The concept of vigorous democratic and political debate in this country is slowly becoming a sad joke. Today, following the news of Foreign Affair's Minister Peter McKay's public contemplation that Canadian troops would probably have their Afghanistan mission extended beyond the current commitment which ends in February, 2007, the opposition parties during Question Period had to start begging for another debate in the House to address their concerns. Harper was non-committal, of course. When it comes to war and placing soldiers' lives in jeopardy for a longer period of time, can there be any other more pressing issue requiring honest discussion in that supposedly hallowed institution? Welcome to the dictatorship of Stephen Harper where, when challenged to allow the peoples representatives to talk about this mission, his best response is to accuse the NDP of not supporting the troops. It's a tired, old strawman that Canadians are sick of hearing.
Harper's minions, then sent out to make their rounds on the various political talk shows, know they can only parrot the Conservative government's five priorities. If they talk about anything else in a way that might actually represent what their constituents believe, they face the wrath of Harper. Therefore, I propose that all political talk show hosts in Canada simply be given a tape recording of some Conservative repeating the talking points on the five priorities - to be played at the allotted times on their shows when other party members are there to actually debate issues - in order to save the Conservative Party and its members time and money they would have spent by appearing on these shows.
That way, it's win/win for everyone.
No comments:
Post a Comment