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In a matter of days, if not hours,  this session of parliament will break, I am told, for the summer. I'm further told the House may not resume sitting until possibly as late as after the Ontario election in mid-October.

Doesn't this seem a little excessive?

Don't get me wrong, I am in favour of recharging ones batteries, even political cells. I also completely get it that not all MPs have the luxury of being able to scoot-back to their riding weekly or from time-to-time to hear from, and speak with, constituents. Constituent work is, I wholeheartedly agree, an important part of an MPs work.

Even I have suggested in recent posts this particular session needs to be out put of its misery. I was in Ottawa again last week and again made a point of attending QP in person. It's something every Canadian should try to do at least once to appreciate what goes on off camera.

The behaviour has gotten completely out of hand. My son's grade 8 class had their year end trip to Ottawa last week. A trip I'd hoped would be a memorable one, all the while hoping even more their class wouldn't be one of the chosen few who get to observe a few minutes of QP as I've witnessed other schools do. Torn was I, that on the one hand they might learn first-hand how not to behave, but on the other, might they learn by example? After all, if this is how the leaders of our country behave, why not try it out at home, at school, or on the street?

Yesterday Bill Graham said it quite well, "...but, colleagues, surely we owe it to ourselves to disagree without being disagreeable. We don’t need to do that."  To describe the current behaviour during QP and in Committee as simply "disagreeable" is to severely understate the seriousness of the problem. It's not simply disagreeable, it's downright despicable and embarrassing. It's unacceptable.  

More on this and the solutions I see another day.

For today I wish to question the appropriateness of the length of the break. A couple of weeks personal time off to completely unplug and rediscover ones friends and family, I agree. Another week to think really hard about the future and to cleans the soul of the current acrimony, fine. Then maybe a couple of weeks to reach out and touch base with the constituency, of course.

But are we so far ahead of schedule tackling the list of priorities that we can afford to have those charged with setting the direction of the country off until September or October? There is an awful lot of unfinished business left on the table, and a whack more business not even yet touched. Matters that can only be tended to when Parliament is in session.

I don't see how it is appropriate to simply shut things down for such a long period of time. Do the people we elect really need that long to decide it's time to stop behaving like disrespectful juveniles? More important, what assurances do we have when Parliament resumes in the Fall the behavior will be any different, and better?  

June 20, 2007  

Prorogued! as if all the work was done