Dirty, Ugly, Nasty Politics

By the time election 2006 came around, the Canadian public was absolutely fed up with the lack of proper decorum in the house of commons. The Conservative government promised change:

Bringing Accountability Back to Government

No aspect of responsible government is more fundamental than having the trust of citizens. Canadians' faith in the institutions and practices of government has been eroded. This new government trusts in the Canadian people, and its goal is that Canadians will once again trust in their government. It is time for accountability.

Hollow words.

Just this past week, the prime minister had no qualms about trying to smear a Liberal MP, a Conservative MP was railing in public about "extremist" elements in the Liberal party, and the public safety minister was caught using his taxpayer-funded website to state that the Liberals are "soft on terrorism".

Where's the "accountability" for that behaviour?

All of these incidents surround the current debate about anti-terrorism measures as they relate to the Air India bombing inquiry and the two provisions of Canada's anti-terrorism law that are set to expire soon. What better way for this tory government to try to score points than by using a page from the Republicans' playbook which dictates the use of emotional fearmongering and shady tactics to bludgeon opponents and the public into submission? This tory government has learned that lesson well. The only problem they have is that they're in a minority government situation which, thankfully, does not give them the power they need to set their agenda in stone.

The more they fight back with these dirty tactics, however, the more ammo the opposition parties have to use against them and that will all come out during the next election. You don't need to be a political junkie in this country to know that the tories have been acting like pompous thugs and all Canadians should be demanding better behaviour since this government has refused to honour its promise to bring decorum back to our national political scene.

This is just dirty, ugly, nasty politics at its worst. We deserve better than that. They need to be held accountable.

Related: The vote on the Anti-terrorist Act is due to happen at approximately 5:45 pm ET. You can catch it live on CPAC. The Globe and Mail has more.