Posted on 04/05/2010 6:01:25 AM PDT by Clive
As you know, the Liberals were at their thinkers’ conference the other weekend pondering Canada’s future. That’s fine except that lovely Canada has long been bored by pontificating Liberals and was last seen leaving the party on the arm of a Conservative.
Look, I’m not down on thinking. In fact, sometimes I do it myself, but if it doesn’t result in some positive action, why bother?
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney thought, then acted last week when he brought in refugee reforms that will fast track the processing of refugee claimants from safe countries. Seriously, if we expedite the return of Sven to Sweden, are we honestly worried that he’ll be tortured, except in the sense of having a soul-destroying nanny state tend to his every need?
See, Kenney thought first and acted second, which is the correct order. However, my point is that he did act.
This is also the kind of practical idea that you might hear down at the hardware store where men gather on Saturday mornings to admire power tools. Regular people sense the bloat and inefficiency in government and bridle at the thought of bogus refugees playing the system.
Country has changed
A few years ago this would have caused a big uproar, but Canada has changed. It is more conservative. It is more practical, which is why the Liberals have nothing to say about refugee reform.
That’s also why the Liberals’ next conference should be about doing. I’m not saying Liberals shouldn’t be lectured about Middle Eastern foreign policy by some guy wearing a tweed jacket and bedroom slippers. I am saying that they should be skeptical of anyone who claims to have all the answers, but who can’t also clearly explain how his or her wonderful ideas will be implemented.
Theories are cheap and opinions are a dime a dozen, but practical knowledge on how to get things done is enormously valuable. That’s why we pay lots of money for the knowledge that plumbers, stock brokers and doctors bring to the table, but nothing at all for the insights of the know-it-all down the street who, for all I know, writes columns like this one, or gives speeches at conferences.
The next Liberal conference should also be about things and values that people care about.
People care about bogus refugees who try to take advantage of our generosity because it touches a fundamental Canadian value — fairness.
It’s also worth noting that our values have changed. At some point Canadians mostly threw off that juvenile resentment of the successful, though someone should explain that to the NDP. That said, we loathe arrogance, greed and gratuitous nastiness, and we make fun of pontificators. We care about the health, wealth and safety of our families and a love of nature is part of our DNA.
Canadians decidedly don’t care about the board at Rights and Democracy, Hillary Clinton’s views on Arctic conferences, grand and expensive schemes or issues that feature the word “redacted.”
In other words, if the Liberal leadership ever wants to succeed, they should devote their next conference to the lofty goal of figuring out how to be normal.
Monte Solberg is a consultant at Fleishman Hillard Canada and former Conservative MP.
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Bears repeating.
D*mn, can we borrow that guy for awhile?
Are you talking about the author or the immigration minister?
Well dang,...I thought this was about grits for breakfast. ;~) Excellent article regardless.
From the little I read about their great pow-wow, the “ideas” emanating were ‘ tax tax tax, spend spend spend’ with heavy emphasis on man-made global warming and more taxes on CO2.
The extreme left-wing totalitarian Liberal party is headed for oblivion with that intellectual pinhead lil mikey ingnatieff, the Royal Count.
That's just it, to the Liberals they thought they were being "normal". If you are not a holder of a hand full of degrees have a nanny or a cleaning service you didn't get into the conference. What they fail to understand is that the people that they look down on as subservient are the people they think they are representing. Kind of like they are doing us a favor for our own good. And they wonder why their coffers are empty and their poll numbers stink.
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