Although I’m a life-long Liberal-I’ve even worked on Parliament Hill for several Liberal senators-what amazes me about the Liberal leadership race is the mystifying lack of attention given to the Liberal Renewal Commission and the recommendations made by its elite Red Ribbon Task Force on party renewal.
For a national political party struggling to find its moral bearings prior to another election, the lack of two-way, transparent discussion during this race has been put out of sight and out of mind.
Intentionally or otherwise, the leadership contest has for the most part distracted journalists and party members alike from asking some pointed questions about the structural factors that serve to undermine the cohesiveness of the Liberal Party’s political culture. One such indelicate question is whether too much authority isn’t concentrated in the hands of a single, winner-take-all party leader and his group of loyalists, who may one day come to collectively occupy the Office of the Prime Minister.
This case of too much power in too few hands for far too long-the elephant in the room-isn’t even discussed in the latest report about party renewal. Oops.
Mothers know a thing or two about how baby rattles can be used to distract infants from crying-a case of what’s-in-sight becoming what’s-in-mind. The leadership contest has become something of a baby rattle, and journalists certainly appear to love it. The problem is that the contest has overshadowed the fact that this political baby has soiled its diaper.
Naturally, due to the smell and appearance of the stuff of diapers, people would rather focus on the jovial face of a smiling baby. Politicians know that-they’re the parents of spin. As for diapers, that’s someone else’s job.
And that’s the problem. Too many Liberal big-Whigs thought they could just scatter a little more talcum powder “down there” in hopes that no one would notice. But notice we did.
The irony is that no one in a position of power or privilege seemed bold enough to simply stoop and change the condemned diaper.
It reminds me of a scene from the film Gandhi. Gandhi’s Brahmin-caste wife refuses to clean out the community latrine when it comes time for her to take a turn. To her, this is a task for the Untouchable caste. But Gandhi will have none of it. He tells her bluntly, “If you do not take your turn to clean the latrine, then you can have nothing more to do with me.”
The scene speaks volumes. To truly be one with the common people, Gandhi didn’t just “talk the talk,” he really did “walk the walk.” And in so doing, he set an awe-inspiring standard for those who claim they seek to serve the public interest.
Changing the Liberal Party diaper is no different. The only question that now remains is: Which leadership contestant will stoop to the poop to conquer?
I submit to you that the one who does is not only the leader who can save the Liberal Party from its haughty airs and stave off future electoral ruin, but a leader whom all Canadians would be proud to call their prime minister.
