jords on jords.

I don’t think it is news to anyone who exists in Canada that the Liberal Party was decimated in the May 2011 federal election. But I’d like to thank outgoing Liberal Party President Alf Apps for the reminder in today’s National Post, and for the knowledge that he thinks we’re all a bunch of lazy bums who ruined a once-great institution. 

Despite the blanket accusations that Mr. Apps feels it is appropriate to publicly throw at his employees, volunteers and membership, politics is no business for the lazy.  Even when you fail miserably, you move mountains if they’re standing in your way.  Working in politics is 7:00am to 11:00pm every day of your life, sleeping with your phone next to your face each night, missing out on milestones, not expecting there’s ever truly a time when you’re “out of the office” kind of work. Emotionally and physically draining, for little pay and almost no recognition beyond the knowledge in the back of your mind that some days, you might have done something good for someone, somewhere. Here’s hoping.

And yet I’ve never heard a political staffer or campaign volunteer complain about any of that.  It’s what we signed up for.  Doing something good for Canadians is what we wake up in the morning to do and what we go to sleep at night thinking about. This isn’t a Liberal trait, by the way.  I believe it is universal across all the parties.

But back to our Liberal woes: Maybe folks on the Bay St. cocktail circuit think we’re all an “aging and self-satisfied crowd of insiders preoccupied by long faded glories and still-festering rivalries,” and — even more insulting — “lazy.” Fine.  They are entitled to their opinions.

However, all the reasons Mr. Apps cited for our downfall (not reaching out to grow and cement our base, failing to modernize our technology, being terrible fundraisers, not doing the things our opponents have been doing, instituting a cult of leadership, etc.), perhaps these could have been things he addressed during his Presidency? He had two years to change the culture of the party. Two years, and all we’ve got to show for it is 100 pages of recommendations (released to the media before the membership, I’d like to point out) and a bunch of desperate-sounding headlines.

I believe it is possible to have thoughtful, consultative discussions about organizational reform without the overly dramatic flair that only serves to reinforce perceptions that the Liberal Party of Canada is a group of power-hungry headline chasers who have been reduced to self-flagellation to stay in the news. Close the Peter C. Newman songbook, delete next week’s column, stop appearing on TV to tout your renewal plan, roll up your sleeves and let’s get to work.