Conservative Performance - 2007-02-01
Over the last year of Conservative rule Steve and the boys have been constantly "harping" over the apparent lack of action by the Liberals on climate change and other important files faced by the government. On the surface this might appear accurate but in an article by Robert Sheppard for the CBC there seems to be proof of how effectual this Conservative government has been as compared to the previous Paul Martin government.
Apparently, the Paul Martin government introduced 93 bills, of which 54 were passed by the house of Commons. These figures would indicate that the majority of Members of Parliament felt that 58% of the legislation presented by the Liberals was worthwhile.
In contrast, the present Conservative government has introduced 47 bills, of which 13 were passed by the House of Commons. These figures indicate that the Conservatives managed to get only 27.6% of their legislation passed during their time in office, which has been only two months shorter than Paul Martin's last government had.
One has to recognize that the Liberals, while not performing well on all files, were more effectual in bringing forward more worthwhile legislation than the Conservatives during a relatively equal period of time. While these 54 passed bills may not have made big headlines, they are an indication that the Liberals were working on many more issues to help more Canadians than just concentrating on a few big issues which are tailor made for generating headlines and buying future votes.
Granted climate change is important in the long term, but so also are bills to fund research and technologies, higher education, early childhood education, affordable and available day care spaces, women's issues's, support for those who can't support themselves, native rights and many other issues. It's often these smaller, less universal bills, which help solve many of the shortfalls in our society which when solved, may create minds and people who could be the keys to solving the bigger problems facing the country and the world.
If the Conservatives really want to get re-elected maybe they should "do the whole job" of governing instead of cherry picking the issues which might gain them votes and neglecting the rest.
