Years ago, when I was younger and knew more, I wrote a column which began something like this:
“The connection between politicians and the truth is tenuous at best.”
Roy Romanow, then Saskatchewan’s deputy premier, publicly objected to what he considered naive cynicism.
In subsequent decades of covering politicians, I often have admired them for their hard work and resolve to make their community better.
Still, in the early days of the 1997 federal election, that earlier judgment is worth repeating: political words do not always mean what they appear to mean.
Read Also
Topsy-turvy precipitation this year challenges crop predictions
Rainfall can vary dramatically over a short distance. Precipitation maps can’t catch all the deviations, but they do provide a broad perspective.
The current evidence involves not Romanow’s New Democrats but the federal Liberals, now running for a second term. They began their campaign on a lie.
On Sunday, April 27, the day prime minister Jean ChrŽtien called a June 2 election, the government issued its report card on accomplishments.
It was issued from the office of government house leader Herb Gray, a Commons veteran with a reputation for straight shooting.
It began: “The 35th Parliament was dissolved today after almost four years of productive work. The Parliament, which began on Jan. 17, 1994, has completed passage of 158 government bills.”
The list of “completed” work included the following: a bill to settle the Pearson airport fiasco; a bill to commercialize the St. Lawrence Seaway; Canada Labor Code amendments which give grain special protection from third-party west coast labor disruptions.
In fact, none of those important bills were passed by Parliament. They all died in the Senate.
A spokesperson for Gray defended the claim by saying they had been approved by the Liberal-dominated House of Commons. A reporter noted that they had not made it through the Senate, which is part of Parliament, and therefore were not part of the Liberal success record.
Which leads to questions about another Liberal promise.
Late in the government’s term, public works minister Diane Marleau, in charge of Canada Post, promised that the Crown corporation would not be sold.
But there is reason to feel uneasy about the strength of the commitment.
First, Marleau asked a private consultant to evaluate options, including a private sale. This became public only when discovered by the postal workers’ union.
The minister denied privatization was in the works. Yet in the House of Commons, she always added the escape clause that postal service will remain public as long as it serves a policy purpose.
The day of the April commitment, Marleau dropped the qualifier. The post office is not for sale. Period.
Yet the background documents she issued said it would not be sold “as long as it continues to fulfill a public policy role.” Does that mean Liberals can imagine a day when the post office does not fulfil “a public policy role”?
Supporters of public postal service should be prepared to continue the fight for what they think they have won already. The connection between political promises and the truth can be tenuous.
