The Expanding Conversation

As many of you know, I felt the need to take a bit of a break from this blog. That said, I have dipped in and out of the news cycles and tried to keep up with what was going on.

Something I noticed at year end, were the numerous articles on just what a wonderful year Harper had. Opinion writers and journalists alike went on at length describing in detail, what a deft politician Harper was, how his tactics paid off and while lucky in some instances, all in all, he got glowing grades from many.

The more of these pieces I read, the more I was struck by the fact that no one was really talking about the Prime Minister of this country, but rather they were speaking about the leader of the Conservative party and assessing how he and the party had fared in a political sense. They were speaking to how he had used the system and in some cases, less than ethical tactics to maintain power.

Think about that for a minute. Is that really what Canadians need to know at the end of the year? Shouldn't we be given an assessment of how the country was run? Shouldn't we have checklist of sorts of what our Prime Minister set out to do and how much of that agenda was accomplished?

In my view, those issues have been ignored for far too long. Opposition parties try to raise those issues, but when questioned the subject is often ignored in favour of questions like 'what strategy will you use to attack the government?' or 'how will you vote...willl you bring the government down?'.

That said, we've seen a shift recently. The strategy and tactics employed by Harper are still being scrutinized, but from a different perspective. Indeed, Harper's latest ploy of proroguing parliament seems to have energized not only the media, but Canadians who have noticed and find it objectionable.

As I write, the Facebook page Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament, is nearing 90,000 members. There have been some out there that have tried to belittle this endeavor, but in the main, you'll note that most articles and op/ed's being written seem to share the same sentiment being expressed by the grassroots of this country.

I'll agree that clicking on a FB page in and of itself can mean little, but as I've watched this group grow and see rallies being organised, I sense something is happening out there. A bit of an 'enough is enough', attitude seems to be developing and I think this is healthy for the country and our democracy.

These two articles in the Economist lay things out rather neatly, I think.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and whether or not you are hearing about this issue in your daily life.