Imagine 10 youth from Squamish in the House of Commons in Ottawa last Friday (March 26) just as Parliamentarians readied themselves for an historic non-confidence vote that would topple the Harper government. The crux of the issue: The majority of the House of Commons made up of Liberals, NDP and Bloc Quebecois, specifically in response to the recently proposed budget, believed the government had contempt for the majority of the views in Parliament and consequently the majority of Canadians and therefore no longer had confidence in the Conservative government's ability to represent Canadians.
Contempt is an interesting word. It essentially means that a person is beneath consideration, their opinions disregarded. In this particular context, the government was being accused of contempt of Parliament, of being disobedient to or disrespectful of the lawful operation of the legislative body.
This is a pretty powerful statement on our democratic process, regardless of one's political leanings or the pervasive politicking - there was no doubt political posturing of equal measure on all sides. And for our 10 youth who attended the Unite and Ignite Youth Conference in Ottawa last week, and were witness to the events of March 25 in the House, this was a potential learning moment perhaps unparalleled in their young lives.
Unfortunately, what they came away with was not an inspired understanding of the democratic process or the complexities of party politics in informing policy, but a distaste of politicians and politics in general. In talking with Renée Theoret, manager of the Squamish Youth Centre and one of the chaperones on this trip, what they saw was a group of adults screaming and banging on their desks so much so that after an hour or two of these shenanigans, the youth left the House just prior to Harper's appearance and the non-confidence vote. Their overall impression: What a bunch of idiots; they've given me a migraine.
It says a lot when the leaders of our country resort to the lowest common denominator in the democratically elected House of Commons. Interestingly, the word "commons" is a derivative of the word communities, not commoners as is popularly believed. When I think of the word "community," I think of shared interests, attitudes and goals, fellowship a collective. The word "common" conjures a totally different connotation.
My aunt and uncle, who have been senior civil servants for decades in Ottawa and witness to a variety of Liberal and Progressive Conservative majority and minority governments since the 1970s, have never seen such lack of respect or constructive dialogue and debate, not only in the House of Commons but in committees and on Parliament Hill in general. In fact, the common behaviour of our Parliamentarians in general (not everyone, of course) is downright boorish. My aunt, who was a speech writer for Prime Ministers Pierre Trudeau (Liberal) and Joe Clark (PC) and worked in the Prime Minister's Office for both Liberal and PC minority and majority governments, is so utterly disheartened by the lack of discourse to the point of disgust.
So it's no wonder when the youth who experienced this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be inspired by a significant moment in history, an opportunity to learn how integral a functional Parliament is in creating a thoughtful and engaged civil society working for the collective good, are instead assaulted by the disrespectful and churlish antics of our elected officials are turned off by the experience. Without the young people of today engaged in creating better communities, what possibility does our shared future hold?
Our politicians could learn from the youth from across Canada who participated in the inspiring Unite and Ignite Conference where more than 400 young people shared perspectives, engaged in respectful dialogue and created recommendations to government about such important issues as substance abuse, homelessness, suicide, bullying, Aboriginal perspectives and youth engagement. If only our Parliamentarians would take note on how constructive discourse should occur here's hoping.
Maybe we simply need to change the name from "House of Commons" to "House of Communities" to remind our elected ones why they are there, who they represent and how they should act. Let's hope all our leaders can stick to the issues and leave aside personal attacks and boorish antics in this year of the perpetual elections in B.C. There is an opportunity to engage the electorate like never before let's not waste this learning moment.
