Does NL need a new political party?

It's a refrain I've been hearing more and more lately: "we need a new political party". It's often accompanied by "the Liberals are no different than the PC's" or "they're all crooks" or "I can't vote for any of them". Different comments, but essentially the same message - people here are becoming deeply estranged from the existing political parties. It's not just voter apathy. It's more like voter disgust.

It's been slowly evolving over the last few years. The disengagement from the people. The lies. The attempts to cover things up. The secrecy. All of it has eaten away at people's trust in their government, and specifically the PC party like cancer on the bone. People began looking at the NDP as an alternative, and for a while Lorraine Michael was not just leading in the polls in this province, but she was the most popular opposition leader in Canada. Then, while she was on holiday, from the backrooms came a cynical attempt at a palace coup. When that failed, 2 MHAs left the party and eventually joined the Liberals after a "believable" time out period. People here turned on the victim rather than the perpetrators, and knocked the NDP and Lorraine Michael out of contention in the polls. The party fell and she fell.

The Liberals then became the flavour of choice. Like a great, hopeful wave people switched their preference to the Liberals - or so the polls say. The Liberals became confident, many so much it bordered on arrogant, and before you knew it the Liberals were indistinguishable from the PC's. The smell of power washing over them. The backroom interests cocooning around them. The money comforting them. They no longer had to stand for anything. They just had to remain silent and ride the wave to power. Then reality hit.

People started asking what the Liberals stand for. The provincial radio shows, at least one of them, began openly mocking the Liberal Party for refusing to let people know what they would do any differently than the reigning PC's. As time unfolded, it became shockingly clear to some that the Liberals were in fact not going to do much differently at all.

Two of the most recent examples of that trend are Bill 42, and the police-death of Don Dunphy. Bill 42 seeks to take 8 seats out of the provincial House, and bring the number of MHAs to 40 from 48. Almost all the lost seats coming from rural Newfoundland. The Liberals got together with the PC's in the House of Assembly, sometime during a late night session, and made a political deal to get the seat reduction legislation through. Now, people are up in arms about their districts being carved up like Swiss cheese, and the Liberals are practicing the line "wasn't me". Little do they apparently realize that they look absolutely foolish and pathetic as they now try and claim they never voted for the seat reduction, just the amendments (political deal) that allowed it to become law. You could almost feel a collective rolling of the eyes on the Island.

Then, the Liberals joined the PC's in decrying those that insisted on a judicial inquiry, over the killing of Don Dunphy by a member of the Premier's security detail, were simply playing politics - as opposed to what it really is - obvious accountability. Again, like Bill 42, the NDP came on the side of the people in demanding an inquiry be announced. After all, announcing a judicial inquiry will happen in no way impedes an investigation into Don Dunphy's death. It merely states what should be the obvious, and that is an inquiry will be held after the investigation is complete. Not might. Not maybe if we can control the outcome. So, the NDP is coming up like roses on these last two huge issues. Whether or not that will translate in the polls is questionable. A key problem for the NDP is their new leader. His rise to that position stinks badly of backroom politics as well. And, where there is a backroom game afoot, there is control. The new leader suddenly retired from head of the "fishermen's union", when he was near retirement in any case, just before Michael suddenly stepped down as NDP leader, after she just won a leadership review handily, and after stating she would lead the party into the 2015 election. The hands of the backroom are all over this.

So all this brings us to the question: Is it time for another political party in this province? The answer, to my mind, is yes. The problem is that the last thing people here likely want is more politicians. That's a convenient truth for the boys pulling the strings on the other three. However, the dilemma remains that if a different commitment to democracy and integrity is not somehow invented, then the province is on the brink of no-return. And, if you love this place, that's a very hard pill to swallow. It seems unlikely that integrity, honour and accountability can rise to the surface of these parties controlled as they are by a very small group of people within the province. Their goal is control. Control of the people, but more importantly to them - control of the budget. They want those public dollars going to their interests, their companies.

So, if a political party can be born in this province that is firstly committed to integrity, honour, and truth before agenda, then yes it's time for a new political party here. The breath of fresh air is badly needed. Otherwise, there may well be a complete collapse of the governing "order" here. Too many of the people who should be the gatekeepers on power here have been corrupted by self-interest. Ordinarily, they would have been weeded out before they got in to that position - for having that weakness. But, in a place where that group is so small, and so exclusive, the order has become too introverted. Too compromised. Eventually when that happens, no matter where in the world, that order collapses and social chaos results. That's why there's an order in the first place. Order is the cure for chaos. However, order in a democracy comes from a firm set of rules that exclude "self-enrichment".That is to say, those with the real "influence", not the politicians, must be disciplined beyond self-enrichment. That hasn't happened here. Perhaps the real need in Newfoundland and Labrador isn't a new political party. Perhaps the real need is for a new set of Gatekeepers with the discipline to do their duty responsibly - for the best interests of the people, not their own.