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No respect, fewer voters, funding lost

A report from Canada Elections that neither the Liberal nor Conservative Party will qualify in January for public funding because of the low turnout in the June General Election should be cause for concern to their respective treasurers.

When party politicians suffer a hit to their pockets they pay attention. If Canadians were so turned off by the antics of party politicians that they did not vote in sufficient numbers to reward them with the anticipated January public funding, perhaps partisan politicians will seek to understand why. Simply put, it is because Canadians at large were fed up with their antics, in the House of Commons itself and in its committees.

In an attempt to help the amateur thespians, "Oh, Oh" orators, "Bravo" choristers, and the recently acquired "Boo" brigade who turn Question Period into a childish "Did too", "Did not" cacophony of catcalls, understand why they don't resonate with the public, they might find it fruitful to reread what appeared in the July issue of this e-zine.

"Why was there such a low turnout in the 2004 General Election? Take your pick from the many theories advanced by academics, political scientists, elitist pundits and commentators who have pontificated on television, radio, in the press, and over the web ever since the results became known.

Missing from them all is something so obvious that it has been overlooked.

Canadians, not "average Canadians", not "ordinary Canadians", were turned off by overexposure to politicians.

For months the antics of politicians in the House of Commons prior to the dropping of the writ were nauseous. The televised Question Period degenerated into a cacophony of catcalls, feigned indignation, synchronized outbursts of applause and standing ovations on the slenderest of excuses, the whole portraying a juvenile disrespect for the dignity of Parliament. Self-control and official control sank to a new low.

That low was obvious to television viewers. They did not like what they saw. If this was all their Members of Parliament were capable of, if this was what politics and politicians were all about, they didn't want any part of it.

Worse was the picture presented by MPs taking part in the committee proceedings inquiring into the Auditor General's report dealing with payment of taxpayers' money to certain advertising and public relation firms.

There was the unedifying spectacle of MPs slouching in their chairs, lolling backwards as they questioned witnesses, and of aides and hangers-on talking into cell phones, laughing and conversing with each other, uncaring that their behaviour was being seen by viewers across the country.

No sense of occasion. No thought for appearances. Smirking. Snippety. Supercilious.

The contrast with televised committee hearings in the United States was stark.

No wonder voters were turned off.

If politicians want Canadians to take them seriously, they must take Canadians seriously. They can start by showing some sense of decorum as they treat with the affairs of Canadians. Canadians and their Parliament deserve better."

Since the reopening of Parliament in October the antics have continued. It is past time to show some respect for the institution, even if Members show little respect for each other.

In its latest report Elections Canada also noted that overall voter turnout in the June election was the lowest since Confederation in 1867, at 60.9 per cent, down 61.2 per cent in 2000. This decline would have been even greater had not 38 per cent of voters aged 18-30 cast ballots, compared with 25 per cent in the same age group in the 2000 election.

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