Entries from March 2008 ↓

Just another day on the Hill. The first day for four new MPs. Another day closer to an election. Another day of conflict.

Stephane Dion presided over an intense Priorities and Planning Committee meeting all morning on an upper floor of the historic East Block. Coming off a weekend in which he stared down critics in Quebec and endured lousy polling numbers, he was about to welcome two more people into his team who 15 months ago were trying to beat him out as leader. The talk was as blunt as it was constructive. I’d tell you more, but then I’d have to kill you. Or myself.

QP was the zoo you would expect. Libs festing their new members. Cons feasting on Bob Rae. Combative questions rebuffed with non-answers. McCallum pissing off Flaherty. The ususal.

Outside the media had already moved beyond the obvious to the emotional, and was probing Denis Coderre with everything but turkey basters to see if he was upset at losing his job as defence critic. Sadly, he was not. At least, he wasn’t saying so.

Lots of colleagues spent time talking at me today about communications since their ridings have been bombed mercilessly with Tory flyers, and since I look like their best hope for a counterattack (a clear measure of Liberal desperation). Interestingly enough, the media has expressed far more interest than I might have imagined in this direct mail assault, largely because it’s all being waged with taxpayer funds. Lots of them. Eight million bucks.

I also note that the Conservatives have launched a counter-offensive, using guys like this to call me a hypocrite (one of the all-time fav political put-down terms, right up there with flip-flop). How can I possibly criticize the Toies for raping the public treasury and sending out 30,000,000 copies of attack ads to mailboxes across the land, he demands, when Liberals also mail stuff to their constituents? Strangely enough, when I think of Liberal communications versus the Conservative machine, that image of the Chinese guy facing tanks in Tiananmen Square comes to mind.

By the way, my buddy at the Canada Post substation in the middle of Halton sent me an email this afternoon. “This flyer is slated to go out to 29,000 homes tomorrow,” his note said, and along with it he sent a digital picture (below) of the latest Conservative flyer. The interesting point is that under House of Commons rules, the sponsoring MP from next door (Conservative Mike Wallace) is allowed to send only 7,000 of these to cover 10% of my riding. Instead, he sent 29,000. So much for rules. Right, Mr. Wallace?

So much for truth, as well. The new flyer now being sent all over everywhere is aimed at seniors, taking credit for pension-splitting – which Jim Flaherty bitterly resisted when I first proposed it – and ignorning the betrayed promise on income trusts which wiped out an estimated $20 billion in seniors’ savings.

In any case, I understand there is only one salient point to this: Political parties are using public funds to crap on each other, scare people with negative ads and use money intended to inform voters to bamboozle them with partisan half-truths instead. Shame on us all.

Say, did I mention we’re one day closer to an election?

Most days, hope seems to be in short supply. No wonder.

The economy, climate change, war and death, injustice, layoffs, gas prices, natural disaster – this is the stuff newspapers and TV dwell on. At the same time, politicians in Ottawa and Queen’s Park are constantly sniping at each other, running the other guy down and wallowing in the negative. Just turn on Question Period for five minutes any day of the week and see for yourself. No hope there.

This is where MPs and the others we choose lose touch with the people who elected them. Life isn’t a series of criticisms and complaints interspersed with bitching. If it were, then what would be the point?

Without hope, why have a family? Or buy a home, or save your money?

Without hope for the future, why recycle, start a business, go to university, buy a bond, cure an illness or plant a garden?

Hope’s a precious commodity for all of us, and the ultimate gift to pass on to others, especially your children. I became an MP to be part of the solution, not harp on the obvious problems without trying to solve them. We all know what’s wrong with the economy, the environment, child care, taxes, education and health care and how we can do better. So, why not do it?

In the next week or two you’ll receive a brochure from me called “Hope.” Take a few minutes to read it, because this is my plan. Some of the initiatives have been developed working with my Liberal colleagues in Ottawa, and some are achievable goals of my own. All of them are practical, real-world answers to the concerns which swirl around our families every day. They stand in stark contrast to the agenda of the existing government, which is why now, particularly, we need change, fresh thinking, new eyes and better ideas.

Much of what I am working on, my own agenda of hope, comes directly from your doorsteps, as it should. Halton is overwhelmingly a home-owning, family-oriented, middle-class community. Voters here have made it clear they want lower personal taxes or a way to improve family cash flow in tighter times. They seek more affordable options for child care. They’ve asked for environmental leadership from government, for a strategy to protect those high-value automotive jobs at Ford, or incentives for new investors to locate here. They want better roads for the commute, and an economy strong enough to protect the huge investment in their homes.

And more. Justice and opportunity for those less advantaged. More help with the staggering cost of university and college. A national climate change strategy that actually works. A compassionate country that opposes putting people to death here or oppresses those in other lands. Voters in Halton have made it clear they will not tolerate a Canada that slides from surplus back into deficit, making it impossible for tax cuts in the future.

Citizens have also told me they want politicians who report more to the people than to party bosses, and who will never forget that it is the first and highest duty of an elected person to represent them, and them alone. This is why the House of Commons must be reformed, or fade into public irrelevance, with half the people not even bothering to vote.

In short, we need hope. And hope needs a plan. Soon you will get mine.

Call me to get involved, or support me to make it happen.

Some encouraging news this Saturday morning. After a mere week on the bookstore shelves, Greater Fool: The Troubled Future of Real Estate has become a national bestseller in Canada. The Globe and Mail’s trendsetting list places it at No. 4, which is more than gratifying.

I had hoped this book would constitute a needed wake-up call for Canadians, so that they examine and re-examine the choices they are making, and think twice about our unhealthy fetish with over-priced houses. But to accomplish that, the thing’s got to be read.

So far, so good. The Globe bestseller list is here. Thank you, Canada.