STOP NASTINESS IN LEGISLATURE
It's hard to pinpoint when all the animosity we saw on the second-last day of the Saskatchewan legislature's spring sitting started.
What led up to NDP Cumberland MLA Doyle Vermette and former Saskatchewan Party (now independent) MLA Nadine Wilson being kicked out on Wednesday really started weeks, months and — in some cases — years ago.
Both were removed for saying Sask. Party government members were lying/ misleading the assembly, then refusing to withdraw and apologize for their words, although Vermette's dismissal also had something to do with using the slang term for feces in a rather emotional outburst after days of dealing with families suffering suicide losses.
For this he should be forgiven. It's a tough job. Sh-t happens.
Less forgivable, however, is how all MLAS have allowed the Saskatchewan legislature to devolve into something akin to high school with clichéd smug cool kids running things for their own benefit at the expense of the similarly clichéd geeks and misfits who sanctimoniously cling to their own brand.
Like in high school, the kids don't like each other, but they're stuck together in the same class for too long without a break. The legislature has become a place where
grown men and women are reliving their not-so-glory days of high school bullying and victimization.
When did the problems at the legislature start? For many MLAS, it started 20, 30 and 40 years ago.
Certainly, it was evident two weeks ago when Premier Scott Moe and Opposition Leader Ryan Meili squared off to “discuss” budgetary spending estimates for executive council. “There was a moment there when you thought you were going to see the premier be a class act,” began Meili's political tirade after Moe's own tirade, thinly veiled as “congratulating ” the outgoing Opposition leader on his now-ending political career.
“You thought you were going to see him extend that olive branch and, you know, thank someone for his service. That didn't last very long, that moment.
“I am moving on ... The only difference is that I've admitted that it's time for me to go. But this premier, the choices he's made, the way he's hurt Saskatchewan people, his time is done. He just doesn't
know it yet.”
It perhaps was less prophetic and more about lashing out at those who Meili has deemed his own schoolyard bullies.
Meili — who would announce that Thursday would be his last day in the assembly — hasn't exactly been an olive branch bearer, either. Outside the chamber on Wednesday, it was alleged Meili flipped off Health Minister Paul Merriman — something the departing NDP leader would neither confirm nor deny.
The Opposition leader surely had better moments for which he should be remembered — not the least of which would be the leadership he showed early in the pandemic, offering to work together with government and encouraging mask use before anyone found it fashionable.
The Sask. Party could have used the help of the politician-doctor. But, of course, the cool kids have little time for the smart geeks.
This doesn't excuse the petulance from Meili and others in the NDP, but one somewhat
gets the bullying government behaviour that caused it.
Daily in the chamber, we see supposed leaders, including Merriman, muttering nasty insults under their breath or Government House Leader Jeremy Harrison popping up with a “point of order” for no better reason than to insult or gleefully get a rise out of an Opposition member.
At one point this week, Wilson also called Harrison a “man-child.” She was not asked to withdraw or apologize. Evidently, that only happens when MLAS accuse each other of lying.
We should demand better from all of them, beginning with the leaders.
Moe may not be a bully, himself, but he needs to be somebody bigger than the guy quietly grinning while his buddies beat up the not-coolkids at the back of the school bus.
He needs to set the right tone. So does the next NDP leader.
We deserve better than the high school drama we've got.