The quintet
We Canadians have opted for a goulash of a government and that may turn out to be exactly what we need. When power is given to some individual or group there always have to be what political scientists call checks and balances. The drafters of the British North America Act assumed this set of reins should be in the hands of the Senate. But prime ministers systematically pulled the teeth of the Senate until, even if senators made a valid point, they could be safely ignored.
Read Also
Late season rainfall creates concern about Prairie crop quality
Praying for rain is being replaced with the hope that rain can stop for harvest. Rainfall in July and early August has been much greater than normal.
So voters let governments know how incensed they are by voting for the opposition party or parties. As Mr. Mulroney found out in 1993, voters can become quite incensed.
Following the June 2 vote, we have a slim Liberal majority government, with an opposition consisting of Reform, Bloc Quebecois, New Democrats and Progressive Conservatives barking at their heels. Each opposition leader will compete to make the biggest blackest headlines about Liberal sins and how he or she has the real cure for the nation’s ills.
There’ll be shouting matches, but this isn’t all bad. When you’ve got five parties practising one-upmanship, all members would be wise to think twice before making public utterances.
Question period in the House formerly reminded me a bit of the turkey pen on the farm. Any bird showing weakness was immediately pecked to death by the other turkeys.
One can only hope that our MPs will practice statesmanship to convince us they are logical successors to Jean ChrŽtien.
If we’d wanted turkeys in the House, we would have elected them.
