Dear Editor:
Re: Editorial: Compromise is how a healthy democracy is supposed to function
I congratulate the North Shore News for this lucid editorial on the confidence and supply agreement created by the Liberals and the NDP.
As indicated in your editorial, I believe that this current development in Canadian politics is not a “power grab,” as claimed by the Conservative party. It essentially reflects a nation where the majority of us are aligned with a desire to balance free enterprise and social programs. The provision of that balance is a mutually supportive process that benefits the whole of society.
For example, the co-operation of the Liberals and the NDP gave us universal health care and the Canada Pension Plan under the minority liberal government of Lester Pearson. And the great majority of Canadians, including conservatives, believe that those outcomes have benefited the common good. A healthier, more financially secure nation benefits free enterprise, and vice versa.
The politics of the future do not lie in a society dominated by left wing or right wing ideology, but in a more moderate and co-operative society that transcends those ideologies by incorporating both in a balanced relationship. The slogan for that emerging society is therefore neither “one for all" or "all for one,” but “one for all and all for one.” In other words, it is a process based on the fundamental realization that a bird, political or otherwise, needs both wings to fly.
And as your editorial wisely indicates, the way for all of us to benefit is for our leaders to co-operate and seek common ground, instead of perpetuating a political climate of polarization.
John Sbragia
Bowen Island
