My colleague Meagan has put forward an excellent post about Question Period in the House of Commons and how it has become a daily shouting match instead of a manner for the government and opposition to exchange information. I agree wholeheartedly with Meagan that question period has become a distraction and that the negative attention it generates is doing a disservice to our government institutions.
Unfortunately, I believe that so much of politics in Canada has ‘jumped the shark’ and can no longer be taken as seriously anymore. Debate has become about who can give the best 10 second clip and who can attack the other side personally. Very rarely do we have an opportunity to see debate that is respectful and focused on issues. Each side is so desperate to find the wedge that can help them carry more votes come election day that they all have become overly aggressive when the other side makes a mistake and overly cautious about saying anything substantive that the other side can attack.
The problem is that there are very real issues that need to be debated by our elected representatives and Canadians need to know all of the options that are before them. Whether it is our aging population, rising health care costs, the role of Canada’s military, support for cultural institutions and a myriad of other issues – Canadians have a right to know that Parliament is addressing each issue in the serious manner it deserves.
This is not to say that debate should not be vigorous – it absolutely should be as each side must be prepared to defend their position. It is when the debate swerves to misrepresentations and half truths – so predominant in the 10%er mailings Canadians have been subjected to over the past few years. Thankfully these 10%ers have been stopped from being used as the partisan wedge pieces they had become.
Some will say that I’m dreaming in technicolour today and that once you have ‘Jumped the Shark” there is no going back and ‘Happy Days’ can never be the same again. I choose to believe that Parliament is full of intelligent and reasonable people who want only to do something to make things better for their constituents and Canadians in general. I’m hoping that these representatives will see there is another way to do things and find a way to jump right back over that shark – I know the Fonz would if he could.
