It should be the first order of business at the Liberal Party Convention February 20 to 23. How else can we be having a policy convention if we do not know what it really means to be a liberal? We need to define who we are and where we want to go.
It is hardly enough to damn the Conservatives for their ideology bound direction. At least they know where they are going. Too many Liberal Party members think they can support a vaguely right-wing party that has something of a social conscience. Hell, Paul Martin Junior proved that the Liberal Party he tried to lead had no conscience. Maybe liberalism is not a rigid ideology but it has to have an ongoing dialogue to be meaningful.
Pierre Trudeau said that “Canada must be a just society” and the job to make that happen starts on Parliament Hill. Our Members of Parliament have to work to build this country. They have to be Members who represent all Canadians of their electoral district. They work for them. They are there in parliament to put responsibility ahead of ideology. They are there to challenge the status quo not to be the status quo.
If there is one person in their riding who needs a job, the MP needs to ensure they have an opportunity for one before going to bed that night. If one person is hungry, the MP has to ask herself or himself what has s/he done to help? If a person is waiting for proper health care, what has the MP done to correct the problem? Which of our present MPs can we point to and say “These MPs are doing their job”?
And what are we as members of this party contributing? We call ourselves liberal. Do we really understand what that means? Are we engaged now in finding the best possible representative for our party in our riding next year? Are we helping create the policies that will engage Canadians? Are we building our party and paying what we can to support it? And are we speaking out for real liberalism in our riding?
Thankfully the Liberal Party of Canada has a young, strong and exciting leader. As leader, he has a responsibility to lead the party where it wants to go. We have to help him. We have to help Justin Trudeau define what liberalism means today and where it wants to lead Canada.
At the biennial conference, we must stress captivating solutions for our economy. We have to demonstrate a strong environmental concern. We have to be pro-active in binding our country in a stronger union. We have to ensure our country’s world-wide reputation is restored. We must offer all Canadians a better future.
To do it all, we will have to think as liberals.
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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry
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