By Lloyd Mackey

A particular turn of phrase pops up frequently in the opposition lexicon, these days.

The phrase is "There is a pattern, there ..." And it refers to the alleged practice of the current government to fire or fail to re- appoint officials who apparently differ with the prime minister.

In the interests of fairness, I would like to gently suggest that the pattern, in fact, is the use of the phrase itself. The objective seems to be to tie in every "disappointment" (pun intended) to a combination of government bullying and/or ignoring of the educated elite.

In the next few paragraphs, I would like to establish my own occasional pattern - that of encouraging readers to apply "another way of thinking" to the understanding of this issue.

The "other way" is to recognize that not being reappointed to a government commission or board may have little to do with whether the about-to-be-ex-appointee disagrees with the government or its leader.

The reasons could well have to do with bringing a fresh approach or a new style to the particular office. And it might, quite justifiably, have to do with changing circumstances which, as it happens, might be beyond the control of government.

A government that is able to "manage change", particularly in a minority context, is fortunate indeed. That is one reason why the "pattern there" phrase might not reflect reality.

But it is expected behaviour of the opposition, and even of that part of the media whose interests are best served by lining up closely with opposition agendas.

But it also has the marks of Liberal culture war tactics of the kind that pollster Frank Graves proposed, not-so-tongue-in-cheek, a few months ago.

By contrast, it is intriguing to watch behaviour in opposition ranks that leads to a selective falling into line with government initiatives, implicitly, if not explicitly. NDP leader Jack Layton has a pattern of criticism of the Liberals for example, in which he suggests that Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff is, de facto, maintaining a Conservative-Liberal coalition.

From this perspective, Ignatieff's attempts at collaboration in the interests of making parliament work are considerably more ethical than the culture war tactics.

The next test for such collaboration will come on September 22.

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That is when the house will vote on Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner's private member's bill to abolish the long gun registry. In the first reading vote, the bill carried, thanks to several NDP and Liberal MPs who come from rural riding where the registry is bitterly opposed as being both invasive and useless.

This time, Ignatieff is whipping his caucus, which means the bill could be deprived of the previous Liberal support that put it into the winning column.

The issue is one of a number that tends to cause a purported divide between rural and urban interests and/or educated and uneducated sentiments. But that divide might reflect an indefensible argument, because the statistics supporting each side, in themselves, invariably leave unanswered questions.

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The promised "few paragraphs" to explore the "pattern" subject have now passed. I want to wrap, today, by noting the move from the prime minister's office (PMO) to Preston Manning's organization of someone who has been identified, through the years, as a well-educated and thoughtful evangelical Christian.

Darrel Reid, who was, until recently, deputy chief of staff in the PMO, is now executive director for the Manning Centre for Building Democracy.

It is an interesting move for Reid and it will undoubtedly provide useful communication links between his recent public service culture and his new "civil society" environment.

Reid has been criticized, unfairly I would suggest, for his tenure a few years ago, as president of Focus on the Family Canada. The nature of the criticism was that he was a conduit for American ultra- conservative influence on Canadian social policy.

From where I sat, the facts would seem to have indicated something quite different. His task, among other things, was to interpret what Focus said in the United States into a Canadian context.

And he was well qualified to do so, as a Queen's University PhD who studied under the late, great George Rawlyk - an eminent historian, social democrat and evangelical-leaning Baptist minister.

Reid is likely somewhat to the right of Rawlyk in his social philosophy. The point is, however, that he has both the intellectual rigour and political savvy for the work to which both his immediate past and present positions call him.

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Lloyd Mackey is a member of the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery in Ottawa and author of Stephen Harper: The Case for Collaborative Governance (ECW Press, 2006), More Faithful Than We Think: Stories and Insights on Canadian Leaders Doing Politics Christianly (BayRidge Books, 2005) and Like Father, Like Son: Ernest Manning and Preston Manning (ECW Press, 1997). Lloyd can be reached at lmackey@canadianchristianity.com.

August 26/2010