Truth To Power

So, the big weekend is over.  Despite media skepticism, the Canada 150 Thinkers Conference in Montreal exceeded expectations in certain ways. There was more interest across the country than first thought. Modern technology brought about a new and experiential kind of digital town hall that saw over 70 extended satellite mini-conferences stream in live over the Internet, while at the same time allowing for public participation. It maintained the number one ranking all weekend for most Tweets and, surprisingly, was watched in numerous countries around the world.And for all those who predicted a Liberal love-in, swarming around the victories of the past, there was the unexpected experience of witnessing some of this country's best thinkers, of all political stripes, level their guns at the Liberal party itself. Some of the presenters spoke of this being a defining moment in the country, while others, like former Bank of Canada governor David Dodge, painted what seemed like a dreary and bleak picture of our future. Yet in every subject, from the new energy to foreign aid, and from environment to the economy, there were those presenters who spared no punches and castigated the Liberals, to a greater or lesser degree, for failing to take the courage when required to prepare Canada for a more problematic future.  Criticism of the Conservative government wasn't spared either, but it was almost as if there was a general consensus among the speakers that there was no point in looking to the governing party for hope. Can you picture Stephen Harper brokering such criticism in public?Truth to power. The weekend was full of it, and the extent and knowledge of that truth was presented in ways that provided the conference with a gravitas many were not expecting. I followed the media reports throughout the weekend and witnessed a gradual change from the early media stories on Friday. As the presentations became more serious, and the Liberals endured uncomfortable sessions with their own hunger for the truth, a certain legitimacy hovered over the exercise - as if, yes, holding a Thinker's Conference, especially in such troubling times, wasn't such a bad idea after all.And I'm not fooled. Many of those Liberals in the audience sat through such uncomfortable self-examination not to get at the truth, but to gain power again, as in the years following the historic Kingston and Aylmer conferences. But the overall effect was far greater than that. While we as Liberals quibbled, grew overly partisan, pandered to ethnic votes and effectively wore the mantel of timidity when it came to taking the courageous and least-travelled path, there was still a sense that the truth was setting us free. We suddenly peered into the mirror and didn't like our reflection. We've always known we weren't truly finding our Liberal place in the current of modern events, but we never truly admitted it. Suddenly here it was: the truth, sensitively presented, but the truth nevertheless, and we experienced a collective kind of urge to put the pettiness aside and embrace the bigger issues, just as Liberals have in the past.I've already spoken to some of my MP colleagues who were there in Montreal and I detect a bit more authenticity in their voice. The speeches galvanized them; the public participation alerted them; and Michael Ignatieff's speech at the conclusion called on them to put the trite and political things aside and fight for issues that truly matter.  But that was in Montreal, not Ottawa, and it remains to be seen if the Liberal party can enact what they discovered about themselves this weekend and keep it alive in that most partisan and skeptical of all political spaces. Yet for one brief three-day period we witnessed the enemy, and it was us. Perhaps the true genius of it all was that we accepted all that criticism in good spirit, looked inward at our own shortcomings, and came out of it a little wiser as to our faults as public servants. The truth set us free in Montreal; now we'll see how it does in Parliament.