Amy BoughnerI watched a bit of the budget yesterday, I followed some of the coverage, I tweeted about some of the issues. It wasn’t until this morning that I saw Joe Oliver’s quip about leaving the repercussions of the decisions in this budget to “Stephen Harper’s granddaughter.”
It made me angry at the time. I shared the story, marking it as disgusting.
Tonight I was thinking about it and I actually got emotional.
You see, when I worked the 2011 election I was a new mother, just back from maternity leave. Moving from my regular day-to-day work was very stressful because I knew I wouldn’t see my baby girl very much with the long days at working – leaving the house before she was awake. Moreover she wasn’t old enough to understand what I was doing or why.
But when Jack talked to us that first day after the writ dropped he talked about the next generation. He talked about his granddaughter (who also happened to be toddling around the war room at the time). He talked about us being caretakers of this whole great country for the next generation and I knew that I had to put everything I had to give into this campaign for the next 36 days because I could tell my daughter later that it was all for her.
So I got a little teary and more angry tonight thinking about what Joe Oliver said – what the PMO called a ‘joke’ – and I thought about my grandparents.
My Tutu and Gramps helped raise me. They were always there for us, my grandfather still is. Always.
It would never, ever have occurred to my grandparents generations to leave something for us to worry about. Never would it have come to their minds to saddle us with debts or unintended consequences.
We have a responsibility to our children and their children, just like our parents and grandparents took responsibility for us.
Now Jack’s gone, but I can take what he taught me and what I’ve learned from my grandparents to fight to make changes. Even on days like today when politics and the way things work is so damn frustrating.
