Listen up! Political dysfunction | Commentary - South Muskoka ...

On the wall near the desk where I write my weekly commentaries is the front page of the Toronto Daily Star, dated June 11th, 1957. The headline proclaims the victory of John Diefenbaker and his Conservative Party after decades of Liberal governments in Canada. 

The picture on that front page was a group of people celebrating the Tory win. Among them is a 13-year-old boy with a wide smile on his face. That was me. 

Several weeks prior to that, on my way home from school, I had wandered into the campaign headquarters of a Conservative candidate and offered to help, as I was in no hurry to go home. They put me to work as a gofer, stuffing envelopes, etc., and I was hooked. 

I barely knew what a Conservative was at that point in my life, and I have often wondered since if I had stumbled into a Liberal campaign headquarters instead of a Tory one, if my political path would be different from what it has become.

But as I grew older, I was happy to be a Conservative; I continue to believe in limited government, the importance of helping people who cannot help themselves, the essential priorities of protecting our safety and our environment, and the necessity of economic prudence that doesn’t overload our national debt and provides real opportunities for Canadians to prosper. 

In that respect, I admired and voted for John Diefenbaker (when I was old enough), Joe Clark, Brian Mulroney, and even Stephen Harper, who although he was further to the right than I am, primarily stayed on a traditional Conservative path. 

I do admit that I slipped once in a while. I liked Mike Pearson. I continue to believe that he and John Diefenbaker were the most eloquent parliamentarians of our time, followed closely by Brian Mulroney. I also liked John Turner. I did not vote for either Pearson or Turner, but I confess that I did vote for Paul Martin.

In this day and age, however, everything in political circles seems different, less defined, far more acrimonious, and totally void of any dialogue that promotes an avenue for compromise, cleverness, and ingenuity. As I have said before, we are in a “my way or the highway” era.

The Trudeau Liberals have moved that party far to the left. The New Democratic Party has given up all pretense of not being socialists, and while I know that some of my Tory friends will disagree with me, I believe the Conservative Party is in danger of moving too far to the right.

One consequence of this is that the political scene in Canada, not unlike that in the United States, is getting down into the gutter. The decorum in Parliament is quickly deteriorating. Gone are the days when party leaders respected each other, recognized that each had a role to play, enjoyed parlaying vibes and witticisms back and forth, and got on with solving the issues of the day.

Not anymore.

Party leaders, at least at the federal level, no longer see each other as opponents but rather as enemies. There is a big difference between the two, in my view. How the leaders behave, their adherents, and colleagues follow; thus, we see a Parliament today in Canada that borders on the dysfunctional. 

We saw this on full display last week as Parliament debated the no-confidence motion put forward by the Conservative Official Opposition. Everyone knew it would fail. The NDP, despite their theatrics of ripping up their accord with the Liberals, were not going to force an election, and the Bloc Separatists believe they are in the catbird seat now and can get more goodies for Quebec out of the Trudeau government. Sadly, they well may.

Nevertheless, it was nothing more than a circus in the House of Commons last week. Accusations and insults flew back and forth. At times, the Speaker lost control of the House. The Prime Minister, who knew he was going to win, did nothing to calm the situation but instead jumped in with invective, insinuations and hateful rants that simply inflamed the situation. 

The Tories and the NDP were just as bad, if not worse, and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May came across like she had had a very liquid lunch before speaking in Parliament.

 To top it all off, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre came alarmingly close to getting into a fistfight on the floor of the House of Commons. That is something one usually only sees in developing countries. It was all a dance of the clowns. The whole thing was embarrassing to watch.

I had lunch last week with a good friend whom I have known and respected for over half a century. When it comes to politics, we have similar views, although not always exactly the same. We were both lamenting the current political reality that will make it hard for us to cast a ballot in the next federal election whenever that occurs.  

Current polling shows the Conservatives 22 points ahead of the governing Liberals. The reality is that much of that divide is not so much support for Poilievre as it is a wish for Justin Trudeau to take his walk in the snow. There is possibly a year to go before an election and there can be, as they say, many a slip between cup and lip.

Under current circumstances, I would prefer to support the Conservatives, but some things would have to change before I could do that. I believe in basic and traditional Conservative values. But if Pierre Poilievre wants support from Conservatives like me (and I believe there are a great many of them), then he needs to demonstrate that he will govern more from the centre-right rather than the far right. Maxime Bernier has tried the far right and failed miserably.

I am far less interested in fancy Trump-like slogans such as “Axe the Tax,” “Carbon Tax Carney,” or “Sell-out Singh” than I am in finding out Mr. Poilievre’s actual policies.

If he gets rid of the carbon tax, what will he replace it with? What is his plan for dealing with the real issue of climate change? When will we see his economic plan for Canada? How, specifically, will he improve the lives and prospects of Canadians? What will he do between now and an election to assure people he is not a Canadian version of Donald Trump, as many of his opponents would like us to believe?

 I do not believe that Canada is broken.  I am proud to be a Canadian. Instead, I want to hear how Pierre Poilievre will make Canada even better. Enough with the negativity. 

What we need to see in our next Prime Minister, and Pierre Poilievre seems to be the odds-on favourite for that, is a true statesman with a positive and optimistic outlook for Canada rather than an antagonistic one. 

Reform the CBC but don’t defund them, and blacklisting CTV won’t do you any good. My late father, years before the internet, was fond of saying to me, “Don’t get into a dogfight (not exactly his words) with those who buy ink by the barrel.” There is nothing to be gained by declaring war on the media.

There is much to be gained, however, by being positive and convincing Canadians that Conservatives have a better plan for Canada that will be a benefit to all people and not just a chosen few.

Polling numbers can change quickly, and Conservatives should not be over-confident. In my view, Pierre Poilievre still has work to do to prove that he is the right person to lead Canada into a brighter future and not just the best of several evils. 

It will be interesting to see if he can do it.

Hugh Mackenzie 

Hugh Mackenzie has held elected office as a trustee on the Muskoka Board of Education, a Huntsville councillor, a District councillor, and mayor of Huntsville. He has also served as chairman of the District of Muskoka and as chief of staff to former premier of Ontario, Frank Miller.

Hugh has also served on a number of provincial, federal and local boards, including chair of the Ontario Health Disciplines Board, vice-chair of the Ontario Family Health Network, vice-chair of the Ontario Election Finance Commission, and board member of Roy Thomson Hall, the National Theatre School of Canada, and the Anglican Church of Canada. Locally, he has served as president of the Huntsville Rotary Club, chair of Huntsville District Memorial Hospital, chair of the Huntsville Hospital Foundation, president of Huntsville Festival of the Arts, and board member of Community Living Huntsville.

In business, Hugh Mackenzie has a background in radio and newspaper publishing. He was also a founding partner and CEO of Enterprise Canada, a national public affairs and strategic communications firm established in 1986.

Currently, Hugh is president of C3 Digital Media Inc., the parent company of Doppler Online, and he enjoys writing commentary for Huntsville Doppler and South Muskoka Doppler.

Sign up here to receive our email digest with links to our most recent stories.
Local news in your inbox three times per week!

Click here to support local news