Pains of Politics

There's a provincial election coming in October and all our elected and unelected politicos are buzzing around like busy bees trying to push all the right buttons so all the right boxes will be marked come ballot time.
Not too long ago Premier Dalton McGuinty was in Peterborough to announce a bunch of new money that would be made available to municipalities wanting to green up their operations. It wasn't all that much money when you broke it down. It wasn't that big a deal for Peterborough since the City has already done a lot of work to green itself up.
It was a fairly ho hum Hi-dee Ho from the Premier, although I must say he got my blood up when he refused to answer a question I asked about what, if any, Provincial plans are in the works to help our battered emergency shelter system, that has left the Brock Mission teetering on the edge of extinction.
But what really got my goat was after the formal news conference was over.
Our Peterborough This Week photographer for the event, Lauren Gilchrist came over to tell me the Premier was looking for me. I obliged and went over to talk to the man.
He told me he'd just learned of the plight of local veterans trying to get a wall of honour put up in Confederation Square across from City Hall.
"We will make it happen," he declared.
"Even if it means changing provincial law?" I asked.
"We will make it happen," he said again.
Now with an election on the way political stumping and promissory posturing are natural and indeed expected. But let's take a moment to reflect on political history.
Has there ever been a time when a politician has made a campaign promise that he or she can't keep?
Has there ever been a period on our planet when a politician has offered promises to some of the most vulnerable and fragile members of our society and then not followed through?
Did I mention there's an election coming in the fall?
The hardest thing to swallow about Premier McGuinty's statement is that it was a promise made to our veterans. These people have stared into the eyes of death and seen horrors most of us can't even imagine. They've laid their lives on the line for each and every one of us. I think that makes them worthy of every respect we can show them.
So for the sake of these women and men, many of whom have died while the wall debate dragged on and on and on and on, I hope the Premier was doing more than simply making another political promise that may or may not be kept.
But did I mention there's an election in October?