Hope versus Fear: the lines are drawn

South of the border, winds of change sweep the land; President-elect Barack Obama has reached out to former political rivals such as Senator Hillary Clinton and even to members of George W's Cabinet, Defence Secretary Robert Gates. It is a display of maturity and political risk taking in the interest of the common good which the Canadian media treats with a degree of reverence.

When former political foes in Ottawa make common cause in the public interest, the attitude is quite different. With the Harper attack machine in over-drive, the critique of the Coalition Government tries to play on every hot button issue. The Liberals are attacked for working with socialists. The Bloc is attacked for working with federalists. The NDP are attacked for working with separatists. It is these attacks that are the most worrying. In his desperation to cling to power, Mr. Harper and his allies seek to demonize Quebec with potentially unwelcome results - increased alienation in the West and increased unhappiness in Quebec.

Let's just stop a moment and reflect on what is happening. We are witnessing the birth of a more mature and cooperative politics from the Liberals, NDP and Bloc. The three leaders and their parties are displaying a rare and welcome willingness to work together; to ignore historic nearly ancestral hatreds in the interests of Canada. I know each of these men fairly well. If you had told me three months ago that they would be capable of setting aside animosity to serve their country, I am not sure I could have believed it. Yet, as much as some may want to be cynical, that is exactly what they are doing. They, not Mr. Harper, are putting their country first. I am proud of each of them for this new level of maturity and political courage.

Yes, the wanna-be Rush Limbaugh's of Canada's airwaves are fanning the distrust and hatred right on cue from Mr. Harper. But there is nothing illegitimate or unelected about this coalition. The coalition MPs were all duly elected. We elect MPs in this country and they form government. True, the increasing "Americanization" of our Parliament is causing us to lose focus on the essential differences between our system and that of the US, but the systems are different. We do not elect a President and call him Prime Minister. We elect a Parliament and the Governor General looks at its composition to see which group of MPs is best suited to form government. When in a minority situation, if one party fails to hold the confidence of the House, other parties are quite right to offer to carry on and spare the country an unnecessary election.

This is how Parliamentary democracy works. Mr. Harper may not like it, but this is not an unhealthy development.

I have blogged in the past about a very wise little volume by U of T political scientist, Peter Russell, called Two Cheers for Minority Government. He makes the case that our Parliamentary democracy ought to develop a better way to work together. Firstly, we are experiencing more minority Parliaments and that secondly, we are in a multi-party Parliament. This coalition is an excellent adaptation to that reality and entirely in keeping with Parliamentary democracy. To cite from Russell, "Under minority government, the leaders of the governing party must take parliament seriously all the time....the government's survival depends on its capacity to take into account views other than its own."

Russell recounts how through the entire Second World War, Sir Winston Churchill insisted on the House being in session allowing vigorous policy debate. There is nothing Churchillian about running from a vote in the House. There is nothing Churchillian about ignoring and then demonizing the Opposition Parties. It is a very un-Canadian thing to do.

The Harper government appears prepared to do real damage to the country in sowing seeds of division in a desperate bid to hang on to power. They have lost the confidence of the House. They should do the honourable thing and allow the matter to be put to a vote. That Mr. Harper is unlikely to do so is only further evidence of his unsuitability for Parliamentary Democracy. Let's raise the positive message of hope. Let's banish fear. We should celebrate the wisdom and cooperative spirit that is allowing something new to come into being in Canadian political life.