Now in 2011, we are again, flirting with the idea of having yet another chance to determine our lives through a federal election. But as voters turn out decreases with increasing citizen apathy, the political debates of our time are left merely to those who are willing to play the nasty political game.
Maybe politicians know this. Maybe the once elected government celebrates this. Or perhaps, the government just does not care. Of course, at the blurry sight of another election, the leading opposition party depends on its ability to discredit the present government and senses an urgency to encourage all those frustrated at the state of affairs to be ready to vote for change.
I see a sense of fetishism happening around the understanding of politics and government policies and procedures. Watching Question Period I've learned that the present government represents one and only one voice. It does not matter who is responding to any given question nor what the issue being addressed is, the government's answer is one and only one, just one unified voice. It does not matter how many times one rephrases the question in order to get a relevant response, again, I hear the same answer phrased in exactly the same way it was a couple of seconds ago.
I particularly remember when Ignatieff asked Harper about corporate tax cuts. Harper’s answer revolved around the idea that the government has made, in numerous cases, very clear that corporate tax cuts are good for the economy. When faced again by Ignatieff regarding the social and economic costs of these tax cuts, Harper again responded the exactly same way, without acknowledging the different nature of the question. My initial reaction was that of shock: did Harper just ignored this question and repeated himself? Is he deaf? Is he dim? Of course, in the course of days that followed and the resulting increasing awareness of these proceedings made me conclude that overlooking specifics and providing vague answers are actually strategies that are so deeply embedded in these processes of what we consider democracy.
The more I listen and watch parliamentary proceedings and the many politicians that are supposed to represent us, the more I believe that the Canadian federal rhetoric of political debate materializes painfully as a kind of mockery of democracy and those who have faith in it.
Honestly, I am not sure about what the political sphere was like even 5 years ago. Back then, I thought politics did not matter to my well being and my ability to succeed in life. It was only somewhat recently that things happened and things have made themselves clear as I grew older. My professors and courses at SFU made the greatest contributions on how I developed as a well-rounded human being, no longer focused on myself alone, no longer as an individual but rather as part and parcel of a system to which I had no choice but to belong as long as I breathe.
Since I learned I could never escape the system, I figured I will participate in it by learning all there is to learn about Canadian politics. I started with the government website and slowly worked my way to individual Members of Parliament. To my amusement, when it was time to read about John Baird, news media were referring to him as an aggressive pitbull “feisty, lippy, occasionally foul-mouthed…red meat-eating Conservative ideologue” (http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/675054).
Listen to the yelling, the personal and political attacks that fly across Parliament. Listen to the sarcasm, the nasty comments, the never-ending accusations, the personal attacks, the generalizations, and the lies. This is our political discourse at its federal level. It reminds me of children fighting and pointing fingers at each other. As opposed to what Harper thinks, I think in this form of child’s pay/fight, there are no winners. We all lose. Is there no rational and decent form of dialogue in federal government? Are our representatives really nothing more than self-indulging, self-aggrandizing, legalized anarchists?
Facing the UN resolution to impose a NFZ over Libya, the Canadian government states that it is important to protect the citizens of Libya from the tyranny of Gadhafi. We send military assistance along other nations to protect the human rights of Libyans. This is a great move, and stance against undemocratic “regimes” is brave and courageous. Too bad this reflects the hypocritical nature of our government. Who is now protecting us from the tyranny of the Harper regime? Actually, let me rephrase: is the political discourse of federal government, lacking any form of reason and rationality; having lost its sense of morality, humanity, ethics; ignorant of processes of dialogue and accountability; a truly democratic political sphere within which Canadians can actively participate?
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