Poor Gordon Landon.
He, of course, was the Conservative Party candidate for Markham-Unionville who got dumped because he seemed to openly suggest his riding was missing out on the pork gravy train simply because the voters there had mistakenly voted in a Liberal MP.
Now I suppose Landon deserved to get turfed for making such a major politically incorrect “gaffe”, but let’s face it, his comments as they were perceived relfect a political reality.
The fact is if you want to get dough it helps if your MP is on the government side of the aisle, it helps even more if your MP is in cabinet, it helps even more if your MP is in cabinet and represents a riding in Quebec.
That’s what big government politics is all about.
So shouldn’t we actually be praising Landon for his candour? Indeed, maybe we should insist on total, brutal honesty from all our politicians.
But what would such unabashed political sincerity actually sound like?
Well it might just sound something like this:
An honest New Democrat MP
“Look I know we haven’t got a hope of ever forming the government. And actually that's for the best because heck the idea of Jack Layton being Prime Minster scares even me! But still Canada needs a strong NDP to do the important job of making the Liberals look good by comparison.”
An honest Liberal MP
“Sure we have no policies, no ideas and no vision. And yes our leader, Michael Ignatieff, has all the pizzazz of a pickled kumquat. So what? The important thing is we have been out of government since 2006. And it’s driving us crazy. You don’t know what it’s like. It’s awful. If we don’t get back into power soon, we might lose it altogether and try something desperate. Think we’re kidding? Ever hear of Bob Rae? Yeah, that’s right we are warning you….”
An honest Conservative MP
“Some people say we have a hidden agenda. That’s absolutely preposterous. Our agenda isn’t hidden … it’s lost. I mean it. We can’t find it anywhere. We have looked under the bed, behind the filing cabinet, even in Julie Couillard’s apartment. This is serious. If you see our agenda, please let us know. It’s kind of important.”
An honest Bloc Quebecois MP
“Bonjour. Comment-allez vous? Ca va bien merci. Ooh la, la, la chocolat tante Louise. Aurevoir mon ami.” (Sorry I figure an honest Bloc MP wouldn’t speak English, and this is all the French I know.)
An Honest Green Party Wannabe MP
“This is not a traditional, quote, unquote party. This is a party that basically serves as a travelling road show for our leader Elizabeth May, who figures the best way to save the environment is to run and lose in a different federal riding each election.”
OK, so maybe it isn’t such a good thing if our politicians are brutally honest.
An Honest Markham-Unionville taxpayer: Gordon Landon, instead of saying "...his riding was being held by a Liberal." Landon should have appropriately stated..."His riding was shut out of federal infrastructure funding because it was held by John McCallum, who just happens to reside in Oakville, with 2 foreign-made cars parked in his garage!"
An Honest Markham-Unionville taxpayer: Gordon Landon, instead of saying "...his riding was being held by a Liberal." Landon should have appropriately stated..."His riding was shut out of federal infrastructure funding because it was held by John McCallum, who just happens to reside in Oakville, with 2 foreign-made cars parked in his garage!"