If You Can't Say Anything Nice...

I have never understood how people can get behind a political party that spends time, not in coming up with concrete plans for making the country a better place in which to live, but in criticizing the leading government.

And not with constructive criticism, pointing out where the government is going wrong and offering a solid solution, but in ridiculing members of the government on a personal level.

I remember a time when there seemed to be an intelligence to politics, where parties seemed to care about the issues that people were concerned about. Issues such as health care, education, and jobs. There was a time when opposition parties would criticize the direction and actions of the government, and would offer concrete suggestions and plans about how they would tackle those issues, were they the party in power.

Sometimes, an opposition party would applaud an action taken by the government when those actions served to benefit its citizens, but would perhaps suggest how the government could do even better in moving the country in the right direction.

This is what I mean by intelligence.

Today, it seems that the opposition parties aren't interested in constructive criticism, aren't interested in offering concrete plans. And giving kudos? Forget it.

Today's opposition parties are looking for sound bites, for objecting to everything the government does. For these parties, being in opposition offers a singular perspective, to oppose no matter what. But these nay-sayers also do so without offering a reason for their objections, without providing a concrete solution.

Take last week, for example. Last week, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was preparing to speak to U.S. President Joe Biden, the NDP released a tongue-in-cheek, mock agenda, complete with markups to how they would adjust the meeting. 

The very next day, Erin O'Toole, the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, released a video where he is standing outside of Trudeau's office and explains how he is going to get the prime minister out of this office and into a new one, which he called "more appropriate." The camera then pans behind him and shows a porta-potty that rests against the building on Wellington.

The video from O'Toole, in a way, didn't surprise me. From the Stephen Harper days, the CPC has run on the premise that launching personal attacks, creating empty sound bites, and taking cheap shots is the way to get ahead. But the CPC never offers concrete solutions to any problem and rarely talks about issues that really matter to the country.

But I think what stands out in O'Toole's video is it's immature, grade-school-level of intelligence. It's childish, and Canadians deserve a leader who behaves like an adult.

What surprised me was the "agenda" that the NDP shared, because it was the kind of behaviour that the CPC exhibits. It too was childish and was released in an effort to attack not the government, not the Liberal party, but its leader and our prime minister.

I was embarrassed for the NDP and ashamed of its leader. As far as values go, my personal leaning is closer to this party than the Liberal party, and I wanted no part of this behaviour. You would have never seen Tom Mulcair, the previous NDP leader, stoop to this level. And you would certainly never have seen it with Jack Leighton or Ed Broadbent.

The NDP was classy. With this stunt, they've lowered themselves to the level of the CPC.

While I've voted Liberal in almost every election, I haven't been a die-hard fan of the party, or of it's leader. But I do think that during the pandemic, Trudeau and his ministers have been doing the best they can. No one is perfect, but at least this government has been working to deal with issues that matter, in a mature manner.

Canadian comedian and host of the CBC show, The Debaters, Steve Patterson, tried to make light of the two social-media posts, as follows.

I would say one thing is clear: they need adults to lead their parties. And didn't their parents teach them if they can't say anything nice, to say nothing at all? Or, at the very least, be intelligent in their criticism.