From the Globe and Mail, Weds Oct 21 2015 – Leadership, Jeffrey Simpson
FYI: Simpson is a political pragmatist. Facts come first. The kind of integrity in journalism that is becoming increasingly rare. This is extracted taken from his article.
” Politics will and must always feature robust, vigorous debate. Politics is how we sort out choices and priorities in a democratic society. And since we do not all agree on these matters we debate them endlessly and make a rough choice every four years or fewer, among ideas and leaders. But it helps protect or restore our faith in the way we make these choices if the debates around them are attended by some measure of restraint and dignity.
We can do debates better if the one at the top of our political institutions, the prime minister, leads with a tone of civility and respect; if he indeed calls upon the “better angles” of our country’s “nature”.
Such calls have been in short supply. Those with the fortitude for sour memories will remember the shrieking, ceaseless partisanship of the Harper government, epitomized by such ministers as John Baird and Pierre Poilievre; the bulldozing of parliamentary scrutiny with omnibus bills; the negative advertising campaigns seeking to denigrate the persona of opposition party leaders; the disdain for the media; the instructions from the Prime Minister’s office to Conservative MPs of how to manipulate and control parliamentary committees; the flagrant and persistent misuse of taxpayer funds to support pro government advertising; the targeting of non-governmental groups critical of those in power; the deliberate attempt to drive wedges among groups using trivial but emotional issues; the disregard for objective facts provided by scientists or civil servants; the pervasive, sickening spin surrounding every government deed; the sense of being enveloped by “enemies” largely harbored among “elite” groups; the bunker mentality and the daily operational axiom that every action had to be part of the “permanent election campaign” so the even the most mundane of announcements and decisions had to deliver some sort of partisan political punch.”