Leading our Politics hub for a spell this week was a piece by Martha Hall Findlay on how her party should handle environmental policy post-Green Shift. Another high-profile Liberal MP, Scott Brison, will appear in these parts soon (if he hasn't already by the time you're reading this) to field pre-budget questions.
This is nothing new: From a panel of prominent MPs discussing how to rebuild their party to Bob Rae fielding questions from readers the day before he dropped out of the leadership race, Liberals have pounced on the opportunity to make their voices heard.
Lest you think we're giving preferential treatment, the NDP hasn't exactly been absent either. Jack Layton came on in the middle of the fall's election campaign to take your questions, and his top strategist has been game for pretty much whatever we've thrown at him (and been a fixture on Doug Bell's blog to boot). Even the Bloc Quebecois played once, albeit in our other official language.
You'll note that one party is conspicuous in its absence from this checklist. With the notable and noble exception of Tim Powers, who continues to good-naturedly spar with Rob Silver, it's been virtually impossible to get Conservatives to participate. And believe me, we've tried.
To be clear, this refers only to the federal Conservatives. Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory, preparing for a by-election run and trying to reassert his grip on his party, will join us before this week is out to take questions from readers. But trying to get any response to invitations extended to the people running the federal government, let alone positive ones, is usually an exercise in futility.
That Stephen Harper's party is disinclined to make itself accessible is hardly news, and it's considered bad form for journalists to complain about it. But I raise it here for a couple of reasons.
One, this isn't just a case of the Conservatives declining to talk to journalists; it's a case of them refusing to talk to you. If they don't want to do an interview with follow-up questions with someone like me, as Brison did this week, they don't have to. We're offering a forum for them to get their views out, unfiltered, to the public - be it in a direct back-and-forth with readers, or in the submission of articles they've written themselves. All we're asking is that they participate in a public dialogue.
That leads us to the second reason - the frustration of trying to foster that dialogue amongst and between members of all parties, and readers being left with the impression that we're merely providing a soapbox for the opposition. There's no elegant way online, as their would be at a community forum or a televised debate, to leave an empty chair where the Conservative would be. But we're not going to stop welcoming Liberals and New Democrats (and non-partisans), just because there's silence from one corner.
We'll continue to invite specific Conservatives, as we do members of the other parties. But here's an open invitation as well. If you're a Conservative of some standing - an MP, a Senator, a party executive, a backroom operator - we want to hear from you.
Provided it's your own voice, not a press release, we'll very happily take your submissions. If you're a minister and you want to take questions from readers, just say the word (or have your people do so on your behalf). If there are two of you and you want to participate in a thoughtful e-mail exchange with each other, as Liberals and New Democrats have done, you know where to find me.
If nobody steps forward, we'll be disappointed. But I suspect your rivals won't be.
