CBC recently described November as a bad month for Canadian mayors. Most of you will have heard of Toronto mayor Robert Ford and his desperate tug-of-war with a provincial court judge. Ford has been accused of a conflict of interest after soliciting funds on city letterhead for a charity he runs, then participating in the disciplinary meeting – and voting against – the motion to rap his knuckles.
Three other Canadian mayors are also having their tactics examined by voters, the media and the legal system. Joe Fontana, mayor of London, Ontario, faces a non-confidence motion after being charged with three criminal offences. Gilles Vaillancourt of Laval, Quebec, stepped down as Mayor on November 9 after being accused of corruption. Gerard Tremblay of Montreal resigned on November 5, accused of looking the other way while corruption took place around him.
The optimist in me sees all of this activity as progress. As Canadians we are slow to anger, even slower to take action. When we are pushed to our limits by the behaviour of those in power, we are often reluctant to take action. When we do take action, it is usually because someone has failed our tests of transparency, reasonableness, decency and moderation.
Unlike Americans, we don’t like show-offs, or whiners, at least not in politics. We can tolerate a Glen Sather or a Sidney Crosby but only in sports.
We can put up with eccentrics in politics, people who hog the lime-light but only if they get a job done that is important to us, consider a Ralph Klein or Jean Chretien.
And we only put up with a Klein or Chretien when they understand that we need to laugh at them now and then and they have to be able to handle the teasing with grace and humour. We don’t warm to the power-mad, the arrogant, the bully or the hysteric. It would appear in eastern Canada, at least, the people have finally found their anger.
The pessimist in me wonders if the electorate in Toronto, Laval, Montreal and London – in fact, in all Canadian communities - will keep holding their leaders accountable. Have we slumbered for so long that we may not be able to sustain our passion? I hope we can. I don’t believe that the standards we have for our leaders is unreasonable. Our only fault is that we can be too fair and patient, and wait too long before we act. Once in awhile we need to bite back - to show that there is a line that those in power must not cross. That politicians are where they are because they serve the citizens – that is their only responsibility. And if the leaders cannot serve us, if they are distracted by their own egos, their own needs, their own objectives, then we must be swift and clear and passionate in our response.
