LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Heckling serves no purpose in politics

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/03/2023 (562 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Canadians vote to elect MPs or MLAs, I think they have certain expectations that the candidates have not only intelligence but common sense, and that they are interested in the position not just for personal gain, but to try to improve the lot of their constituents. They also expect moral and ethical behaviour. Reading Niigaan Sinclair’s “No Place for Toxic, Racist Behaviour,” therefore, leaves me disappointed and angry as most of those qualities were lacking, it seems, among B.C. legislators.

Although Melanie Mark’s resignation comes as a result of behaviour in the B.C. legislature, this same type of heckling, as Sinclair writes, occurs in other legislatures as well. It is a disgrace.

No doubt, human nature being what it is, there is a great swath of the Canadian public that finds “name-calling, insults and taunting” in government entertaining. Personally, I’d like to see it done away with as it adds nothing to debate, drives out members such as Melanie Mark and discourages others from running for office.

That means we’d need speakers who have some spine, who can punish their own party as well as Opposition members, although MP and Speaker Geoff Regan tried without success. It’s difficult to change a culture. Perhaps then we also need party leaders, who have more control over their members than speakers, who say, “Enough with heckling. It’s not happening anymore.”

Sadly, I suspect that’s a bar too high.

V. BEELAERT

Russell