Politicians and glass houses
With many NDP and Liberal politicians taking turns to verbally revile Peter Penashue, I am reminded of the old English proverb that “Those who lives in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.”
Over the past few weeks I have wondered why both parties are spending so much time and energy tearing down a former MP who was Newfoundland and Labrador’s only Conservative representative in Ottawa.
I have concluded that both par- ties are trying to deflect public scrutiny of their own shortcomings. Two specific ones come to mind: • The Liberals are the only party, so far, found guilty of robocall violations. During the last federal election, the Liberal riding association in Guelph, Ont., was found guilty of violating the Telecommunications Act for its use of automated phone calls to run a negative campaign and identified themselves as some fictitious woman.
• The NDP was recently forced to pay back over $440,000 in illegal contributions that it systematically took over a period of eight years, initially hiding the misconduct from Elections Canada as “advertising fees.” They rushed to pay back this money to avoid being taken to court by Elections Canada and to keep the deception hidden from the electorate.
While Peter Penashue can argue that mistakes were made by an inexperienced campaign team, the same cannot be said of the Liberals or the NDP. Obviously we need to remind politicians of the glass house in which they live.
All political parties made mistakes during the past election. Some of the mistakes are greater than the accusations directed at Peter Penashue. Yet they sit in front of their glass house and throw stones at a colleague.
Maybe the Liberal party and NDP are hoping that we will forget their misconducts. Throwing stones at a colleague reveals more about the character of the person who is throwing the stones. Therefore, I ask myself if selecting them as an alternative to Peter Penashue is really a better alternative.
I conclude that we already have too many politicians throwing stones and an MP working with the governing party is far better than just another stone thrower in Ottawa. Morley Whitt St. John’s