@NorthOfPolite Sep 27
Canada has serious problems. Its Parliament should start acting like it.
North of Polite | Editorial
Parliament is back.
Unfortunately, so is the bullshit.
The yelling.
The heckling.
The carefully manufactured outrage.
The questions designed less to obtain answers than to produce a 20-second social-media clip.
The answers designed to avoid answering them.
And the endless partisan performance in which apparently every good idea belongs to one team and every bad thing that happens in Canada belongs to the other.
Canadians deserve better than this.
Not because politics should be polite.
It shouldn’t always be.
Parliament exists partly so our disagreements can be fought out openly.
But there is a difference between fighting over ideas and performing hostility for an audience.
And Canada has far too much happening right now for Parliament to waste its time pretending politics is professional wrestling.
LOOK AT WHAT IS ACTUALLY ON THE TABLE
Canada is in a serious trade confrontation with the United States.
Industries are losing access to markets.
Businesses are reconsidering supply chains.
Ottawa is trying to attract hundreds of billions of dollars in investment.
Parliament is considering legislation intended to dramatically accelerate major-project approvals.
Canadians are still struggling with groceries, housing and energy costs.
These are enormous questions.
They deserve enormous debates.
Instead, Parliament too often gives Canadians noise.
On Friday, a Conservative MP complained formally that a Liberal MP was heckling so loudly he could barely concentrate while speaking.
The Liberal MP apologized.
Fine.
But why are grown adults elected to govern a G7 country behaving this way in the first place?
And this isn’t a Liberal problem.
It isn’t a Conservative problem.
It isn’t a Bloc or NDP problem.
It’s a parliamentary culture problem.
CANADA DOESN’T NEED EVERYONE TO AGREE
Pierre Poilievre should challenge Mark Carney.
Aggressively.
If the government’s numbers don’t add up, expose them.
If a bill is badly written, tear it apart.
If taxes are too high, demonstrate it.
And Carney should defend his government’s decisions just as aggressively.
If Conservative numbers don’t add up, show Canadians why.
If diversification is producing results, produce the evidence.
If government programs work, prove it.
That’s democracy.
But screaming across the chamber while somebody else has the floor isn’t accountability.
It’s theatre.
WE’RE BETTER THAN THIS
Canada’s political tradition isn’t built on everybody agreeing.
It is built on people with profoundly different opinions managing to share the same country anyway.
French and English.
East and West.
Urban and rural.
Indigenous and newcomer.
Conservative and progressive.
Federalist and sovereigntist.
We have spent more than 150 years arguing about what Canada should be.
And somehow Canada is still here.
That isn’t weakness.
That’s one of the country’s greatest strengths.
Parliament should demonstrate it.
DISAGREE LIKE CANADIANS
Challenge each other.
Argue.
Demand answers.
Expose hypocrisy.
Vote against each other.
And when somebody across the aisle has a good idea?
Say so.
When your own side gets something wrong?
Say that too.
Imagine how powerful it would be if an MP occasionally stood in the House and said:
“My opponent has a point.”
That shouldn’t be political suicide.
It should be evidence that somebody is actually listening.
Because Canada isn’t Liberal.
Canada isn’t Conservative.
Canada isn’t left or right.
Canada belongs to all of us.
And right now Canadians are being asked to navigate an extraordinary period of economic and geopolitical change.
We need a Parliament capable of doing the same.
NORTH OF POLITE
Maybe the most Canadian thing Parliament could do right now isn’t become more polite.
It’s become more useful.
Fight over the things that matter.
Fight hard.
But fight over facts, policies, costs and consequences.
Leave the playground insults, performative outrage and social-media bait outside.
Canadians sent 343 people to Ottawa to represent them.
Not to become 343 content creators.
The country has real work to do.
So enough of the bullshit.
Get to work.
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Unapologetically Canadian. We stand for a strong, sovereign and united Canada. No party owns our loyalty. If you make a claim, bring the receipts. We will too.
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