A Modern Re-Telling of a Classic Parable

Those who told me I shouldst have become a preacher may now have second thoughts:

For the economy is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.

And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.

Then he that had received the five talents went and traded in chariot manufacturing stocks and moreover short sold them. And behold, the chariot manufacturing industry fell, and great was the fall of it.

And likewise he that had received two, invested with the bankers, such that his lord might have his own with usury. But the bank did fall, and great was the fall of it.

But he that had received one went and hid his lord’s money under a mattress.

After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.

And so he that had received five talents came saying, “Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I short sold chariot manufacturing stock. Thy money is gone and thou art further indebted an hundred talents.”

His lord answered and said unto him, “Thou wicked and slothful servant, Thou oughtest not to have put my money into the stock market, for it is as gambling.”

He also that had received two talents came and said, “Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I invested with the bankers but they did collapse and lo, thy money is gone.”

His lord answered and said unto him, “Thou wicked and slothful servant, Thou oughtest not to have put my money to the bankers, for the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.”

Then he which had received the one talent came and said, “Lord, I knew these were hard times and I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent under a mattress: lo, there thou hast that is thine.”

His lord saith unto him, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

And cast ye the unprofitable servants into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Harper's Bizarre or How a Scheming Politician Puts the Rogue in Prorogue

Stephen Harper came ominously close to winning a majority in the last October's federal election and he has just demonstrated why Canadians have never, and must never, give him one. He simply cannot be trusted to put his extreme right-wing ideals on the back burner and govern the country fair-mindedly.

Harper's scheming has forced a Parliamentary showdown and precipitated a constitutional crossroads the like of which Ottawa has never seen. Calculating that the measures in his "economic update" would crush the opposition, Harper instead faced a united front which threatened to take his minority government down.

Political observers have been comparing Harper's misreading of the opposition's resolve to Joe Clark's blunder of 1979 which resulted in him being voted out of office. Now Harper is pulling out all the stops to avoid facing a confidence motion in the House of Commons. First he delayed the vote by over a week, now he asked, and received, permission from the Governor General of Canada to prorogue, or dissolve, Parliament until the end of January.

This is unprecedented for a couple of reasons. The new session of Parliament following the election just barely opened. Also, each time Parliament has been prorogued in the past, the Prime Minister has had the confidence of the House. Harper does not.

Still, a Governor General almost never denies a request from the Prime Minister. So what happens now? Harper will continue to concoct new schemes. A Stephen Harper who does not scheme is like a cat who doesn't scratch or a newborn baby who doesn't cry. Look for the Conservatives to go on and on about how a coalition government is unconstitutional (even though it's fine when they propose it) and to play Quebec separatist fear-mongering to the hilt.

Meanwhile, the thick-headed Liberal party: oh will they ever learn? The voters massively rejected Stephane Dion and made it clear they don't want him as Prime Minister. Yet they propose Dion as leader of a coalition government? Don't they want the idea of a coalition to be even a tad acceptable to Canadians?

I believe with every fibre of my being that Stephen Harper and his band of right-wing extremists have got to go. So if the coalition holds together, it must choose someone else to lead. To do otherwise would be a slap in the face to the voting public.