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Home My WebLink AboutThe Times Advocate, 2008-12-10, Page 44 Times -Advocate Wednesday, December 10, 2008 CGNA f Editorial Opinion ,.aten = IIMZEM TIMES -ADVOCATE PUBLICATION MAIL REGISTRATION NUMBER 07511 We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada, through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP), toward our mailing costs. Canada CO Zift etroland Media Group Ltd. Deb Lord — Manager Scott Nixon — Editor CNA 2007 BLUE RIBBON The Times -Advocate is owned by Metroland Media Group Ltd. 424 Main Street South, P.O. Box 850 Exeter, Ontario NOM 1S6 • 519-235-1331 Doug Rowe - General Manager, Southwestern Ontario Division EDITORIAL Warden will be busy With the election last week of South Huron s Ken Oke as warden of Huron County, it s nice to see local representa- tion once again at the head of the county s coun- cil. Within the past few years, three wardens have hailed from South Huron Dave Urlin, Rob Morley and now Oke. Oke was elected, by secret ballot, by his fellow members of county council. He defeated last year s warden John Bezaire of Central Huron, who had been seeking a second term. While just elected last week, Oke won t have much of a grace period to get used to his new role county council has to make a number of important decisions, chief among them reduc- ing the size of county council and finding a new medical officer of health. The county has already expressed a desire to reduce the number of councillors, it just can t come up with a number everyone can agree on. But with a number having to be approved by the individual municipalities, the province and the county, a decision needs to be made fairly soon, and one that is fair to all the municipalities in the county. Where are the leaders? With the failure of the planned coalition gov- ernment announced by Stephane Dion, Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe last week, and the successful move by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to shut down Parliament until Jan. 26, one wonders where the political leadership is in this country during the toughest economic times in decades. Harper s tactics to prevent his minority gov- ernment from collapsing have worked, and he successfully put an end to Dion s career as Lib- eral leader, but Canadians are wondering how the government is helping them during times when businesses are closing daily and all of the news from the economy seems to be bad. We need leadership, not backroom tactics. Political grandstanding should be laid to rest At times like these, it is tempting to think the motives of politicians are not always clandestine after all. One becomes suspicious that they may be more inter- ested in power than in governing the country, and that their decisions have their own best interests at the fore, not yours or mine. It is a shocking sentiment not something most of us would have guessed about the gentlemen and women on Parliament Hill. But at times like these we wonder. It was only two months ago, you see, that Ca- nadians went to the polls and elected Stephen Harper their prime minister. Not all Canadians, mind you, but enough. Many were unsure that Stephane Dion would be a better choice, and many were yet unwilling to allow Jack Layton the chance to try. Harper was no Obama, but he was seen as the democratic choice: the worst option, except for all the others. And so he returned to Ottawa as our top elected official, his mandate not all that strong, but stronger than before. In the very least, we assumed there would be a year or two before we would be asked to re-evaluate his perfor- mance. Not so. Young Steve did a very dumb thing and tried to cut his opposition off at the knees. He introduced measures that they could not support, but dared them to vote against. We had just endured an election campaign, after all one many Canadians did not want in the first place. Surely they would not force another. Harper rarely seems more sure of anything than of him- self, but he seemed fairly sure of this, and he dared the opposition to fight back. And so they did, forming a coalition of idiots supported by wide-eyed rhetoric no thinking person has been able to swallow since. They would indeed topple the government, they said, and it would be better for Canada if they did. Harper backtracked and scrambled and tried to stop them. His bit of grandstanding was matched with a far more dramatic display in the next few days. There was Dion and Layton, and Gilles Duceppe on television, saying they had reached an agreement. The government would fall, and they would lead. Dion would be the top guy ... for now. It was the stupidest thing we had seen recent- ly, and it seemed poised to transpire just in time for Christmas. Thankfully, cooler heads may prevail. Parlia- ment was prorogued and Dion may soon be replaced by Michael Ignatieff, who has gener- ally been cool toward the notion of a coalition government. Time will tell, but perhaps we will no longer be asked to believe the Liberals and NDP will agree on everything for the next couple of years. Perhaps we will not be asked to accept that the Bloc Quebecois will do everything in their power to ensure the coalition is successful, that Parliament will function like a well-oiled motor, and will not do anything to weaken the country for which they have such distaste. Perhaps we will no longer be asked to believe these things, but we are left with our doubts about those who rule us on Parliament Hill. We were under the impression, after all, that politics is not about power but about bringing ideals to fruition, and doing things in the best interests of the country. We thought politicians were civilized, mature, intelli- gent human beings who would pass on the temptation to add Prime Minister or Head of the Richest Party in the Nation to their resumes, because it would not be in the best interests of their constituents. This is what we thought, but something is causing us to think we may have been wrong. dvik oh • BEN FORR EST About the Times -Advocate Address & Office Hours Time -Advocate, 424 Main Street South, P.O. Box 850, Exeter, Ontario NOM 1S6. Our office is open Monday to Friday, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. CLOSED ON HOLIDAYS. 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For example, Deb Lord's e-mail address is dlord@southhuron.com Our general e-mail address is ads@southhuron.com. The Times -Advocate Team MANAGER Deb Lord ext. 103 ADVERTISING Deborah Schillemore ext. 112 CUSTOMER SERVICE Jennifer Skonieczny ext. 101 COMPOSITION Nikki Cyr ext. 101 Kelly Gackstetter ext. 102 EDITOR Scott Nixon ext. 105 REPORTERS Pat Bolen ext. 113 Ben Forrest ext. 114 ACCOUNTING STAFF Anita McDonald ext. 104 Ruth Slaght ext. 106 Marg Pertschy ext. 108 Heather Clarke ext. 111