Interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose made her first mistake last weekend. It was in a reply to something Tom Clark asked her on his West Block show for Global Television. She started her answer with “Well look.” That was former Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s favourite phrase throughout his overly long farewell campaign. You knew that the answer following those words would be critical of the question and just more Conservative ideology.
And those words are actually filler that the speaker uses to give some time for preparing his or her thoughts. If you really need time to consider the best answer to the question, the safest political trick is to repeat or rephrase the question. Just try not to do it all the time. It can make you look slow-witted.
What we have noticed most over the past ten years is the seeming inability of Canadian politicians to admit when they are wrong. We can assure you that there is no patent or copyright preventing you from admitting you erred. You are free to admit your screw-ups. Frankly, we think the Canadian public is tired of perfect politicians. Mind you pulling a ‘Paul Calandra’ in parliament and dissolving into tears because you have already made yourself look stupid can be considered overdoing it.
As always, balance in politics is important.
But the most important advice is that by admitting you were wrong goes a long way to proving you are human. We all make mistakes. Take the current kafuffle about bringing in 25,000 Syrian refugees before the end of the year. There have been many doors opened to the Trudeau team to let them off the hook for that promise. Friends and enemies alike recognize that bringing those refugees to Canada is fraught with logistical problems. You have to make haste with caution. Nobody is going to criticize the Liberals if it takes three or four months to complete the mission. The team only needs to show its good intentions and that the promise is in process of being completed.
There will probably be less leeway in the Liberal promise to fix the anti-terrorism bill known as Bill C-51. Many Canadians feel very strongly about the challenges to our freedoms in that bill. The Liberals will be watched closely on its repair as few of the critics could understand their willingness to support the seriously flawed bill.
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Copyright 2015 © Peter Lowry
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