“We have met the enemy and he is us.” Cartoonist Walt Kelly coined that phrase in a 1970 critique of how we treat the planet.
Forty-three years later, Randy Hawes paraphrased it during his final speech as a Liberal MLA.
Hawes didn’t explain why he used the quote. But, moments earlier, the former caucus whip made this statement: “Sometimes, in this House, when a party line gets in the way of your conscience, really, to everyone, follow your conscience. You’re always right if you do that. Sometimes that might get you in trouble.”
It’s an astonishing critique of party discipline from a man who was once responsible for enforcing party discipline.
But, like former NDP MLA David Chudnvosky, Hawes - who broke ranks with the government over its handling of services for the developmentally disabled, as well as plans to introduce a new beer tax scheme - made that criticism on the eve of his retirement from politics.
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