Maybe, Mr Editor, there is another way to make the point. Hurricanes do tend to bring out the best in us. We all face a common enemy. We all share a common goal. We cooperate and we collaborate and we all get to participate in cleaning up and turning the Island around. We are pretty good at it too. So the call goes forth, a plea even, for a similar community approach to the economic challenges we now face. Enter Throne Speech 2014.

The wonder, of course, is why we cannot achieve the same sort of cooperation, collaboration even, in our politics. But we all know how that goes. The one party blames the other or, even better, the system, our Westminster style of Government, and the way it encourages us to practise our current brand of politics: adversarial, every inch of the way.

Listen folks, let’s not sell ourselves short. What we can do is modify what we have and put it to better use, starting at the top with the elected and appointed representatives who make up the Legislature. Hurricanes underscore what we instinctively know: people respond positively when they are given opportunities, meaningful opportunities, to have a say and influence decisions. The way we run our government should be no different.

Consultation, collaboration, must not be subject to grace and favour, something to be extended or withheld depending on whether the other party agrees or disagrees. It must become embedded in the way which our government conducts our business on and off the Hill. I know, I have made the point before. I make it again, sorry.

The Government of the day is meant to represent all the people sure, but we all know the other party received substantial support at the polls. They still do and they will continue to give voice to those whom they represent. This is the way democracy works, folks. But that doesn’t mean they should be relegated to the sidelines completely, pretty well reduced to constant carpers and critics who find fault at every turn, even when there is no turn or no fault.

There is a greater, far more important role our MPs should be playing for us and, yes, within the Westminster system of government.

Backbench MPs, Opposition and Government, are the elected members on whom we rely to hold Government to account. They are not members of the Executive, the Cabinet, which, as everyone knows, actually runs the Government. They should be providing closer oversight on the floor of the House or through committee, like the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for example.

We need them to unite and get on with the job.

Two big examples come to mind.

• The new acute care hospital: this is a public-private partnership that ought to be under continuing and close scrutiny by our parliamentarians. There shouldn’t be any surprises when it comes costs and payments, past, present and future. The rising cost to healthcare is also front and centre and people should know how this PPP is working as our Government looks to embark on similar new ventures. The financials should be laid bare for all of us to see and digest.

• This brings me on to the second example: the proposed new airport. For many this project surfaced without warning on the radar. It has been heralded as “historic”. Epic is more like it, like the new hospital before it, and the hope is that both will turn out to be both epic and historic for all the right reasons.

There are any number of questions arising, some of which have already been posed publicly by the Opposition. Fair enough. What we need though is not just answers but a means through which questions can be asked and answered, under oath if necessary, by way of public hearings, and on a continuing and ongoing basis. Like what should be occurring with the new hospital.

This is what I mean by meaningful opportunities to participate, to influence and have a say in what our Government is doing. I see it as both constructive and critical work for idle hands and willing tongues. It may very well also lead to collaboration; almost certainly it will give Shadows insight and opportunity to keep Ministers on their toes. That ultimately works to our benefit. The process also leads to greater transparency and accountability.

There are other projects and issues which could benefit from a similar approach. It requires the will to make it happen and those who can make it happen are those who have the power to lead and make it happen: the government of the day, the OBA.

There was a small stab at inclusiveness in Throne Speech with the general invitation to the public to apply to join Government boards and bodies. Good idea, somebody. But these are bodies that are largely advisory and meet behind closed doors. Some change on that front may be overdue too. PATI is not the entire answer.

On the Throne Speech itself, it set out in businesslike fashion, practically pedestrian, the list of things Government wants to accomplish in the coming parliamentary year. But, sadly, nothing on electoral or parliamentary reform. The overriding focus remains on the economy, finances and jobs. No surprise there.

But they cannot do it alone. President Kennedy (quoted in the Throne Speech) struck the right note in his time when he called on people to do what they could for country. But JFK said this as well: “Let us not be blind to our differences — but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved.” The means, Mr Editor, that’s my point exactly.