Politics As A Glad and Noble Profession (Just Not In This Country Right Now)

Huh. In weird synchronicity, the same day America's truculent, backbiting GOP pols ousted Disorder in the House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in a pointless act of animus, Canada's diverse pols elected their new House Speaker on, evidently, another planet. He's black, a first. He got a standing ovation. There were hugs, grins, high-fives. Everyone laughed as the country's leader ceremonially mock-dragged him to the podium where he vowed his focus would be on mutual respect, and good will reigned. Unfathomable.

As Speaker, Fergus is supposed to be politically neutral, an impartial adjudicator among sometimes bickering factions. Tasked with enforcing House rules, he will vote only to break a tie, and carry out managerial, ceremonial and diplomatic responsibilities on behalf of Canada's Parliament. Before the vote, he pledged to be "firm, thoughtful, collaborative, consistent and certainly fair...What motivates me, and what I vow (to) promote, is one word - respect." Again, it's a far cry from our experience with the "ostentatious disorder" of a House whose speakership was - checks notes - "an optical illusion (that became) an exercise in self-abasement.... animated by something akin to nihilism" in a GOP House, founded on "the politics of contempt," that now "resembles a failed state." Of course, politics in Canada are still politics: Before the election, Conservatives lobbed some modest attacks against Fergus: He vocally defended Trudeau during 2016's "Elbow-gate," when the PM inadvertently elbowed a lawmaker, and breached the Conflict of Interest Act by writing a letter of support for a French-speaking TV station; he later apologized for the "unintentional error." All in all, pretty small civil potatoes compared to, say, a violent coup seeking to overthrow the government.

Still, Fergus' rise did prompt some grumbling, largely, shockingly from the right. Commentators called the election of the first Black Speaker "a gimmick for upcoming elections" to help a besieged Trudeau, arguing Fergus "checks (every) virtue- signaling and corruption box" for Liberals and New Democrats. One jaundiced editorial scoffed uproar like that over the hapless Nazi "typically provoke(s) cries for more civility in politics...They never last long before MPs from all parties return to their partisan ways. Fergus’ election won’t change that." Maybe. But from the perspective of a House beholden to the jeering, pompadoured, unprincipled likes of chaos agent Matt Gaetz, Fergus' victory looked pretty congenial, if not downright jolly. After the vote result was announced, Jagmeet Singh, a Sikh human rights attorney who heads the progressive New Democratic Party and argues, "If one person is suffering, we are all suffering" - no, we don't have him here either - lauded Fergus, "one of the friendliest members of Parliament," for his "incredible feat of representation." Citing kids "who have come here and not seen themselves in the pictures on the walls," he noted, "That’s going to change when people walk these halls (and) they are one day going to see your face."

Subterranean grievances notwithstanding, Fergus' win was widely celebrated: Smiling colleagues gave him a standing ovation, staff members giddily high-fived, Liberal, NDP and Bloc Québécois members hugged him; even some Conservative MPS did, though leader Pierre Poilievre got in a jibe about needing to restrain the "primordial" power of Liberal leadership. Then, in a bizarre, Colonialism-tinged custom, Trudeau and Poilievre hooked arms with the grinning Fergus to faux-drag him to power. Historians say the practice of "gentle persuasion" dates from when a Speaker had to convey House news to a monarch not always happy to hear it; from 1394 and 1535, seven Speakers were purportedly beheaded - three, most notably Sir Thomas More, by a cranky Henry VIII. After the reign of Mary l, "the last really unreasonable monarch," the custom morphed into a vaudevillian march to the Speaker's chair. There, casually moving between French and English - monolingual America, take note - Fergus thanked colleagues for "this great honor." In a hockey analogy, he vowed to work tirelessly as a "referee" to ensure "respect and decorum" without which "there can be no dialogue." "Respect is a fundamental part of what we do here," he said, "to (show) Canadians that politics is a noble profession." From this ravaged, rancorous side of the border: Oh please, please, make it so.

Greg Fergus elected 1st Black Canadian House Speaker, replaces Rota | FULLwww.youtube.com