Tune into an episode of question period from Parliament Hill or the Saskatchewan Legislature.
You might be disappointed by what you hear.
Rather than listen to informed and reasoned debate, with questions posed from one side to the other, followed by responses in a respectful and decent manner, what you hear is a lot of shouting, jeering and incomprehensible answers.
A look at Hansard (the official transcripts for these sessions) will show the speaker of the house is usually forced to reprimand politicians from all sides for their conduct during question period.
Most of the politicians we elect to our provincial and federal halls are intelligent people with excellent education backgrounds who thrived in debate when they were in school. They have advanced degrees and have been interested in politics their entire lives. Yet throw them into a question period setting and they act like children.
It’s frustrating to watch, and it’s often something that turns people off of politics.
When Justin Trudeau was elected as prime minister in 2015, he vowed to do politics differently. Yet one of the things that has remained the same federally is the poor decorum during question period. It’s still as belligerent and as obnoxious as it ever was. And Trudeau’s Liberals and the other parties deserve equal blame for it.
Unfortunately, our elected members of Parliament and members of the Legislative Assembly aren’t the only ones in need of lessons when it comes to proper decorum in debates.
Go back and watch the video of Trudeau’s visit to Regina in January. You’ll hear people who were shouting down the prime minister when he was answering, for the simple crime of disagreeing with them, or not telling them what they wanted to hear.
It’s particularly evident when you put the word anti before a subject, and the word protestor after that subject. Think anti-pipeline protestor. You’ll see the problem.
And then you get the online community, where so many people seem incapable of having a reasoned debate. Check out the Facebook or Twitter comments of many online stories. They often denigrate into narrow-minded comments, name-calling, deflections and an abundance of other issues.
Unfortunately, it is easier to insult somebody than to come up with a logical response. And it’s always easier to insult someone than to admit you were wrong when it comes to an issue.
And then you also have those who fit the bill of “Some people will believe (or share) anything when it fits their agenda.” Facebook is particularly guilty of fostering this attitude. After all, anyone can post anything about on a particular issue, and it will likely draw support from a segment of an online community.
And so your Facebook page or Twitter feed gets bombarded with stories on a certain subject, regardless of the lack of credibility on an issue.
(I’ll forego a rant of U.S. President Donald Trump and his Twitter feed and his campaign-style rallies. That’s another editorial for another time).
It’s time to expect more when it comes to communication. More when it comes to our online posts. More when it comes to debate. More when it comes to question period. More when it comes to comments made over drinks at a local bar.
And it’s time for our elected officials to take the lead. It is time to do politics differently. And part of that has to do with question period, and how our MLAs and MPs act.
It’s time for leadership by example.
