Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Neither the Time nor Place

Five days have passed since the “Stop Harper” episode during the Speech from the Throne in the Senate of Canada. The responses have been varied and, upon reflection, AR would like to comment on the matter.

We believe that Ms. Bridgette DePape's protest was done at neither the correct time nor in the correct place.

It Insults the Senate and Crown

Her actions insulted the Senate and the Canadian Crown. The Senate Page Program is an important initiative and while working in political Ottawa, AR came to know the Usher of the Black Rod, the Senate officer who leads it. He was immensely proud of his pages because of the non-partisan work they do. While Ms. DePape has repeatedly stated she did not mean to disrespect her colleagues, this program will undoubtedly now face considerable scrutiny and she has done exactly that.

AR suspects this episode will also call into question the House of Commons Page Program too. Having met a number of Commons pages at both graduate school and while working as a political staffer, AR was always impressed at how bright and motivated these folks were. They knew their politics, had refined political opinions, yet were trusted by partisans to do their job. Surely these programs will survive; but what backlash will they now face?

It Insults the Opposition

Ms. DePape's actions insult the opposition parties of Canada, especially the New Democrats. The NDP, the most left of the opposition parties, has gone 14 seats in the House of Commons in the 37th parliament (2001-2004) to Official Opposition status and 103 seats in the current parliament.

But they have not done this with gimmickry. No, they've done it with old fashioned political activism – rooted in targeted and aggressive fundraising and intelligent leadership. The Green Party has done likewise, while the Liberal Party of Canada, Canada’s ‘Natural Governing Party’ has become a rump of its former self through complacency and a lack of self-evaluation.

It Insults the Arab Protesters

In Ms. DePape's subsequent press release and television interviews, she remarked how Canada needed an ‘Arab Spring’. This is a ridiculous notion. Her 'counterparts' in Egypt, Bahrain, Syria and elsewhere face despotic regimes which may torture and kill them. Yet, in a valiant attempt to end this, protesters have self-immolated, stared down tanks and assault rifles and gone to war against hardened regimes. Canadians have never faced such opposition, and while the first-past-the-post system is not perfect, it is here and on May 2nd and the people spoke.

Ms. DePape broke an oath to serve the Senate in a nonpartisan fashion . She has always been free to work for change with via the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, NDP, Liberals or Greens. This would have been the correct time and correct place to do things.

No comments: