View From the Hill by Keith Beardsley – Vimy Ridge No Place for Partisanship APRIL 11, 2017

Ottawa ONTARIO – There are times when it is best to put partisanship aside. The ceremony at Vimy Ridge was one of those moments. It is a shame and a little perplexing that Prime Minister Trudeau didn’t extend an invitation to the opposition leaders to join him there.

This was a missed opportunity. Trudeau had a chance to show Canadians that just as young men from all across Canada came together in 1917, so could our politicians put aside their differences if only for a short period of time.

A simple invite to join him on his flight would have offered an opportunity to build good will when the house is divided on needed changes to the Standing Orders and give all of the party leaders an opportunity to talk and get to know each other away from the glare of the cameras and their daily performance in Question Period.

While we were celebrating this historical milestone where the Canadian Corp united to achieve a significant victory in our history, Trudeau missed his opportunity to bring all of the leaders together.

Hiding behind the excuse that they extended an invitation for the parties to send a representative is not good enough. Someone in his office should have known the correct procedure to follow. One has to wonder why there was such a deliberate snub. Was it intentional or just incompetence?

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