All indications point to another federal election coming our way this year.
Last week, the Conservative party launched a series of attack ads on Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff. Although not as far over the top as the Liberal smear tactic against Stephen Harper in previous elections, they don’t exactly ring of high-minded policy debate. According to experts, they are good politics.
But we wonder. If attacks, smears and the like are considered good politics, how is it that Calgary’s new mayor succeeded over two front running campaigns organized by so called political experts?
Instead of the usual gutter attacks, Naheed Nenshi campaigned in part promising “politics in full sentences,” presenting a complicated list of detailed policies to the electorate. Since taking the reins, he has continued his efforts to bring people together through efforts like next week’s public hearing on fluoride in drinking water. In this particular debate, well-established camps of thought have sniped at each other for more than 20 years, yet Nenshi will attempt to bring everyone together to look at all the pertinent data and come to a rational decision. It’s politics in full sentences. If Nenshi’s popularity and voter turn-out in last year’s municipal election are any indication, it seems we are ready to reward politicians who treat voters like adults. We do not want to be spoon-fed bite-size servings of rhetoric.
We want politics in full sentences.
Our prime minister has a record of campaigning in full sentences. In the first month of the 2006 campaign, he announced a new policy every day, and was rewarded. We hope the prime minister returns to this style of politics. If he gives regular folks an honest, fact-based policy-centered campaign, we bet they will reward him again.
