Conservative Guy Lauzon hopes Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry will leap into prominence as the federal riding which displays the most flags on Canada Day. If earned, the record would be for "most patriotic area in the world."...It would seem fairly obvious that the top priority of an MP whose riding is losing jobs should be to try to actually turn the economic situation around. And it's not as if a government-party MP lacks the means to try to make that happen - whether that's through changes in general public policy to improve the competitive advantage of Canadian employers through improved health care and meaningful child care, or through more specific efforts to talk with potential employers and encourage them to set up shop in one's region.
Chairman of Cornwall's Canada Day celebrations for several years running, the second-term MP sees his flag effort as a way of building U.S.-style national pride and counteracting the recent wave of bad news in the riding, most of it surrounding job losses.
Among employers to bite the dust are Nestle Canada at Chesterville and Domtar of Cornwall, tossing hundreds of residents out of work. It's time to refocus with a dose of patriotism, the MP said.
But for Lauzon, the primary goal is to create some piece of good news on the assumption that it'll cancel out the economic problems. Which means that the MP is asking Cornwall's newly-unemployed residents to spend part of whatever resources they have left on a Canadian flag in order to prove their patriotism and help feed his ego.
Needless to say, Cornwall residents shouldn't be the least bit happy to be pawns in their MP's attempt to win attention. And that should lead them to push for a new MP who's willing to work to improve the lives of the riding's citizens, rather than using his pulpit to try to divert attention from the issues which ultimately matter to his constituents.
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