Too Much Ado; Give It A Rest

One free-for-all following another as the Right Honourables and the downright backbenchers chorus their indignation at the government benches. Hysterically damning they demand to know what time will most certainly reveal in the detail they feel entitled to be advised of. They would prefer to grill the prime minister, but he is off on a two-day visit to Washington to hob-nob with others of his exalted political rank, for the purpose of discussing far more pressing matters.

But nothing impresses the opposition benches quite like the scent of blood. Even when, as has happened with the cursory dismissal of Helena Guergis from her ministerial post (no very obvious example of empowered womanhood soberly and with dignified purpose presenting to the country as a capable minister fulfilling her obligations to her constituents and to her portfolio) there is as yet nothing more to be said.

In the hands of the ethics commissioner and more ominously for this gaffe-plagued politician the RCMP, the entire country will eventually be apprised of precisely what has transpired to cause her descent from grace. But hot damn! What a whole lot of fun the House is having, accusing the governing party and its leader of ill choices that blew in an errant wind of earned embarrassment.

Michael Ignatieff is in his element, huffing and puffing and hemming and hawing, proclaiming and declaiming, stuffed with the essence of righteous indignation. Stephen Harper, had he the hindsight that eludes us all, might have chosen differently, bypassing the beauty-queen exterior for the mettle that a minister must be endowed with on the interior. Well, live and learn. He had the desire to elevate women to certain portfolios of responsible decision-making.

This is what is termed being politically correct. To balance things off, Canada should actually consider matching the ministry with one for the Status of Men, given the parlous state of white males in this country. Lower university enrolment than women, passed over increasingly for opportunities which women are fast-tracked into. Within a society well accustomed now to the entitlements of women.

Perhaps we need, as a society, to understand better why boys and young males are failing to complete their education, and why far less focus is being placed on the needs of men, in fulfilling the needs of women. Equality, in this country, is the name of the game, after all. Well, Maxime Bernier fell from grace, and to round things out nicely, now too has Helena Guergis.

In both instances it would appear that each exhibited less than stellar choices in their companions. Which revealed misalliances led each of these young, egotistical and elevated-beyond-their-capabilities MPs to betray their own best interests and those of the country. Now that's equality for you; a failed male MP exhibiting poor judgement, and an equally dismal show by a female MP.

Cannot we do better than this? And Michael Ignatieff, please shut up. Your voice is beginning to afflict the helpless listener. Its shrill, demanding cadence and lecturing, hectoring has become a menace to your very own longevity in the position you hold, making it increasingly unlikely you will accede to the position you hanker after.

And despite all this nonsense, what're the latest poll figures? Conservatives up, Liberals down. That's just desserts, fella.