How not to slay a unicorn

In Ottawa, the town where dreams go to die, cynicism is the helium that fills the political balloon as it floats away, far beyond the ken and concerns of ordinary people.

The distance between the governors and the governed has never seemed greater. Last week, with COVID-19 dropping off the chart of public worries, most people, according to the polls, were preoccupied with pocketbook issues.

Jobs, wages that don’t keep pace with inflation, food prices, rents and mortgage rates, along with such concerns as safe streets, schools and transit systems, under-resourced health care, and a clean environment for today and for future generations.

Nowhere in any of the opinion surveys that visited my inbox did I find mention of the government’s management of national security. It’s the issue — or faux issue — that is still gripping Parliament Hill nearly four months after the deliberate disclosure of classified CSIS reports on foreign interference by enemies of the Liberal government who were working, and still are, within the ranks of the security agency.

That CSIS has failed to identify and prosecute the perpetrators speaks volumes about its internal ills.

The issue took a turn to the bizarre last week when the opposition parties tried a novel approach to personalize the issue and to place responsibility for all errors of omission and commission in the security arena squarely on Justin Trudeau’s doorstep.

Let me explain it this way. The towering intellects who direct strategy on the opposition side determined that the surest way to nail the prime minister’s hide to the doorstep with the CSIS leaks would be by slaying the unicorn.

The unicorn is David Johnston, who has to be the only member of that rare species, the former governor general, to be hired by the prime minister of the day to provide cover from opposition attacks, to fail in that mission, to be fired for his efforts by a majority vote in House of Commons, to refuse to accept his dismissal and to press stoically on, turning up more useful evidence of serious flaws in the security system than all the CSIS leakers and opposition leaders combined.

I don’t mean to include most backbenchers among the cynics who specialize in weaponizing issues. New MPs arrive in town with high expectations and intentions to create change that will help make Canada a better place for their constituents.

Through no inadequacy of their own, they find themselves assigned by their seniors to the caucus choir, where they are encouraged to cheer and to applaud, but not to question or to volunteer ideas.

The mood on the Hill these days is not conducive to unsanctioned initiatives. Watching the House from afar, I sense a mood more of fear than of anticipation. The next election will not be an easy one for any party, given a restless electorate and a sense of estrangement that persists between everyday people and their tribunes in the capital.

If Pierre Poilievre does not win at least a minority government, the Conservatives will send him to the boneyard of Erin O’Toole and Andrew Scheer. The leader who has never had an encouraging word for anyone who does not agree with him, will leave a bitter taste behind.

If the NDP does not make a breakthrough substantial enough to justify trading its identity for tangible benefits from the Liberals, Jagmeet Singh will be looking for work.

And if Trudeau decides to run again, only a majority will save him from becoming yesterday’s man.