The 10% Solution

Sometimes it’s hard to put politics aside, even when you’re trying to. My family and I were at our United Church last Sunday morning when one of the parishioners pushed forward and put a piece of paper in my hand.  “Can’t you do something about this?” she demanded, more than she asked. I opened it up, only to stare at another one of those stark ten-percenters put out by Jason Kenney (Calgary) of the Conservative Party and stating that the Liberals didn’t care about children and crime. Already smarting from the experience, I had another one handed to me by a peeved citizen at the coffee hour following the service.  Neither of these complainants was from my riding, but they were Canadians and this was more than they could stand.As many pundits have reminded us lately, there are two real deficits facing this nation. The financial deficit at present stands at almost $60 billion and will take years to pay off. But as a result of prorogation and the insensitivity to Parliament shown by Stephen Harper, increased attention has been brought to the “democratic” deficit, and it’s surely about time.The mood of this House will be grim over the next few months and the insults and fabrications will fly, just as they have been aired repeatedly over the last number of years. Parents will cover their kid’s ears while sitting in the observation gallery and listening to the insults hurled across the way. The public will tune in to Question Period, want to spit at the TV, and quickly change the channel.Sadly all this will be going on during the middle of the greatest financial deficit in our history. Painful years lie ahead, as it’s likely programs will be cut and Canadians struggle under a mountain of private and public debt. Knowing this, one would assume that the parties would seek to work in an expeditious manner to help us get out of this financial hole.  But they won’t, because the democratic deficit is in even a deeper ditch.So here’s an idea, though unlikely to be accepted.  These ten-percenters cost the taxpayers $20 million dollars per year.  They are party propaganda, pure and simple.  They are useless and an imprudent way of wasting funds that would be better spent paying off our financial burden, investing in innovation and education, or even help needy families acquire safe and affordable food.Last November, in a letter to the Speaker of the House, Mr. Ignatieff called for these vehicles of vile to be done away with.  Elizabeth May and others have called for the same thing.  Other MPs in Parliament, including yours truly, have tried for an all-party consensus on this issue, but the the government says “no.”  To be clear, the opposition parties have used ten percenters as well, forced to fend off the attacks, but it has been the sheer animosity shown in the Conservative flyers that sets them apart.So, let’s get rid of them altogether. They are merely Question Period exported to your door and they denigrate the political space like little else.  My constituency office is full of such papers, turned in by angered citizens in an impossible quest for us to cease and desist.The next post will deal with the financial deficit, but for now, how can we possibly hope to have Parliament work towards a coordinated solution on this matter when the democratic deficit is the worst people have ever seen in their lifetime?  As citizens, demand better of us.  Press your local MP to put forward a Private Member’s Bill calling for the cessation of all such negative advertising between elections.  Fight for the public space these incessant flyers are destroying.  It is your money after all, and it’s supposed to be your space.