Liberal MP Mark Holland (left) is an avid fan of Facebook. He believes it is a great tool to help him make connections with voters and potential supporters. With Facebook, though, you can only see what Holland — and other Facebook afficionados, including me — are doing if you sign up for a Facebook account and then become Holland’s Facebook “friend”. So, for the benefit of those who are not a Facebook Friend of Holland, here’s what he posted there this afternoon as Parliament breaks for a two-week Easter recess (I’ve provided the hyperlinks):
As we break, the environment on the Hill is not a positive one. The constant threat of election has heated up the partisanship and dragged almost to a stop productive work. We have to find some kind of stability. If not now – then right after an election. Constantly having bills die on the order paper, spending hundreds of millions on elections, loosing month and month of productive legislative sessions – it's crazy. I didn't run as an M.P. to be a perpetual candidate and I am certain that’s not what the people who elected me were hoping.
As a couple of examples, as Natural Resources Critic, I moved that our committee begin work on a strategy to ‘green’ our national energy supply. I think this could be critically important work – especially with electrical producers looking for direction as their aging plants will soon be up for refurbishment or replacement.
My bill, C-373, to modernize our animal cruelty laws is badly needed and many years over due. It represents countless hours of work by myself and many others. To loose (sic) it again – to have to restart again is madness.
All the work we put into C-30 (The Clean Air and Climate Change Act) that needs to be implemented, particularly in the face of such pressing need for action. And so on and so on. To be so involved in these issues and know that they may all soon die and that we would have to start over again in a new session…how much sense does this make?
It has to be my greatest frustration since becoming an M.P. Since our process necessitates that all bills must start over again once a parliament dies, so much good work gets lost. It is also impossibly difficult to plan out your action plan when you don’t know if you have two weeks left or another year.
Regardless of our political stripe – we owe it to the electorate and ourselves to stop this constant game of chicken and to focus on getting work done. To focus on making the country, our communities and the world a better place.
On another note – more attack ads are on the way over the Easter break. How festive. It is incredible how nasty and mean spirited the Prime Minister and his clan are. With the never ending barrage of personal attacks and smears, the Press Gallery constantly comment that they have never seen anything like it.
This is not what Canadians expect from political discourse. My projection is that these new rounds of ads will be soon seen as a serious error in judgement. The first massive run might be forgiven but to go again – to spend so much again and be so negative. This isn’t Texas Steve… Expect new lows in the days ahead and let it motivate all of us to get rid of this group and elect a leader of optimism and conviction.
Now playing: McCoy Tyner Trio Feat. Micheal Brecker – I Mean You