So Preston turned tail and ran. Frankly, I don’t blame him.
The House of Commons has shown over the past few weeks how pathetically juvenile and useless our representatives are. Have they spent time hammering out legislation or trying to advance the interests of national security or business? No. They’ve been calling each other names, asking anyone who isn’t part of their party to quit and sulking, pouting and plugging their ears when things don’t go as planned.
First off, there’s the Edmonton MP that wasn’t. Alliance House member Rahim Jaffer was scheduled to be on a Vancouver radio show St. Patty’s Day afternoon. Jaffer double booked himself by scheduling a constituency meeting at the same time as the interview. His heart was in the right place as he slighted the radio show for his voters, but his head was nowhere to be found as he later claimed to have been on the radio.
This was a stupid, childish and immature act but it was dwarfed by the inane response in the House.
Members from both sides of the aisle were appalled that such a heinous act could be committed. A politician lying, God forbid! The amount of time wasted by the Liberals calling for Jaffer’s head should be taken out of their pay. If I spent two days haranguing my co-worker about the fact that he lied, would anyone consider that constructive?
I certainly hope not. The Liberals are not the only ones wasting time, nor are the Alliance the only ones prone to idiocy. Minister of State for multiculturalism and Liberal MP Hedy Fry seems to, for some unknown reason, have it in for Prince George, British Columbia. Her comments about "crosses being burned on lawns as we speak" were so preposterous and inflammatory it hurt.
The penultimate example of the elementary nature of our public representatives is the name calling. First Joe Clark is Joe McCarthy. The Jean Chrétien is Richard Nixon. Finally Brian Tobin is Pinocchio.
This is something I wouldn’t be surprised to see in SLC where 18-year-olds play a role, but, with the possible exception of certain local Alliance representatives, all MPs have gone through puberty and should have the mental fortitude and work ethic to put pettiness behind them and do their jobs.
I think the most effective way to deal with this gaggle of 10-year-olds running our country is to drop some cash, build some bike racks and let them have at it. Maybe with this immaturity out of their systems they can grow up and get down to business.