A rchive Date
[ 15-05-2004 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Canada ]
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[http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/London/Larry_Cornies/2004/05/15/460048.html
Canada's politics enmeshed in shadow land
LARRY CORNIES, Special To The Free Press
2004-05-15
Remember T. S. Eliot's richly allusional poem, The Hollow Men? The one that ended, " . . . not with a bang, but a whimper"?
I studied it at least three times in high school and university, but always had the feeling that I never really grasped its meaning. I took comfort only in knowing that even my teachers - Miss Isaac, Mrs. Pozzo and Prof. MacNaughton - seemed similarly perplexed by many of its verses.
Several of those lines have swirled 'round and 'round in my mind over the past few weeks:
"Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow . . .
Between the conception
And the creation
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the Shadow"
I'm not sure I ever really knew what the "Shadow" represented - and from what I can tell, the literary debate is still raging. But it seems to me that the shadow - some dark and mysterious force separating ideas from reality, motions from action, conception from creation, emotions from response - is still very much with us.
It's there in international events - in the chasm between U.S. President George W. Bush's aim to "liberate" Iraq and the images now flowing from it, and between the cries of "God is great" by Islamic extremists and the butchering of an innocent American civilian.
But I've been thinking of Eliot's lines more in terms of national and provincial politics.
I clearly recall the confident and earnest tones in which a London Liberal riding executive last fall told me about the imminent arrival of the Paul Martin era in Canadian politics: that it would be a time of renewal and change. Prime Minister Jean Chretien's aimless agenda would be replaced by a raft of ambitious legislation that would ensure Canada's sovereignty, revamp the health-care system and secure the country's place in the world. Chretien's petty vendetta against Martin and his supporters would give way to a united caucus. The "democratic deficit" would be remedied by bold measures to ensure a meaningful role for all MPs, making Parliament a revitalized home for national debate.
A shadow intervened. This week, the 37th Parliament limped to its final bells, awash in the sponsorship scandal, without a single piece of significant legislation passed by the Martin government, its Liberal caucus profoundly (if not openly) divided, the democratic deficit left dangling without legislative redress.
The federal Conservatives haven't fared much better. Less than year ago, the Tories elected a leader who promised no truck nor trade with the Canadian Alliance. The Alliance, headlong into yet another incarnation as a western-based party trying to sell itself to the rest of the country, was no less pragmatic in its pursuit of power. The election of Stephen Harper, first as Alliance leader and now as leader of the new Conservatives, foreshadowed the "coming out" of a longtime policy guru into the bright sunlight of the Canadian political stage.
Harper, however, has been wallflowerish. Instead of energetically presenting Canadians with a slate of bold policy alternatives and the planks of a new platform, he appears to be saving both his policies and prime ministerial persona for the campaign proper. Only yesterday did the first specifics of the Conservative blue book begin dribbling out.
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty is wrestling shadows of his own. Having seen a massive provincial deficit eclipse even his own expectations, effectively planting his
bouquet of campaign promises into a vase of vinegar, he's preparing a first budget, likely to contain all manner of tax hikes and spending restraints - darkly different from the platform on which he campaigned. The provincial Tories, their image as businesslike stewards of balanced
budgets now looking like the emperor's proverbial clothes, are but shadows of their former selves, looking for a new leader, post-Mikernie.
On Tuesday, the McGuinty Liberals will table their spending plans. That will be followed, days later, by the start of a federal election campaign. Those of us who are passionate about the quality of our fragile democracy - who haven't yet given in to the cyncism of convenience that declares all politicians to be liars - will get new opportunities to coach our elected representatives toward narrowing the gaps between idea and reality, conception and creation.
Political platforms are important. But the shadow - the disconnect between intent and action - is more bothersome and irritating to many voters than thin policy differences.
To get in touch with Larry at the Free Press, e-mail him at lcornies@lfpress.com The Cornies Bio Home Page
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