A Real Coalition Christmas

My own Christian heritage reminds me that the original Christmas, as portrayed in scriptures, witnessed the most unlikely of characters coming together for the sake of one child.  While the emphasis has most often been on Bethlehem, the presence of noblemen (wisemen) from the East, shepherds, angels, government figures, along with Mary, Joseph and their special child is a remarkable illustration of what could have happened in Ottawa if we had just stayed true to what we had been elected for, remained in the capital, and worked our way through the impending economic crisis in a responsible manner.Much attention has been drawn to the coalition between the Bloc, NDP and the Liberals, but only time will tell if it will endure. The issue should never have been about those three parties anyway.  A true coalition would have drawn in the Conservatives as well, in an effort to find effective enough solutions to guide us through these difficult times.  That's what parliamentary government is supposed to be anyway - a grouping of parties, assembled in one place, for the purpose of passing legislation that represents a clear consensus of all parties in a minority government situation.We never got that ... and we're still not. Instead, parliament has been cancelled, proposed legislation remains untabled, and in all that time Canadians by the thousands are losing their jobs, houses, dignity and hope for the future.Perhaps as parliamentarians we might have been wiser to draw our inspiration from the original Christmas.  We should have brought together our odd grouping of political parties with their differing ideologies and dealt with the fact our gathering was actually about those people struggling to make ends meets instead of our foolish meanderings of political expediency.  A real coalition Christmas would have had us working through committees, cooperating on broad legislative initiatives, and displaying the kind of non-partisanship often seen in wartime.  The difference this time is that our casualties are occurring primarily here at home.As parliamentarians we should just admit that the true spirit of Christmas about concentrating more on the needs of others than ourselves was completely lost on us at a time when Canadians wanted to us to feel their pain and plan for a better future.  Alas, we never gathered around that manger and the fulfilling message that emerged from that first Christmas will not be replicated in the Canadian capital.