Enough embarrassment to go around

Kevin Krueger is an excellent MLA who has done a whole lot of good for this part of the world, but sometimes he should put a sock in it. Kevin, who has been invisible in his own riding for the past while, emerged yesterday with a letter to the editor blasting federal NDP candidate Michael Crawford over the so-called Logogate controversy.

Now, it happens that Crawford belongs to a party that doesn’t have a whole lot of relevance in the big Canadian picture of things. The cow would have to jump over the moon before the NDP came close to forming government. And, yes, Crawford has lost two federal elections and is heading for a third.

But, gee, give it a rest. The NDP are not some evil thing out to destroy the universe. It happens to be a party with questionable policies that haven’t gained a lot of traction in this country. To listen to Kevin, though, the NDP is an abomination, and Michael Crawford — well, to use Kevin”s words, is “a perennially failed candidate.”

Crawford should, says our MLA, be “ashamed” of himself for criticizing Conservative MP Cathy McLeod for having her picture taken with a fake cheque.

Now, it’s true the photo opportunity of which Krueger speaks wasn’t a big deal. The photo shows McLeod, Krueger, MLA Shirley Bond and other folks presenting the “novelty” cheque in Valemount. The names of Krueger, Bond and McLeod were all on it.

For MPs and MLAs to put their own names on these cheques is tacky, to say the least. Kevin is probably sensitive about this because of his own participation. And a legitimate question would be why, if McLeod “doesn’t do cheques” as she has proclaimed, she did this one. The fact that it was Bond, and not McLeod, who did up the cheque with McLeod’s name on it really isn’t here nor there. If you don’t do cheques, you don’t do them.

McLeod deserves some credit for taking some sort of stand on these things; it’s unfortunate more Tory MPs don’t do the same. However, consistency is a good thing. She was under no obligation to participate just because Bond pulled out the big fake cheque for pictures. It kind of dilutes your argument when you say you won’t do something but then just go with the flow.

Crawford, of course, engaged in his own hyperbole, blasting McLeod fpr “crass” partisan politics and demanding she apologize. Like that would happen.

Everybody deserves to be a little embarrassed over this, and Kevin added to his own with his strident reaction.