Parliament's Pathetically Absent Opposition

(March 18) - They really are a pathetic bunch. There is no other accurate way to describe them and it’s no surprise Brenda Chamberlain wants to get away from them. The federal Liberal caucus members have become the laughing stock of the country. They cannot even pretend to be the opposition party any more.

Look at the record. When he was elected leader, Stéphane Dion had branded himself as the environmental guy. Dion delegates on the convention floor draped themselves in green scarves. The green-skinned Liberals from Guelph were elated at his victory. But where is it all now? The green scarves might just as well have been saved for St. Patrick’s Day for all the good they’ve done the environment.

A couple of weeks ago, on March 7, the NDP introduced a motion calling on the government to introduce the Clean Air and Climate Change Act. The Liberals refused to support it. Only 10 of them showed up for the vote. The rest were told to stay away.

As a show of bravado, a Liberal MP introduced a bill to give tax breaks to families purchasing registered education savings plans. It passed in Parliament and was on its way to becoming law. Then the Conservatives said they didn’t like it. Did the Liberals have the spine to stand up for their own idea? Not a chance. Last week they voted in favour of a government motion to kill the tax break they introduced.

These are just two of several examples of Liberal bravado turning into empty bluster. Stéphane Dion looks just like the lion in the Wizard of Oz, a pitiable shadow of the promises made 15 months ago. Dion is so obviously scared of an election there is only one question about him Canadians are left asking: what will he help Harper do next?

Maybe not all Canadians. One of those who isn’t asking is Brenda Chamberlain. She’s getting out while the getting is good. I doubt that Dion’s constant directives to the back benches upset her too badly. He doesn’t want them showing up for work, and she wants to spend more time with her family. A perfect mix. How many people dream of finding a job where the boss tells them to stay home, the cheque will be deposited in the bank for them? Chamberlain has been living this dream.

In a couple of weeks, she will stop staying home and collecting a pay cheque. She will start staying home and collecting a pension cheque. We will be without an MP for a while. We’ve sort of been without one for a couple of years anyway, but in April it becomes official.

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As I write this column on a Friday evening, news is coming out that Robert Latimer has been given an early parole and a lot of folk are applauding. I’m not one of them.

The deliberate taking of another human life is always wrong. It doesn’t matter if it is a crime of anger, a crime of passion, a crime of war, a crime of capital punishment, or a crime of fatigue. It’s wrong.

No matter how severely disabled your daughter is, you do not kill her. I have never met Robert Latimer and don’t want to. I won’t declare that he is an evil man. He probably isn’t, or at least not more so than the average inmate of a minimum security prison. Many people who also never met him are saying he’s a compassionate man. In my world, compassion does not put a child in a pick up truck, hook a hose to the exhaust pipe, turn on the engine and lie to the paramedics and police when they show up afterwards.

When Latimer killed his daughter, he was exhausted. So are most parents of disabled children. Yes, there should be better support systems in place for them. I’ve been advocating this for all my adult life.

When we come nose to nose with the knowledge that they are not there, what should we do? More importantly in this case, what should we not do?

The lack of adequate care is not a license for weary parents to commit murder. Those who do should be treated no differently than any other person who deliberately carries out a plan to kill a defenseless child.