There was a very telling news clip on the television news the other day of Opposition Leader Thomas Mulcair asking a question of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Both speakers had their wall of supporters behind them. Parliament appeared full for Question Period. It was the usual sham.
If there is no vote scheduled after Question Period, MPs quickly wander off to their offices and other pursuits. Only those with House duty remain. We did not see him and it was unlikely that the Leader of the Liberal Party Justin Trudeau was even in Ottawa. Justin is letting Tommy have his day. It will not do Tommy any good anyway.
While Tommy Mulcair has taken to Question Period like a duck to water, it is a useless exercise. Somebody has to do it but as Justin Trudeau’s predecessor, Bob Rae can tell you, it does the person hectoring the Prime Minister no good at the polls.
Just watching Tommy the other day, you felt sorry for him. Here he was in his prosecutorial manner demanding that the Prime Minister give a clear ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer as to the arrangements for paying back Senator Duffy’s imaginative living expenses. The Prime Minister casually dismissed Tommy’s question. Why would he do that? He lies because he can. There is no rule saying he has to answer.
But Tommy must be annoying the Prime Minister. The Speaker of the House has actually admonished Tommy not to bring politics into the House. While that might seem like an odd request, the Honourable Members are expected to leave politics aside in the House and stick to government business. Tommy gave a spirited defence by pointing out that the activities of the Prime Minister’s Office are very much the business of the House.
The reality that Tommy does not seem to understand is that his strengths as a prosecutor are quite irrelevant to his wanting to be Prime Minister or even to winning a second term as Leader of the Opposition. While Tommy thinks he is doing his job in the House, Justin Trudeau is out winning the next election.
Tommy is that stuffy little man who argues with Mr. Harper. Justin Trudeau is that nice guy out there meeting and convincing Canada’s electors that he will make a great Prime Minister two years from now.
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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry
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