Dear Ms Russow,
It may be true that the opportunity for parliamentary debate has been killed, but in actual fact what have we lost? I have been watching parliament's sessions for quite a while now and am simply disgusted with the way parliamentarians act. I have not heard much real debate in the sense of exchange of opinions aimed at improvement of what was proposed. The noise in the chamber, the calling and heckling is sickening. We did that as students in our fraternity, but these are representatives of the constituency. I often wonder if the constituents ever listen to what is going on in parliament and how their own representative is behaving.
It seems to me that parties are simply not able to live with a minority government, where no party will get its own way and everything is done by compromise and mutual consultation. In such a situation it makes sense to have a real debate and to put all options on the table; to listen to each other and make a sincere effort to reach an solution acceptable, if not to all, certainly to the majority.
But in our Canadian situation the conservatives will propose their points of view and the liberals do not listen because it comes from the conservatives so it cannot be acceptable. Just imagine that a liberal member of parliament would dare to propose that there is something good in a conservative proposal. he would be censured by his whip, I'm sure. And if the liberals were in power the conservatives would undoubtedly act the same way.
Conclusion: if I was prime-minister I too would be sick of the negative attitude of the opposition and prorogue!
Let me add though that real debate is going on in many of the committees and I have found it rather fascinating to listen to discussions held in committees. And as far as that goes: the committees have not been prorogued, have they?
Respectfully,
Martin D.Geleynse
Dear Ms Russow,
It may be true that the opportunity for parliamentary debate has been killed, but in actual fact what have we lost? I have been watching parliament's sessions for quite a while now and am simply disgusted with the way parliamentarians act. I have not heard much real debate in the sense of exchange of opinions aimed at improvement of what was proposed. The noise in the chamber, the calling and heckling is sickening. We did that as students in our fraternity, but these are representatives of the constituency. I often wonder if the constituents ever listen to what is going on in parliament and how their own representative is behaving.
It seems to me that parties are simply not able to live with a minority government, where no party will get its own way and everything is done by compromise and mutual consultation. In such a situation it makes sense to have a real debate and to put all options on the table; to listen to each other and make a sincere effort to reach an solution acceptable, if not to all, certainly to the majority.
But in our Canadian situation the conservatives will propose their points of view and the liberals do not listen because it comes from the conservatives so it cannot be acceptable. Just imagine that a liberal member of parliament would dare to propose that there is something good in a conservative proposal. he would be censured by his whip, I'm sure. And if the liberals were in power the conservatives would undoubtedly act the same way.
Conclusion: if I was prime-minister I too would be sick of the negative attitude of the opposition and prorogue!
Let me add though that real debate is going on in many of the committees and I have found it rather fascinating to listen to discussions held in committees. And as far as that goes: the committees have not been prorogued, have they?
Respectfully,
Martin D.Geleynse