To the Editor:
Canada's opposition is struggling in a way that we haven't seen since 1993 when the mighty Progressive Conservatives fragmented into the Official Opposition Bloc Quebecois, the third-party Reform Party, 9-seat NDP, and a couple PC's. It is not a question of the parties themselves, it is a question of leadership, or rather the anticipation of it. Currently, the Official Opposition NDP is without a permanent leader, as are the Liberals and Bloc. Only the Green Party has a demonstrated leader from before this past election.
The Prime Minister has a majority that is seeing the present government cram some rather stiff legislation through the House, on its way to the Senate which is dominated, also, by the Conservatives. Recently, 5 Conservatives chose to abstain from a vote, and on another occasion close to a dozen were questioning the validity of the legislation put before them. I would suspect that any Aboriginal MP with a heart towards their population which suffers from a disproportional rate of incarceration and poverty would give a serious second look to some of the justice measures the Prime Minister wants to enact.
Recently I wrote more about the Grandest Coalition and suggested the balance of Parliament could be in the hands of both the Aboriginal Conservatives & Quebec Conservatives who are somewhat more moderate than the predecessor Reformers. The expectation of cooperation with MP's from the NDP side or seasoned Liberals is wary at best, although discussions with the Bloc has always been an option for the Conservative Party in the past. The Green Party is new to the parliamentary game, so it is too early to see what just one seat can accomplish in the House.
In Saskatchewan I've been encouraging defeated Green Party candidates to persevere and look at the option of providing effective "outside Opposition" to the government as a third party by speaking concisely and effectively on issues that are important in the Legislature- issues that are important to the common people outside. Such an approach is what propelled the Reform Party to national attention in 1988, and assisted Stephen Harper to the Office of Prime Minister in the years between 1998 and 2004. Speaking with a strong opposition voice from the outside has traditionally been the job of union leaders, think-tanks, social groups, and protestors, but it must be noted that there is little being effectively covered in the media of late. Images with no words or arguments is what I see.
I again propose the grandest coalition, and it doesn't need to begin within the House of Commons to be effective. It can begin now with you and me, and those people (and them), and be effective through making connections with all parties in the House of Commons. It is one thing for a party to stand up in the House and speak to an issue, and have the other parties speak to their pet issues as well, but it would be quite another thing for many to speak with a unified voice on common issues where there exists consensus, even if there exists only one or two issues at a time.
When I heard that the late Jack Layton was ill once again with a new form of cancer, I needed only to hear such a sentence to know what the outcome would most probably be - having lost my own dad to a cancer which became another form before his death. When I saw him on television during his last press conference, I couldn't look at the image again. Before summer ended he was gone. And I wondered how the NDP would ever pick up the pieces.
The election success was all Jack. It was him and his smile, and personality that won them their greatest success to date. And he will stand tall in history for it.
The leadership I believe is needed today is far different than that approach. I believe that the leadership of today requires the effort and attention not only of one man, centred around one person, but rather, the participation of one and all. Again, it is you. It is me. It is your friends and mine. It is those who are outside the process looking in, but not fully engaged in the activities of politics. Prepare to get officially involved with the parties again when the time is right.
A Parliament with leaderless parties simply requires that individuals stand up and speak with non-whipped independence to represent not only the voters who voted for them, but all constituents- in their riding, and I would argue, all across Canada. And, those outside Parliament must exercise the same right (and responsibility) in the same way an MP or party leader would under regular circumstances. The time will come indeed when there will be an Official Leader of the Opposition who can unite not only their party, but those who might only at that time feel they are the outside Opposition.
Then all the opposition can unite...
Brendan William Cross, Regina, SK.
