As suspected the federal election has been called.
Consensus across Canada, according to the media, seems to be that this is not the time for an election.
We are still in a very fragile economic recovery state and this is not the time to send out messages of uncertainty.
There will be millions of dollars spent by donors to all parties. That money will generate some revenue for the advertising industry but could better be spent on employees, expansions, and whatever we spend our money on that helps make the economy work.
I say this because most of the money spent on advertising during an election goes to waste. At the end of the day we don’t believe most of what is in that advertising and many times only confirms our contempt for the election itself.
Talking about contempt, I find it hard to believe that this is the reason that three of the representative parties used as a reason to force the nonconfidence vote.
In my opinion, the entire question period at both the provincial and federal levels is in contempt of parliament or the legislature and an insult.
In those sessions, it does not matter if it is the truth, or even represents reality. It is only an attempt to make the governing body look bad in any way.
As long as it is said in the House, one cannot be charged with any form of misrepresentation or falsehoods. Step outside those doors and say some of those things and one would be charged with a lawsuit before you got to the end of the hall.
Finally with the election call, one thing that really disturbs me is that our country has allowed a party that represents only one province with their main goal to separate to be voting on decisions that affect us all.
If that is good, maybe that should be carried one step further and just have representatives from each provincial government form the federal government. That would do away with a lot of redundant paycheques and eliminate the need for at least one election every two years.
Walt Cobb is a freelance columnist for the Tribune. He is a former Liberal MLA, former Williams Lake mayor, and current president of the Williams Lake and District Chamber of Commerce.
