With the amazing job Canada's athletes did at the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games now in the record books, it's time for our country's politicians to start putting in some work of their own now that Parliament is back in session.
On the second last day of December, Prime Minister Stephen Harper made the controversial decision to prorogue the House of Commons until yesterday. Conservatives say the decision was all about giving the government time to do the important work of looking after our economy without the distraction of a possible non-confidence vote and having to fight an election that Canadians don't want. Critics, of course, say the prorogue was nothing more than a cynical attempt to avoid difficult questions on how much the government knew about the treatment by Afghan authorities of prisoners captured by Canadian soldiers.That Harper clearly enjoyed the benefits of being Prime Minister, including sitting beside Wayne Gretzky at a hockey game, during the Winter Olympics must have just been a coincidence. We noticed on television that federal NDP leader watched Sunday's gold medal hockey game at Wayne Gretzky's bar in Toronto, which we suppose is the next best thing to being there.Canadians can be forgiven if we wonder how much hard work our federal politicians have really been doing since this year started.But all of that is history.Now, they had better get down to work. Our patience is wearing thin with the seemingly endless political games being played by the Conservatives, Liberals, NDP and Bloc Quebecois. We realize a minority Parliament is a tricky situation, and one we seem stuck with for now, but in past incarnations they have actually led to some pretty good government as the parties are forced to work together for the good of the country.Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff said earlier this week that he is not looking to topple the government and force an election. "I have no desire to create an atmosphere of crisis here," he told Parliament Hill reporters.Harper and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will set the tone for this session with the Throne speech on Wednesday and the budget today. What comes out of those presentations should let us know fairly quickly whether a spirit of compromise and conciliation is going to rule. If not, we should all start preparing for an election.