Sentiments & Catch Phrases Are The Problem

It is time we start holding politicians accountable for their failure to keep election promises....maybe the introduction of recall legislation is the answer. And while we are on the subject why does the legislature not sit for longer periods?

Noble sentiments, empty words

Carol Goar
Toronto Star

There goes another perfectly good phrase.

First it was "sacred trust." Former prime minister Brian Mulroney debased that expression in the 1980s, when he proclaimed Canada's universal social programs "a sacred trust not to be tampered with," then proceeded to scrap family allowances and claw back old age benefits.

Then it was "common sense." Former Ontario premier Mike Harris contaminated that saying in the 1990s, when he closed hospitals, sacked nurses, slashed welfare rates and turned the school system inside out in the name of "common sense."

Next it was Paul Martin's turn. The former prime minister killed a whole crop of aphorisms – "democratic deficit," "transformative change," "new politics of achievement" and "fix for a generation" – in the early years of this decade. But since he coined most of them himself, it was no great loss to the political vocabulary.

Now Dalton McGuinty has done it. He has cheapened a term once used to denote acts of high principle or moral leadership.

Defending his decision to support a 25 per cent pay raise for MPPs, the Ontario premier said: "It was the right thing to do."

It may have been an admissible thing to do. It may have been a justifiable thing to do. It may even have been an audacious thing to do.

But it wasn't the "right thing to do." It was just a messy piece of legislative housekeeping.

Keep promises.....