The Liberals In The House Are Hypocrisy In Action

LAWRENCE MARTIN
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
June 7, 2008 at 7:54 AM EDT

After the announcement of the General Motors layoffs this week, Stéphane Dion went into a predictable rage, demanding the resignation of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. The Liberal Leader glared across the aisle at Prime Minister Stephen Harper. "Will he [the PM] learn from his mistakes and dismiss his Finance Minister immediately before he jeopardizes our automobile and manufacturing industries even further?"

Does Mr. Dion really expect the Prime Minister to buy into that kind of talk? "Hey man, good idea, I'll dump him first thing in the morning." Of course, Mr. Harper responded to the vituperative volley with vituperation of his own. Mr. Dion complained again this week that all the PM and his men do is attack, that their definition of sophisticated leadership is the politics of destruction.

He has a point - until he looks at his own ledger.

The Grits are the great hypocrites on this one. They stand up each and every day in the Commons and with indignant fury berate their opponents with one exaggerated accusation after another. They demand cabinet resignations by the hour. They talk of the need to elevate the tone of the debate while lowering it themselves.

Here was Michael Ignatieff last week on the question of Mad Max Bernier and the missing classified documents. "The government is either incompetent or it is covering up the truth. Which is it?" This is one of the leading thinkers in the Commons. He makes it onto lists as one of the world's top intellectuals. But like the rest of them, Mr. Ignatieff turns questions into accu-sations and expects an intelligent response.

It's fine to talk, as the Liberals do, of how the Prime Minister's Office is short-circuiting democracy, of how it is acting as if in a dictatorship. But where's their plan to change the system? Where's their plan to cut the size of the PMO in half, to devolve power, to clean it up? Where's their proposal to have a Speaker of the Chamber who exercises the power he has to keep the debate civil or, if his means are insufficient, is given more powers to be able to do so?

Political parties always pay lip service to "democratic reform." They never get around to making the change. The time is perfect now. In the United States, Barack Obama has been elevating the discourse, at least to some degree. His Liberal cousins here would do well to get acquainted.

The Grits have Bob Rae and Michael Ignatieff and Ken Dryden and Stéphane Dion. These are quality men of high intelligence who should be forging a new way, showing Canadians how politics can be done with taste and distinction. But they have a traditionalist in House Leader Ralph Goodale, who presides over the Question Period content. He's a good MP and a good chap. But he reeks of old politics. He needs a new assignment.

Mr. Dryden once told me how he didn't mind criticism so much, as long as it was done with a respectable tone. Yet, like so many of them, he has been co-opted by the rancorous Commons system. He gets up and shouts and admonishes in a holier-than-thou way, resorting to the dire tones he rightly decries. The Opposition does have its role of resistance to play. On occasion, high dudgeon is to be expected. But when it surfaces with every second question, it loses its effect. Shouting from one side begets only shouting from the other.

With the style of the Conservatives - which, indeed, is all about the politics of destruction - the Liberals are presented with a spectacular opportunity to show a new ethic. Ideas? Donald Savoie has a new book out called Court Government and the Collapse of Accountability in Canada and the United Kingdom. Liberal Tom Axworthy has brought out a major study with recommendations for overhauling how Parliament functions. A report just out by the Public Policy Forum charts how healthy relations between the public service and politicians can be restored.

The possibilities are ripe. But the Liberals don't give the impression of wanting to jump on them and do politics differently. They should realize that Canadians would be far more inclined to change the government if they could find a party prepared to change the system.