E-Parliament

Doug Fisher, WWII veteran, former CCF member of Parliament and longtime columnist signed his last column at age 86. Very observant, Fisher notes the decline of Parliament and the rise of the leadership cult in Canada over the last 40 years. He places the blame for Parliament's decline squarely on Pierre Trudeau, the first Prime Minister in Canada's history to be chronically absent for major legislative debates in the House of Commons. Unfortunately, I don't think that the next generation of columnists have Fisher's depth, love of Parliament, or for that matter his understanding of Canada's history (having lived more than half as long as the country itself).

To prove my hypothesis, I offer you this example of terrible, terrible, horrible columnizing. Linda Deibel of the Toronto Star explains at length and ad nauseum why none of the current Liberal leadership candidates are as hot as Pierre Trudeau.

Here are the problems that I have with the Trudeau fetish:

1. A whole class of teenage girls fell in lust with Trudeau for lack of rock stars in Canada in the 1960s. They are now grown up, but want another one to love since the last one is now deceased.

2. The neo-Trudeaumania that Deibel's column exposes is fundamentally sexist. No woman will ever light Deibel's fire like Trudeau did. The image of Trudeau is inextricably linked to his image as a young, potential underwear model-mothers, lock up your daugters, white male millionaire intellectual bachelor. The bassin for recruiting the next Trudeau is very restricted indeed. What if the next leader of the Liberal Party was NOT a millionaire, unlike all the previous ones? Would that be so bad?

3. People spend their Sunday mornings reading why Trudeau was great 40 years ago and why 11 people who have invested enormous amounts of time to public service suck so bad now. This is a mentality of the "grass is always greener" and "back in the good old days".

4. Personality trumps policy.

5. Discussions such as Diebel's column inevitably pass a "political commentary" when they are not. They are outrageously ignorant of the true issues facing the Liberal party and Canada in general. The leadership cult is deified further, at the expense of a true dialogue of issues and divergent opinions.

Be it resolved:
The current slate of candidates for the Liberal leadership, as non-sexy as they may be, is nowhere near as bankrupt as this type of "political" commentary.

Doug Fisher, please don't retire. The Toronto Star needs you now more than ever.1

1. This motion is in no way an endorsement of the Liberal candidates, that's a topic for another day.