{"id":4824,"date":"2014-01-27T11:39:43","date_gmt":"2014-01-27T16:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/?p=4824"},"modified":"2014-01-27T11:48:55","modified_gmt":"2014-01-27T16:48:55","slug":"who-would-be-your-best-sidekick-visiting-parliament-hill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/?p=4824","title":{"rendered":"Who would be your best sidekick visiting Parliament Hill?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>\n<w:WordDocument>\n<w:View>Normal<\/w:View>\n<w:Zoom>0<\/w:Zoom>\n<w:PunctuationKerning\/>\n<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas\/>\n<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false<\/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>\n<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false<\/w:IgnoreMixedContent>\n<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false<\/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>\n<w:Compatibility>\n<w:BreakWrappedTables\/>\n<w:SnapToGridInCell\/>\n<w:WrapTextWithPunct\/>\n<w:UseAsianBreakRules\/>\n<w:DontGrowAutofit\/>\n<w:UseFELayout\/>\n<\/w:Compatibility>\n<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4<\/w:BrowserLevel>\n<\/w:WordDocument>\n<\/xml><![endif]--><\/p>\n<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>\n<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState=\"false\" LatentStyleCount=\"156\">\n<\/w:LatentStyles>\n<\/xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid=\"clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D\" id=ieooui><\/object>\n\n\n\n<style>\nst1\\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }\n<\/style>\n\n<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>\n\n\n\n<style>\n \/* Style Definitions *\/\n table.MsoNormalTable\n\t{mso-style-name:\"Table Normal\";\n\tmso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;\n\tmso-tstyle-colband-size:0;\n\tmso-style-noshow:yes;\n\tmso-style-parent:\"\";\n\tmso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;\n\tmso-para-margin:0cm;\n\tmso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;\n\tmso-pagination:widow-orphan;\n\tfont-size:10.0pt;\n\tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\";\n\tmso-ansi-language:#0400;\n\tmso-fareast-language:#0400;\n\tmso-bidi-language:#0400;}\n<\/style>\n\n<![endif]--><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: 'MS Mincho';\">Truly, the whacky world of political gamesmanship and bureaucratic quagmire has become more complex and tiresome. To make any headway in advancing an issue or taking a stand in Ottawa requires patience, a thick skin and a trusty side-kick to discern whether any progress is to be had. This will be especially true through 2014. An election might be more than a year away, however, all federal parties are actively jockeying for public attention. You can expect this Parliamentary Session to be fiercely partisan and anyone wishing to exchange more than niceties with MPs will need to be mindful of the competitive, at times toxic, political dynamics. (Our House of Commons is looking more and more like the American House of Representatives, where truth is unrecognizable and courtesy and sensibility is non-existent.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: 'MS Mincho';\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: 'MS Mincho';\">So, on this day, with Parliamentarians returning to duty on the Hill, By George offers a tongue-in-cheek description of the perfect mix of characteristics for &#8220;your best wingman&#8221; when venturing into Parliament&#8217;s lair. Recall, with every challenge, Batman turned to trusted Robin; the Lone Ranger depended on ever-loyal Tonto. With your adventures in Ottawa, we envision the perfect sidekick being:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: 'MS Mincho';\">part-diviner \u2013 able to locate exactly where you might draw support; <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: 'MS Mincho';\">part-air traffic controller \u2013 apt at keeping track of all the moving parts (and advising on your best approach in the crowded airspace); and, <span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: 'MS Mincho';\">part-court jester \u2013 skilled at subtly making the critical arguments while entertaining ADD-suffering MPs.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: 'MS Mincho';\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: 'MS Mincho';\">As an aside, if you are hoping to be heard at Queen\u2019s Park, you best wear rubber boots these days.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0 <\/span>We are perhaps weeks (some say a few months?) away from an election call and, unfortunately, it\u2019s senseless to think you can shout over the politicians\u2019 war cries. Know that you will be walking into a tribal bloodbath, with MPPs spraying fountains of hyperbole and outrageous condemnations. The best one can do is to collect promises along the way and carry these vows forward into the silence of a post-election dawn. At Queen&#8217;s Park, your best sidekick to survive the nonsense is: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: 'MS Mincho';\">part-short order cook \u2013 able to serve up fast and appealing dishes of \u201ceverybody\u2019s favourite\u201d;\u00a0 <span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: 'MS Mincho';\">part-car wash attendant \u2013 good at spraying clean the mud from the chrome and keeping your vehicle on the road; and,<br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: 'MS Mincho';\">part-historian \u2013 to properly place into context the promises made and then to convincingly retell your quest to Ontario&#8217;s new ruling tribesmen.\u00a0 <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: 'MS Mincho';\"><span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: 'MS Mincho';\">Need to get some results in Ottawa or Toronto in the coming months? Best to choose a skilled riding partner who will have your back and consider your path well, <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11.0pt; font-family: Georgia;\">Kemo Sabe.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Truly, the whacky world of political gamesmanship and bureaucratic quagmire has become more complex and tiresome. To make any headway in advancing an issue or taking a stand in Ottawa requires patience, a thick skin and a trusty side-kick to discern whether any progress is to be had. This will be especially true through 2014&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,12],"tags":[30],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4824"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4824"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4831,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4824\/revisions\/4831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}