On Dec. 13, Conservative Industry Minister James Moore stated during a radio interview: “The government says it’s my job to feed my neighbour’s child? I don’t think so.” I would say that Friday the 13th was an unlucky day for him.
Naturally, the response condemning his remarks has been swift and Mr. Moore issued an apology the following Monday.
Case closed? No so fast.
As Canadian citizens, we must take very seriously these types of comments even when they are followed by seemingly genuine apologies.
The values of a government are revealed in what is said off-handedly.
Incongruence is revealed if those casual remarks don’t match up with what is noted in more formal party statements.
If we want to really get to know how our politicians think, we should listen to them when they are speaking freely.
This is actually very difficult to do in the case of Conservative MPs since they are often required to not speak at all or to speak only the Conservative-approved talking points.
Even some loyal Conservative backbenchers have indicated that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is too controlling when it comes to forbidding MPs from speaking their minds.
Now we can understand why. Smart guy, that Stephen.
Except, as Canadians, we don’t like to be governed by individuals who appeal to a base notion of, “anything goes as long as we don’t raise taxes.”
We are much better than that, aren’t we?
Jacqui Gingras
