COLUMN: Viewpoint – Could we have a little decorum please

Politicians are under tremendous pressure these days. They are subjected to harassment both online and in person. It must take unbelievable self-control to remain polite and choose your words and actions carefully in such challenging circumstances. Keeping that in mind, I’d still like to encourage our provincial leaders to practice a little more decorum.

Since the fall sitting of the legislature began, we’ve had Wab Kinew, the premier of our province, call a group of protesters ‘goof balls’ in the chamber. He was understandably upset because the demonstrators were criticizing one of his cabinet ministers Nahanni Fontaine, exactly when she was feeling most vulnerable. Her constituency office had just been firebombed and its interior gutted. The protesters were angry, because Ms. Fontaine had shared a social media post written by someone else, which criticized the publicly voiced positions of assassinated American political influencer Charlie Kirk on issues like race, religion, immigration and sexual orientation. Granted, it was a difficult situation for the premier to handle. But ‘goof balls’? Surely he could have used more polite language.

Then we had Obby Khan, the leader of Manitoba’s opposition party put two fingers to his head as if they were a gun and pretend to shoot himself in the head during a legislative session, not once, but twice. The week that happened Mr. Kahn was dealing with a challenging situation. Just the day before his inappropriate gestures, the legislature had endorsed a commissioner’s report which concluded the former premier of the province, and the former leader of Obby Khan’s political party, Heather Stefanson, was guilty of an ethics breach. She was given a substantial fine. Ms. Stefanson had chosen to remain silent so Mr. Khan was being asked to respond to questions about her lack of judgement. Granted, it was a difficult time for the opposition leader. But making a suicidal gesture? Surely he could have found a more appropriate way to express his building frustration and exasperation.

At the beginning of the current Manitoba legislative session the Speaker Tom Lindsey gave a lengthy address in which he sternly warned members of all political parties that the state of decorum in the house prior to the summer break had been unacceptable with angry personal insults being shouted across the chamber. He said such behavior would not be tolerated in any Manitoba workplace and it should not be allowed in the legislature.

I thought it was a very positive thing last year when a more inclusive prayer that didn’t exclusively follow Christian religious tradition, was being contemplated for the opening of the daily sittings of the Manitoba Legislature. At the time Premier Kinew said he begins each day by saying Anishinaabe prayers. I found one he might find inspirational. Translated it says, “Help me to speak well and to listen well so that we can help each other and understand each other.”

Mr. Khan is of the Muslim faith and looking online I was able to find multiple verses in the Qur’an which extol the virtue of patience over frustration and exasperation. Mr. Khan might do well to seek inspiration from the holy book of his religion.

We all know from personal experience it can be very hard to maintain self-control and choose our words and actions carefully in challenging situations like the ones in which both our premier and the opposition leader found themselves earlier this month. But especially for the sake of the young people observing our political leaders, we can only hope in the future they will seek inspiration from their faith and try a little harder to set a good example.