CHELSEA, QUE.—The return of Parliament and, especially, of Question Period last week underscores an urgent national problem: this country desperately needs a good opposition. Even one. Instead, we get sustained bile, messages hollered from the balcony, smear tactics, and scripted questions delivered with all the genuine passion of a hostage video.

This is not just a token nod to the vital role opposition plays in a functioning democracy. The key word is “urgent.” Prime Minister Mark Carney, as smooth an operator as our politics has known, is advancing policies, programs, and alliances that are dragging the country irreversibly rightward. Whether we like it or not—and if we don’t, tough.

The federal New Democratic Party has experienced a slight bump in the polls recently, up to 15 per cent in some soundings, and that will likely increase as debate about proposed privatization of airport operations and a new bill further restricting environmental regulations and curtailing strike options heats up.

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The party has, in Avi Lewis, a supremely articulate new leader with the right instincts on the environment, leading a party that unambiguously supports the labour movement and paints itself as a champion of “the many, not the money.”

Cute slogan, but Lewis keeps getting tripped up by the Palestinian crisis—infuriating some Jewish leaders, including others who might be inclined to vote NDP. He delivered a Yom Kippur message, for example, suggesting all Jews share responsibility for the Israeli government’s destruction of Gaza for failing to stop the genocide committed in their name.

Lewis, himself Jewish, was accused of antisemitism and the accusation clearly stung. He responded the next day by underscoring the diversity of opinion within Jewish culture, and argued his comments were a personal moral reflection on a holy day devoted to atonement. He insisted he would never blame all Jews for Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu’s crimes, a position which is, he said, unambiguously antisemitic. 

It was a timely clarification which will not mollify his harshest critics, but should serve as a warning. Most Canadians are appalled at the destruction, of Gaza and Netanyahu is increasingly persona non grata, including to our government. (At the United........

© The Hill Times