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2008.12.04 – London Free Press
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Holder, Pearson Offer Glimmer Of Hope
by Paul Berton
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Three cheers for Conservative MP Ed Holder and
Liberal MP Glen Pearson. While their colleagues in Ottawa are
entwined in a dangerous, destabilizing, partisan and ultimately
unnecessary game of political brinkmanship, these two have come
together at home for the benefit of London.
Isn't that what politicians everywhere are supposed
to do? Isn't that why we elected them? Isn't that why we pay them
our hard-earned cash?
There's a lot of talk in Ottawa (though not,
regretfully, this week) about co-operation and bipartisanship, but
never enough -- if any -- action. The recent shenanigans by the
federal Conservative party have been mischievous and irresponsible.
Ditto the Liberals and the New Democrats, at least until they united
as a coalition for political expediency.
That's why, amid all the furor, it's so refreshing,
inspiring even, to see Pearson and Holder come together to put their
community first.
Holder, the newly elected Conservative member for
London West, and Pearson, the relatively new Liberal from
London-North-Centre, are working again on the Business Cares Food
Drive, of which Holder has been a long-time co-chair.
Pearson has helped Holder with the project as the
long-time director of the London Food Bank, a position he still
holds.
Feeding people in need at Christmas time. What could
be more basic than that? It sounds so simple, and according to
Holder and Pearson, it is.
A national economic crisis is not so simple, but it
is just as important, and it would be nice if the parties in Ottawa
could take a page from Pearson and Holder's book.
What's more, the two MPs also plan to work together
to promote the bid by the University of Western Ontario to build
Canada's only AIDS vaccine manufacturing facility, as well as a
number of other projects.
Do politicians have to get re-elected? Yes. Do they
have to play politics sometimes in order to achieve that? Yes. Is
British parliamentary democracy essentially combative? Yes. But all
of that does not prevent MPs and other politicians from being
decent, civil, caring human beings who were elected to put their
community, whether it's London or Canada as a whole, before their
own petty, personal, partisan tendencies.
At a time of shameful scheming in Ottawa, Holder and Pearson offer
us all a ray of hope.
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