Who the Frig is Bev Oda?

There is a 50 per cent chance you don't know.

Of all the disgraceful spectacles that have emerged from the Bev Oda affair, the Ottawa Citizen’s Elizabeth Payne says one of the most discouraging, especially to aspiring female politicians, was the sight of Oda “smiling nervously and nodding from her seat in the House as she watched the government's big boys, Harper and House leader John Baird, answer questions on her behalf.” It’s not the first time the Conservatives have been quick to sideline a female minister (just ask Helena Guergis), and “it is hardly the stuff that makes young women long to be up there on the cabinet benches,” writes Payne. Nor does she think it is the kind of scene that will help the Tories win over female Canadians who historically vote for other parties. We in the Newsroom suspect that given Harper’s controlling ethos, he would likely be treating Oda the same way if she were a man (or a child, or an aardvark), but we have to agree that none of this is too inspiring.

As it happens, Payne needn’t have worried about young women watching Oda, because as the National Post’s Kelly McParland points out, nobody is paying the least amount of attention. According to a recent poll, only 50 per cent of Canadians know who Bev Oda is, let alone have any strong opinion about her conduct. “In large measure, MPs have only themselves to blame for this,” says Kelly, “having cried wolf so regularly throughout the Conservatives’ five years in office that even the most stalwart politicos must have grown weary.” Clearly the regularity with which politicians cry bloody murder over their opponents’ alleged misdeeds is a turn off for voters, but McParland is setting the bar for political participation dangerously low. Just as politicians have a responsibility to conduct themselves with decorum, citizens have a responsibility to pay a modicum of attention to what goes on in the houses of government, particularly when it involves serious issues like lying to Parliament. Until they do, uninformed voters will continue to get the loudmouth politicians they deserve.