I decided to check the Hansard Report (Thursday, October 27th, 2005 is the latest available) to see how the various opposition party leaders were dealing with the Kashechewan issue - if we can use the order of their oral questions as any indicator of where this plays with the parties it looks like this.

Stephen Harper and the CPoC believe that the sponsorship scandal and where guns used to commit crimes in Canada come from are more important than how the federal level of government has dealt with its’ responsibilities to Canadas’ first people.

Gilles Duceppe and the BQ believe that greenhouse gas emissions in Quebec vs. those in Alberta, and the nation as a whole, is more important than how the federal level of government has dealt with its’ responsibilities to Canadas’ first people.

Jack Layton and the NDP were the only ones to attach significant enough importance to the issue to make it their number one question.

A chain of federal Liberal & Conservative governments going back generations have ignored their responsibilities and fallen down on the job in this area and need to be held accountable by more more average, everyday, ordinary, people, and by more political leaders than the Premier of Ontario.

Once again we are seeing another federal knee-jerk reaction to one of a great many aboriginal crises in Canada. It will be followed by many statements and platitudes from the upcoming First Ministers meeting in BC next month — and unfortunately, unless things are very different this time around, that is probably all we will see until the next crisis emerges and takes the national stage for a few brief days until another federal knee-jerk reaction makes people feel better about themselves for a while.

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