Yes, it's an alliteration. That's very good. You can see why they pick the best to write these kinds of things, a post-partisan approach to Parliament, a very good alliteration.
But a dubious set of parliamentary reforms currently being floated suggests once again that Trudeau is not, in fact, fundamentally different from his predecessors on this point.
Wasn't the slogan “real change”, with a real emphasis on the word “real”, as I remember the stickers and the podium placards, again playing on the fact that the NDP was talking about change, and so they cleverly came along and said they'd give us real change? It turns out the difference between “real change” and “change” is still defined by the Prime Minister of the day, not the word itself. Campaign on the left; govern on the right.
On balance, the reforms would make it easier for government to govern, but harder for Parliament to hold government to account. And the anti-democratic manner in which the government seems set on pursuing them is further proof that expediency, not democracy, is the priority.
Real change, they said.
Again things change, Chair, but it used to be said back in the day that politicians would be wise to be very careful taking on and criticizing people who buy ink by the gallon and paper by the ton, meaning be careful, as a politician, if you're going to take on a significant newspaper in a meaningful way, because, while being an MP has its perches and its soapboxes, so does a newspaper, even in 2017, especially when it's the Toronto Star.
I often feel so sorry for backbenchers, provincially and federally, in government in particular, but anybody who's from Toronto who is not a cabinet minister, because their local newspaper is theToronto Star. It's so hard to get coverage because there are so many in the Toronto area, that if you're relying on theToronto Star as your local paper to give you coverage for what you do, and you're not a cabinet minister, don't hold your breath. I have heard that from the time I arrived at Queen's Park, in 1990, all the way through. I haven't heard anything different from Toronto. You and I don't have that, Chair, because we have our weekly papers and we have our set paper.
In Hamilton we have The Hamilton Spectator. The beloved Hamilton Spectator—love it or hate it, that's our paper. We have only one, and it's not that hard to get coverage if you're doing something good or bad. But if you're in Toronto and you do something good, an announcement for a nice local thing, or you've done something really important, good luck trying to get covered in the Toronto Star. It makes sense, right? Often the best they have is the local papers. I guess social media is changing that over time. I see my friend Mr. Chan shaking his head and saying no, indicating it hasn't changed that much, and that what I'm saying is an accurate reflection.