For a city to become influential and prosperous, it must attract talent and make a home for that talent. For a company to grow and thrive, it must do the same. And the same is true for political parties.
The team that can look beyond past grievances and political differences and include more voices in the project of governing or building the party will do better in the long run than the team that aggressively polices its ranks for slights.
This doesn’t mean that a party should have no standards at all. A party with no common platform or principles would be as ineffective as one with a too-narrow platform. But in between those two extremes, it is generally better to lean towards an openness to welcoming others, rather than picking internal fights.
We are seeing this happen at the federal level in Canada, with the Government welcoming MPs from the right and left of the political spectrum to form a broader team, while the Opposition fights over who is really on the team even as the team shrinks.
There are legitimate concerns that those who joined the growing team are breaking faith with those who elected them. On this question, those who changed teams exercised their sovereign judgement, and the voters will have the chance to do the same. Canadians will have the opportunity to vote on how those teams are constructed, rendering a verdict on those who were welcomed into the government, and those who did the welcoming. For now, public opinion leans towards the government, and that government can benefit from a wider array of perspectives and talents.
Ultimately, the politics of addition is more powerful than the politics of subtraction. To build a great city, business, or political party, openness and a willingness to look to the future are key.
Spencer Fernando
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