Politics, PR and prorogation

3 February 2010 by Sheelagh Matthews One Comment 1,762 views

Have you ever wondered about the difference between the three Ps of politics, PR and prorogation? It seems to me there is a lot of similarity between them.

Politics has several meanings, from debating and creating policies to using whatever tactics are necessary to gain power. Sadly, the latter notion seems to reflect what it takes to be in politics these days. No wonder the term “politician” leaves such a bad taste with so many people.

PR, or public relations, has to do with developing a favourable relationship between an institution, such as the Canadian government, with the public. Not always, but all too often this is done using “spin.” You know, like spinning a bad news story around so it ends up sounding like good news, or controlling information so little or none gets out. The communist Chinese government is great at this. Remember how they tried to control the information about their oppression of Tibet around the time of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics? China gives us a great example of PR at its best — or worst — depending on your point of view.

Prorogation is nothing more than a fancy term for recess, such as the kind which elementary school children enjoy each day out in the school’s playground. For the adult crowd, prorogation might be compared to an extended coffee break for our parliamentarians, the people we elect to public office to run our country. You know who I mean: the people whose retirements we fund with generous pensions if they keep their MP jobs for just six years.

Now, here we are, almost a year to the day, from the time of Canada’s last prorogation, in another recess of sorts, both courtesy of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Give me a break! Oops, let me rephrase that. How does, “Get back to work!” sound? That’s a little more like it, no?

This time around, Harper says he had to prorogue our parliament so our politicians would have time to sort out Canada’s economic crisis. Again. Apparently, this is why our parliament was prorogued for almost two months a year ago. I guess they didn’t get it right the first time.

Or, maybe, it’s to avoid being asked questions about Afghan detainees and torture, especially when the Olympics are about to be held in Vancouver. We wouldn’t want Canada’s image tarnished on the international stage, now would we? This is a perfect example of how politics, PR and prorogation can come together to help Canadian politicians save face.

Or is it? There is something about the 3P equation we cannot forget, and that is the public’s acceptance of the yarn being spun. We can only swallow so much. After that we start to choke. According to an EKOS poll, two-thirds of those surveyed believe this latest halt to our parliament is anti-democratic. Good grief, that’s what I call gagging!

Putting Canadian politicians of all stripes back to work and keeping our democracy with perfect attendance —now that’s in our best interest.

Sheelagh Matthews, Contributor