The Time Has Come, The Walrus Said….to get off your Ottawa Butts: And Do Something!

Dear Coalition Leaders (by all means share this with Mr. Harper),

we need a 'team canada approach

I support you all in your efforts to bring some sanity to Parliament Hill. However – I am disappointed in
the tenor of an email I have just received from the office of one of
your coalition partners.

"Stephen Harper cares more about saving his job than yours"

I
really think Canadians would respect all of you more if you all took a
step back from partisanship at this point and focused more on the
present needs of the country.

Right now, the most important thing you could do is address the problem of the economy. 

While
it's clear that Mr. Harper had no economic plan and it's also true that
he played petty and divisive politics with his "fiscal update", there
comes a time to put partisanship on the back burner. Doing that does
not mean accepting or practising the "politics of fear", which Mr. Harper has recklessly spread nationwide.
Au contraire, it means showing – by your own behaviour as parties and as a
coalition – that the politics of fear and division is the modus operandi of only
one player, in what many Canadians are beginning think of as a big game.

The
fact is that the Governor General permitted the prorogation of
parliament, to give Mr. Harper and the coalition a chance to put together some sort of plan
to confront the biggest issue facing  Canadians today. Get on with it.

The New
Democrats, the Liberals and the Bloc ought now to be offering the Prime
Minister their best advice and ideas for facing the economic crisis,
which involves jobs, stability and trade. All of you ought be offering
that advice in a positive and generous way. And I'll tell you why.

If
Canadians could see all of you now – including Mr. Harper – pulling
together on behalf of the whole nation, it would help Canadians feel
better about the political process. If the sniping that is so prominent
in some coalition email continues, Canadians will only become more bitterly
divided and more deeply discouraged.

I'm
not saying that you have to get all cuddly with him; I'm saying that
you need to SOUND as well as BE constructive. Don't sink to that lower
level of carping and nasty, unhelpful rhetoric.

Look where that got the Bush-Cheney cabal.

You all need to
take a step back now and work in the best interests of the whole
country, even if that means helping Stephen Harper lead. This is after
all – about Canada.

Of course if he does not change his behaviour,
he will reap the consequences. But for now at least, let him eat his
humble pie in peace and you other party leaders do your level best to
calm the anger of ALL Canadians and work harder to produce some
healing-style messages.

Because Mr. Harper has acted badly, doesn't mean you all have to do the same.

Canadians will just be more unhappy about the overall political process, if the nastiness continues.

By
all means, keep the coalition alive. You can even appoint or elect a
coalition committee to work with Harper. The fact is – the more
positive an image you can put forward, the greater the chances you will
have of enhancing your own credibility and gaining broader public
confidence and support.

This is not a nit-picking kind of letter. It's sincere and from the heart.

My impression from speaking with a great many other people of various political stripes is that it's good advice.

________________________________________________________________________

We're watching you Steve.

jim

________________________________________________________

Now…Friday's idea for solving the economic crisis

***The federal government can kickstart a big chunk of the economy by lending money at low interest rates to all qualified new homebuyers.They can also buy up all high-interest home mortgages – say those with interest ratges of more than 7% and refinance those existing home mortgages. The feds would make a lot of people happy and stimulate construction. Look here or a blueprint on how to go about doing that.

http://www.reedwrites.ca

jim