It's The Nature of the Beast

For some reason, there's a belief that our governing bodies are best served by having one group "in power", and another group "in opposition". We've got this nastily competitive structure, with competing political parties that battle each other to get elected, fight each other for media attention, attack each other on the floor of the legislature, and systematically "oppose" everything the other side suggests.

Then, in the news, we have articles like "Bad blood poisoning politics" about anger and conflict in the Saskatchewan legislature, and we're surprised by and indignant about the hostility. Yet why should we be surprised? The whole structure is about winning, about beating the other party at every step, about out-manoeuvring, out-thinking, and out-shouting them at every opportunity. In a win-at-all-costs competitive environment like this, such tactics naturally emerge.

This seems about as far as you can get from an effective, collaborative governing body. It's about as far as you can get from serving the needs of the province and it's people. It's about as far as you can get from efficient leadership and it would be unacceptable in any other organization.

Yet, it's not really surprising that this hostility and conflict exists. When you create an inherently competitive structure, you will create hostility and conflict. It truly is the nature of the beast.