How Low Can They Go?

Every time we think the Harper government cannot sink lower . . .

According to an Ottawa Sun report from yesterday, the Conservatives are about to send out a household mailer explaining to their core constituency how our concerns with allegations of acquiescence by senior officials in abuse of detainees in Afghanistan amounts to a slandering of the men and women serving there.

No one, of course, has suggested that any Canadians serving in the field did anything but act honorably. What is being suggested, quite credibly, is that senior military and civilian officials did not, and in fact may well have contravened Canadian and international law.

It is shameful and embarrassing that our Government, that speaks in our name, would use those who serve in Afghanistan as pawns in a political game of hiding from what they know are likely devastating facts. If the air could be cleared, they surely would by now have cleared it.

Even greater shame, however, rests on the opposition. They could inform the Harper government now and publicly that unless a credible investigation begins now then the moment Parliament returns a motion of non-confidence will be tabled and passed.

This is no longer a government that I disagree with. It is one that embarrasses me and diminishes all of us. It is a minority government. It serves at the pleasure of the opposition parties. Those parties know what is going on. They are now responsible for the outcome.