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Principled MPs? Not in Canada, you say. Pity.
By
Bob Orrick
"All political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure." John Enoch Powell, MBE.
It has been slightly more than five years since Britain's controversial Member of Parliament died at age 85 years. During his lifetime, Powell challenged the staid British establishment, ruffled more than a few feathers and generally marched to his own drummer. Along the way, Powell, born in Birmingham 16 June 1912, was a professor of Greek studies, saw service in the British Army, was a member of Conservative Ted Heath's shadow cabinet, and then on the eve of the February 1974 general election, suddenly resigned his seat and quit the Conservatives.
According to published reports, Powell's intellectual capabilities became apparent at an early age. He studied Classics at Trinity College, Cambridge, then was appointed Professor of Greek at Sydney University; he was just 25 years old. That was in 1937.
At the outbreak of World War Two, John Enoch Powell returned to England and joined the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. By age 32 years, he had become the youngest brigadier in the British Army; the rank he held at War's end.
Perhaps Powell is best remembered for his "Rivers of Blood" speech. In it, he made reference to Virgil's prediction of war and that the Tiber River would foam with blood. Powell made these comments to point out his belief that continued immigration of people from the Commonwealth to Britain would have "apocalyptic consequences." It was for that speech that Heath fired Powell from the Conservative shadow cabinet. Ted Heath had interrupted Powell's speech as 'racist.' Soon after his "Rivers of Blood" speech, Powell received 100,000 letters of support, London's dock workers marched to express their agreement with Powell but MPs from Britain's ethnic minorities - Caribbean and Indian sub-continent - saw things differently and perceived a heightened atmosphere of fear, distrust and resentment.
Powell quit the Conservatives because of the Party's leader's intention to join the European Common Market. However, just six months later a snap general election was held and Powell was returned to Parliament as a Unions MP for the northern Irish seat of Down South. In 1992, due to a boundary change, Powell lost his seat when the change made the constituency more Nationalists in composition.
What has all this got to do with Canada and Canadians? For starters, this country has not sired such a person as Powell. Whether or not one agreed or disagreed with his policies, he was front and centre. Hardy a week went by that Enoch Powell was not in the news being praised for his wisdom or denounced for his bigotry. Canadians have to look far into their country's history to find a person of the magnitude of Powell. In the past century, none come to mind. Why is it that Canadian parliamentarians are so wimpy, so docile, so common, so bland, and so afraid to take a stand on an issue?
Perhaps the answer lies in the form of government we have in 'The Great White North Wasteland.' It is accepted that many, perhaps most, Canadians who put their names forward for public office do so with good intentions. They see themselves as being a saviour who will right the wrongs [real or perceived] that dot the Canadian landscape. Following victory at the polls, they high off to that 'Wasteland' known as Ottawa and within a short period they see that they are merely cannon fodder for an egotistical prime minister. These newly minted MPs soon realise that glory for them is not to be; they do as they are ordered, speak when told to speak and generally take up space in a hallowed chamber that is best known as a dust collector. Their ambitions dashed and their prides hurt, they sulk but not once do they defy their master. It does not take these previously-idealistic MPs long to realise that the name of the game is not to do right for their constituents but, rather, to go along with the tide and win re-election after re-election in order to receive a nice, fat pension at the end. It is too bad that Canadian MPs are so timid that they are afraid of losing their spot at the cushy publicly-funded trough.
It would seem that John Enoch Powell had other ideas and he was not afraid to show them; clearly, he was a man of principles.
Today, in Canada, the country founders as the prime minister winds down his too-long stay slurping from the public purse all the while destroying the country's military. If Jean Chretien is not careful, his legacy will be the destruction of the Canadian military. While it might not cross his mind, it probably is not what he would like to have enshrined in his footnote to history -'Here lies Jean Chretien, the prime minister who slew the military.'
Enoch Powell is gone but his words of wisdom as revealed in the quote above, live on.
Oh, where are the John Enoch Powells of Canada when needed most?
Bob Orrick is a private tutor of English grammar, literature, poetry and Canadian history to off-shore youngsters. His pupils hail from such places as Taiwan, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea and Venezuela. He was previously in international marketing, was a ministerial assistant to a provincial cabinet minister, spent a few years as a reporter then editor of a community newspaper and enjoyed a career in the Royal Canadian Navy.
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