It paints a picture. Patrick. Brown, Babel’s Member of Parliament, was cowering with the Conservative caucus the other day when a confused gunman went down the hall in parliament outside the caucus room. This breach of security was an affront to Canadians and to our democracy. And what is Mr. Brown doing? He is texting his favourite reporter.
We have to be mindful of course that Mr. Brown is doing double duty these days. He is going to Ottawa to vote at his party’s call and he is running for the leadership of the Ontario provincial Conservative Party. He sees no conflict in trying to be in both roles at once. It is likely that last Wednesday he might have been wishing he was somewhere other than Ottawa.
But here was Brown, fulfilling his purpose in life—to get his name in the paper. This guy is desperate. He sends a text to the local reporter to say that he cannot tell her what has happened in the caucus room. He did admit that he was shocked by what was going on. He did not think it should be allowed to happen in Canada.
If Mr. Brown just paid attention to what is being said about the Islamic jihadists in Syria and Iraq by his government, he might have figured it out. If he had paid attention when Canadian fighter aircraft were sent to the Middle East to bomb the jihadists, he might have thought that the jihadists might like to get back at us.
The jihadists in Syria and Iraq are the product of a civil war in Syria and unsettled times in Iraq. They are among the best funded and public relations savvy criminals to ever come out of the Middle East. They know the value of propaganda. They also know that hundreds of thousands of Muslims have come to North America, where they are welcomed into a free, tolerant and open society. They also know losers among the younger generation of Muslims or converts can be radicalized to support their objectives.
But maybe that is all too deep for Mr. Brown to comprehend. Here is a guy who makes his political decisions as a retail politician. He thinks any publicity is good publicity. He leans on charities to give him coverage. He inundates his electoral district with poor quality mailings promoting himself. He is running for the leadership of the provincial party to gain more attention.
He sometimes gets the attention he wants. He should also get the ridicule he deserves.
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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry
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