To the Editor,
First there was Christmas in July, as Conservatives criss-crossed the country with pre-election goodies; followed by a 78-day campaign with all the political parties making soon-to-be-broken promises of what to expect in return for voting for them. A similar gift-giving and festive season caused Ebenezer Scrooge’s hallucinations, and must have triggered my own recent dream about ghosts of politicians past, present and future.
Of course, nothing is real, and there’s nothing to get hung about in Dreamland, it’s all a magical mystery tour. I found myself overlooking a room with former United States president Richard Nixon and White House henchmen, John Ehrlichman and H.R. Haldeman, sitting across a table from Prime Minister Stephen Harper and P.M.O. chiefs-of-staff past and present Nigel Wright and Ray Novak. Although 40 years separated these two groups, they had so much in common discussing political cover-ups.
The election campaign was almost over, and this was a farewell bonding trip to visit the last resting place of Captain Franklin’s ships. The mood was sombre, as the Duffy Trial revelations had taken a huge toll, and poll predictions were for a Kim Campbell-sized two-seater caucus, meaning all these Tory parliamentarians would soon be unemployed.
As fate would have it in my dream, an iceberg suddenly appeared dead ahead out of the October gloom; the vessel was badly damaged and began taking on water. Thankfully, all on board were saved; in typical Dreamland fashion, in a blink of an eye, the PM and his cabinet were spirited away to the Governor-General’s residence of Rideau Hall in Ottawa.
They arrived late on election eve and all were sworn in as Senators to fill those 22 vacant seats; seems though they would lose the election, they intended to retain power and stymie legislation sent to the Red Chamber by the next elected government.
Bernie Smith,
Parksville