Ottawa’s no good, terrible, very bad year
Shootings. Gropings. Abuse of the public trust. How can we keep trudging through federal politics’ fog of despair?
An old boss of mine once told me there are times when the country speaks to Ottawa and times when Ottawa speaks to the country. It’s a handy way to think about the broad sweep of events: on one hand, the extended periods—sometimes lasting for years—when Canada’s government seems to be a fount of ideas and energy; on the other hand, the periods when it’s scrambling just to keep up.
Handy, but not useful right now. This month, truth be told, the teeming multipartisan colony on a hill can spare no energy either to lead or to follow. This month, the capital is, in a word, heartsick. To understand the cloud of gloom that has settled over Ottawa and will not leave soon, consider the events of Wednesday, Nov. 5.
The day began with two Liberal MPs, Massimo Pacetti and Scott Andrews, getting kicked out of the party’s parliamentary caucus. The two men are also forbidden from running for the Liberals in the election expected next year. What did they do? “Serious personal misconduct,” their former leader, Justin Trudeau, told reporters. For details, news organizations had to rely on leaked rumours from anonymous sources about who told head-spinning tales that included allegations of sexual harassment against two NDP MPs.
READ MORE: http://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/ottawas-no-good-terrible-very-bad-year/
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