If I could decorate the Government Lobby...here's what I would do

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By Alina Abbott on 17 February 2008 - 7:55pm

A number of sources have recently reported on the "redecorating" job that someone has done in the Government Lobby, which is behind the seats of the governing party in the House of Commons. Apparantly, pictures of previous Prime Ministers, along with other paintings, have been removed and replaced exclusively with pictures of Stephen Harper.

What message does this send the government members? "Don't you forget who you are working for, your Party...your Leader. Every decision you make, every thought you have, every conversation you engage in as you sit in this lobby, let it be permeated with these images, lest you forget who is your boss."

Well. Hmmm. What's wrong with this picture? (Pun intended.)

If I were in charge of redecorating the lobby, here is a list of pictures that I would hang:

  • A Canadian farmer going about his work
  • A Canadian grade 12 student looking at University brochures, planning his or her future.
  • A Canadian homeless person
  • A Canadian First Nations family
  • A Canadian doctor attending to Canadian patients
  • Active Members of the Canadian Armed Forces in Kandahar
  • A Canadian factory worker (one whose job was NOT relocated to Mexico?)
  • A classroom full of Canadian students
  • A multi-generational family picture of a Canadian immigrant family
  • A Canadian single mom filling out her tax return
  • Canadian artists going about their craft
  • A Canadian National Parks Ranger teaching tourists about the ecosystem
  • etc...Get my point?

I want MP's to remember who they REALLY work for. Average Canadians...you and me...going about those tasks that are dependent on wise decisions being made in the House of Commons. It is the votes of these Canadians that put the MP's in the House, and their faces should be first and formost on the minds of those who make the decisions.

The party leader will not be able to help them when the Canadians decide to cast their vote elsewhere.

From the Toronto Star:
Vanity, thy name is...
http://thestar.blogs.com/notebook/

From Garth Turner's Blog:
Let me count the ways
http://www.garth.ca/weblog/2008/01/30/

From Elizabeth May's Blog:
Model Parliament
http://www.greenparty.ca/en/node/3732