember Tommy Douglas and Medicare?); Jackie would learn that governing is the art of excellent compromise.

Best of all we would see changes in the political party system, which former prominent politicians, interviewed by a company called Samara, say is ruining our system of government. Ideas from the left and ideas from the right coming together in the centre, which is where this country really wants to be.

The Samara report said the 65 former MPs interviewed felt that “it is often the way political parties manage themselves, their members and their work that really drives the contemporary dysfunction facing Canadian politics."

“Time after time the MPs articulated how decisions from their parties’ leadership were often viewed as opaque, arbitrary and even unprofessional, and how their parties’ demands often ran counter to the MPs’ desires to practice politics in a constructive way.” 

Scarey, eh?