What The Heckle?

In my short life here in Parliament I had never seen anything like it. From up in the gallery, above where the media sits, students began yelling out that MPs should rush to pass Bill C-311, known in recent weeks as the Climate Change Bill. As the minutes went on, more and more of the young people heckled the parliamentarians below until at last they were removed from the House altogether. To some it was entertaining, to others distracting, but the general feeling was one of surprise and discomfort.I had met with another group of university students earlier in the day in my office and I could sense their strong commitment to environmental reform.  I liked them.  They were keen and eloquent, and although I disagree with how others caused such a disruption in the House of Commons later, it wasn’t hard to tell where they were coming from.The NDP introduced the bill into the House but last week MPs opted to give the relevant committee a 30-day extension to discuss its merits. I voted against the extension, and opted to support the NDP bill that would establish a clear target in time for the Copenhagen climate change meetings that are just around the corner.What transpired yesterday is something of an indicator as to what Parliament and the country itself has come to.  Protestors felt the need to invade a sacred place; parliamentarians looked uncomfortable and somewhat unmoved; and the media raced out into the halls to grab their pictures and stories of young people being muscled out of the Parliament buildings.We’re better than this - all of us.  The bill itself was asking us to treat climate change seriously.  We haven’t and we’ll pay for it in world opinion at Copenhagen, not to mention global devastation.  The difficult things we will face in our future – environmental degradation, terrorism, starvation, poverty – demand outrage, attention and a sense of urgency.  Parliament can’t muster up that kind of anger, except to lob our partisan attacks.  So, these young people brought it into our own ballpark, trying to give us a wake-up call.In truth, what else can they do: nobody seems to be listening on these vital files. Colin Horgan, Canadian writer for Britain’s Guardian newspaper, pretty well summed it up about our country at the moment:

Harper’s performance of the Beatles song … at a gala benefit in Ottawa … sparked an immediate response.  The media cooed … and Harper became a YouTube hit.  Harper’s popularity might be on the rise, but it’s not because of his piano playing or aw-shucks coffee shop patriotism.  It’s because he allows us to be apathetic.  And the less we care, the better he’ll look.”

Or, as Paul Wells put it in Maclean's this past week: "With every action and inaction, Harper is changing Canada - and we're not noticing." It’s sad enough that the world is seeing us in this light; it’s more tragic when we begin to see it in ourselves.  It wasn't that long ago that an international magazine called Canada "cool" and involved.  Now we're merely complacent and ingrown.  Yet, though Canadians might not be interested in politics, they are interested in the world and how it sees us.  Things have become inverted.  Very serious minded young hecklers in the House were tossed out, while the “professional” hecklers occupying the main seats maintain their honourable spots.  We’re all in collusion … and delusion.  These young people at least had the courage of their convictions and it seems they believe more in Canada's environmental future than we do.  The planet is in better care in their hands than our own.