By Don Hutchinson
As we round the corner toward the NDP leadership convention, now just a week away, it seems an appropriate time to take a glance at leadership, particularly the influence of faith on leadership, in Canada’s Parliament today.
When the NDP elects its next leader it will turn a corner that removes the visage of Jack Layton from the immediate line of sight as a new leader begins to put his or her mark on the party. Prior to the 2006 federal election, The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) invited comment about the place of faith in politics from the leaders of the four major parties contesting for seats in the House of Commons. Their responses were published in the January/February issue of Faith Today magazine. In that piece, Mr. Layton reflected on the role of faith-based leaders – particularly those of the Christian faith – in the development of the New Democratic Party and the positive place of faith-based voices in public policy debates. In other contexts, Mr. Layton also spoke openly about the impact of his own Christian upbringing and friends on his decision to become an activist for the poor and then to enter politics.
While the NDP is soon to have a new leader, the Liberal and Conservative parties (and the Green Party that has insufficient seats in the House of Commons to be recognized with party status) are led by people who have a self-expressed faith in God.
Elizabeth May was raised in a Congregationalist (Christian) home, is now a practising Anglican and is studying theology at St. Paul University. Her faith has informed her concern for creation, leading, at least in part, to her activism and political engagement; including, becoming leader and then serving as the first Member of Parliament elected representing the Green Party.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, attends a Christian and Missionary Alliance church, a denomination that is part of the evangelical Christian family (and one of 39 denominations affiliated with the EFC). Canadian Evangelicals have been tagged with some of the appearance and behaviour of our American cousins (and, in lesser numbers, some similar appearance and behaviour by one part of the spectrum of Evangelical expression in Canada). One aspect of being identified as an evangelical Christian has been a series of assertions that are more caricatures of Evangelicals than any actual measure of Mr. Harper or his faith – or even an accurate depiction of Evangelicals in general.
For example, certain components of the media and political opposition have asserted that Mr. Harper has a hidden agenda designed to roll back the clock on Canada’s recognition of same-sex marriage and restore the pre-1969 prohibition on the performance of abortions. Mr. Harper has made pointed statements about not engaging on these issues. If anything, the Prime Minister’s recent initiative to facilitate the divorce of “foreign” same-sex couples (whose Canadian marriages were not recognized in the countries in which they live) denotes a willingness to correct a fault established by Prime Minister Martin in 2005 and gives strong indication that Mr. Harper has no intention of legislatively fashioning the anomaly of seven years of legal Canadian marriages being nullified or placed in a special category by changing the law to its pre-2005 state. Additionally, Mr. Harper’s initial reaction to a proposal that Parliament study the definition of “human being” under Canadian law betrays what might be an excessive concern, or oversensitivity, about the study likely including a component that touches on the potential impact of the definition of “human being” on Canada’s lack of law limiting abortion in any manner. On these points, if Mr. Harper has any agenda it has been hidden in plain sight; i.e. his position has been stated and is evident for all to see. I, for one, hope the Prime Minister will recognize that a study on the definition of “human being” is long overdue and need not be considered an effort to have Parliament change any laws or introduce a law dealing with abortion (something the Supreme Court of Canada has said is the sole decision of Parliament); i.e. don’t preclude the potential findings of the study.
Another area where an assertion has been made that a hidden agenda exists is in regard to Canada’s foreign policy. The Evangelical label has been affixed in an effort to promote a theory about Israel and the end of the world that is, in fact, held by a relatively small number of people worldwide (admittedly, some of that number are Evangelicals but, under the same theory, none would hasten Israel’s demise). If those who first raised this issue during the 2004 federal election (and then, again, more vociferously in 2006) had been accurate in their depiction, then Canada’s reputation on the world stage should have entered a free-fall upon Mr. Harper’s election. Instead, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has emerged as an international statesman and, perhaps unexpectedly, a key leader on the world stage – with Canada taking the lead on restoration of the world’s economy and enhancing the well-being of mothers and small children in the developing world, among other initiatives, and publicly discouraging a pre-emptive strike by Israel against Iran.
I would like to think that Stephen Harper’s faith has as much informed his international statesmanship as the negative characterizations others have made about that faith have informed his caution at home in regard to select public policy conversations.
Speaking with current and former Members of Parliament (and several Parliament Hill staffers) confirms media reports that the collegiality of Parliament is collapsing in an environment of intense partisanship. To be fair, partisanship has ever been present as there are differing concepts as to how best to provide good government to the nation; but the current level of partisanship has crept into personalities and personal attack in a manner that has not been present during the lifetimes of those with whom I have spoken. This, perhaps unprecedented, partisanship has resulted in an unfortunate breakdown in respect between those who otherwise share in the unique experience of public service through elected office. As a result, while the global scene has called for statesmen, Parliament is in need of diplomats.
Emerging unpredictably within the fray on Parliament Hill has been the diplomacy of Bob Rae, the unexpectedly leader (interim?) of the Liberal Party of Canada. Mr. Rae, a former NDP Member of Parliament and former NDP Premier of Ontario, was unsuccessful in his bid to lead the Liberal Party but has seen the two men who finished ahead of him in the leadership race fall from their place, with the mantle landing on his shoulders (at least until a leadership convention is held). Regarded as perhaps the best orator in Parliament, a new and welcome level of diplomacy emerged in Mr. Rae’s actions following the revelation that a Liberal staffer was responsible for the Vikileaks twitter feed that targeted the personal life of Public Safety Minister Vic Toews. The person responsible dismissed, Mr. Rae offered both personal and party apology to Minister Toews. And then he did something even more remarkable. Mr. Rae crossed the floor of the House of Commons to speak privately with Mr. Toews. Was this impressive move of diplomacy informed by Bob Rae’s faith experience? Raised as an Anglican, Mr. Rae found out later in life that his grandfather was Jewish, as is Mr. Rae’s wife. Somewhat diplomatically within his own household, Mr. and Mrs. Rae agreed to raise their children in the Jewish faith.
There are a myriad of MPs, some with faith in God and others only with faith in themselves, who would do well to emulate the statesmanship and diplomacy that will be required to restore the sense of collegiality that has been essential to the past working of Parliament. Hopefully, there will be those willing to set aside false assertions and partisanship to take steps that express respect and value for colleagues in Parliament, if not in party. If their faith contributes to that action, then we are better for it. If not, why not?
Let me offer the final words of this blog to the late Jack Layton:
My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.