I Love That Word Democracy

Was reading this story, about the 'Conservatives' appointing their own party members as 'liaisons' for constituents in NDP held ridings to go to in their dealings with the federal government because, in the words of the Conservative party's B.C. caucus head, Dick Harris (MP for Cariboo-Prince George), "Having an MP from the fourth party in the House just doesn’t cut it when it comes to actually getting things done for the folks in Skeena-Bulkley Valley."

Now I'm not sure what authority the Conservative party has to appoint a replacement for the democratically elected MP from Skeena-Bulkley Valley (Nathan Cullen of the NDP) - and as the Canadian Cynic says, 'That's a nice riding you've got there, be a shame if anything happened to it', seems like a succinct summary of the underlying attitude.

But for some reason the whole affair makes me think back to the early days of the Royal Canadian Air Farce, with Don Ferguson making fun of how Preston Manning said the word 'Reform', and then Manning himself appearing in a good natured guest spot, saying 'Reform' in the same drawn out (Refoooorm) way that Ferguson did. And it makes me a little sad, to be honest. I never supported the Reform party, it's true, but at least you could believe they honestly wanted real reform, not whatever this so-called Conservative party is turning out to be.