The clarity of hypocrisy is damning

It took a little while to get rolling, but now, politicians are quickly resigning positions or having duties taken away over their holiday travel.

So why, with this particular round of political misbehaviour, are things suddenly moving with such alacrity?

After disregarding public health recommendations and heading out on international holidays, senior politicians in Ontario and Alberta have now lost their cabinet positions. Others have resigned from the chairmanship of parliamentary committees and still more from positions as parliamentary secretaries. At least one has announced he will not be running again.

The reason?

Because the public reaction is quick, and it’s visceral: “You told me, for everyone’s safety, to stay home. I did. Then you went to Mexico. Or Hawaii.”

Or maybe it’s, “I lost my job. You’re sitting on a beach somewhere with a margarita, like nothing’s changed.”

This is not like, say, the Snc-lavalin scandal, where people have to wade through complicated questions about what a deferred prosecution agreement might be and who might get one and why, along with figuring out who met with whom when and what that all might mean. You don’t have to weigh what sort of pressure the Prime Minister’s Office put on his own minister of justice, and how common or uncommon that sort of pressure is in federal politics.

You don’t have to tromp through differing points of view from politicians on either side of the legislature, trying to find the fine line of truth that’s usually out there in the middle of opposing howls of outrage.

No, this one is simple.

For some, it boils down to “I couldn’t go to a family funeral, and you went to the Caribbean.”

It brings a question into sharp relief: is there one rule for the little people, and another for the political elite? Unfortunately, the answer to that question is pretty darned clear.

It’s “do as I say, not as I do.” Politicians across the country have realized that this is an issue they have absolutely no hope of even mounting a defence about — and that simply apologizing or throwing out rationalizations won’t work.

We leave the last word for Manitoba senator and Senate Opposition Leader Donald Plett, who asked a question in the Senate on Dec. 15 about why Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would hold a photo op at the Ottawa Hospital during a pandemic: “The prime minister has said he wants to lead by example by staying home in his cottage; maybe that’s where he should have stayed rather than going to the Ottawa Hospital. ... Is this morning just another example of one rule for the prime minister and another rule for everyone else?”

Interesting point.

Two weeks later, Plett went to Mexico for a holiday.

See how clear it is? Saltwire Network