It's Over

The fall session of Parliament ended yesterday not so much with a whimper but with mockery. At the end of months of activity, little resulted in the way of meaningful legislation. While MPs milled about offering holiday wishes, you could sense an emptiness and loss of purpose.The great questions confronting this country remained unanswered, even following months of debate. We have absolutely no idea of what the future vision is for our troops post-Afghanistan. Frequent charges of corruption in various government ministries have gone unanswered. Climate change? It's like we never heard of it. No concrete plan has been put in place to deal with this, the world's greatest challenge. No transparent and precise plan emerged for how we will pay down our largest deficit in history. And there's no clear way ahead for how this government will tackle some of the highest private debts in our history. The aboriginal file appears as locked in vagueness and lack of purpose as ever. Democratic reform? What is that anyway? Improvement of Question Period? Despite Conservative Michael Chong's dedicated effort for a desirable outcome, his own government is refusing to take it seriously enough to bring about concrete improvement.We are more confused on the value of the F-35 jets and their validity as ever. The gap between the rich and poor continues to widen with no federal plan for addressing it. Poverty is increasing, despite the so-called recovery, yet the feds refuse to partner with six provinces and two territories to put forward an effective poverty reduction plan. The ever-growing gap between the regions of Canada continues to widen.On the international stage, we're in serious trouble - at least if you ask foreign diplomats from other countries.We're out of Africa, out of the UN Security Council, and just plain out of nuanced global influence. Our historic balanced policies re: the Middle East now lie in tatters. It's like we were more interested in taking sides than in finding solutions and offering fair treatment. Our foreign aid is frozen for five years and our international compassion now appears frozen in time.It remains a difficult task to define the key characteristic of this last session, but one particular event perhaps puts it in perspective. Liberal Judy Sgro tried one last time to get the government to act for those Nortel pensioners on long-term disability who are about to enter times of destitution. The Senate had killed a bill there to assist, so Judy, supported by the other opposition parties, put forward a private member's initiative to deal with the issue. But for anything to come of it she required unanimous support in the House. When the Speaker asked for consent, the Bloc, NDP and Liberals called out in support. Government members yelled "no" in clear and unmistakable terms.Ms. Sgro's valiant attempt is necessarily complex, as the government continues to point out. But they are the government, and the means at its disposal are considerable. Efforts could have been enacted that didn't involve legislation. It was never to be. Yet on this final week of Parliament, an indication of how ineffective this past session had become was revealed not in the government's opposition, but in how they did it. They mocked and jeered a sincere attempt to at least bring about some kind of assistance to a group of people who will never look at Ottawa with any sense of respect or hope again. The government mocked! Not only is this session over; we are ourselves undone. As Judy Sgro fought back the tears, the rest of us struggled with what we had just left undone. With all the good humour found in Bob Rae's challenge of "duelling pianos" with Stepehen Harper, maybe the PM would accept and they could hold a joint concert as a fundraiser for the Nortel folks about to be thrown out in the cold. But even that would be too much to expect. I hope your Christmas will be better than this and that your seasonal compassion can outstrip our meagre parliamentary offering.