How about a morsel of sympathy for my former colleagues in the parliamentary press gallery who had to cobble together yearend articles on what happened on Parliament Hill in 2007. They didn’t have very much to work with.

Although there were some spectacular screwups, such as the forced shutdown of the Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. reactor at Chalk River, Ont., little was accomplished on the Hill in 2007.

The government must take responsibility, but the opposition parties should also share some of the blame. And the press gallery might also reflect on how it covers federal affairs.

So, let’s make the rest of this column my first — and, let’s hope, last — annual review of who didn’t do what this past year and how they might make this year more productive:

> The Harper Government. There has been a long-standing truism in Ottawa that once elected, Conservatives get busy making changes because they know they will be out on their butts in five or six years. Maybe the current Conservative government has been trying to put that myth to rest with a rather limited agenda while trying to look like Liberals.

Certainly, the government has illustrated what happens when a party spends a year in election-readiness mode without having an election. Nothing much gets done. Sure, the government took quick action against unsafe imports from China and elsewhere by putting the onus on the importer. But the government has yet to put its entire marquee Accountability Act into effect more than a year after the law received royal assent. Long-promised copyright legislation is also nowhere to be seen.

As for the economy, if the government has any ideas about how Canada is to thrive in the age of strong currency and super-high energy prices, it would be nice to hear them.

It’s a bad sign when the prime minister ends the year by travelling to the same Mississauga, Ont., electronics store at which he promised GST cuts in the 2006 election to announce, for the third time, that the tax would drop to 5%.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that the government has gone nowhere in the polls since the last election, or that it is now apparent to everyone, including the prime minister, that we are in an extended period of minority government.

When the Conservatives first took power, earning a majority government was Job 1. Now, the priority is simply staying in power; and the government isn’t interested in policy development unless it is an easy vote-getter. And, of course, sticking with things most people agree with makes more people suspicious of the government’s real mission. It’s time the Conservatives came clean on the important issues.

Stephen Harper is lucky he has Stéphane Dion as a hapless Opposition leader just as Dion is lucky he has Harper as a well-spoken but surly prime minister.

> Liberals. It was clear almost from December 2006, when he became Liberal leader, that Stéphane Dion had a lot to learn about being a retail politician. And the musings of an absent-minded professor type won’t cut it in politics.

The Liberals need a major policy conference like those held in Aylmer, Que. in 1992 or Kingston, Ont. in 1960 to sort out where they stand now that their 12-year dynasty is history. As with the Conservatives, the public hasn’t a clue where the Liberals stand on anything. That’s the trouble with a protracted civil war inside a political party — it forgets what it is supposed to do for the voting public.

Recently, Dion has started to replace party loyalists in his office with seasoned professional talent. That’s a good start. Dion’s geekiness could be turned to advantage as a refreshing change provided he receives professional help.

> Not-So-New Democrats. At the end of the fall sitting, the Commons health committee tabled a report on how excessive bureaucracy is keeping advanced drugs away from ordinary Canadians. Yet, not one member from the NDP was present at the news conference when the report was released. Instead, the NDP had a full squad at the committee hearing testimony from Karlheinz Schreiber.

After two embarrassing apologies this fall for false accusations, Canadians have started to wonder if the NDP is anything beyond a bunch of professional scolds. A look at the party’s Web site shows that its policy hasn’t changed much since 1961. Does anyone in the NDP caucus believe in anything?

@page_break@> Bloc Québécois And Greens. When the TSX Group Inc. announced its merger with the Montreal Exchange Inc. , some separatists must have wondered how Quebec could become a country without capital markets of its own. Yet, there was barely a word of objection from the Bloc Québécois. So, if the Bloc no longer believes separatism is viable, why are they in Ottawa? As for the Greens, it would be nice to hear from them between elections.

> Press Gallery. Like the political class, the parliamentary media seem to have forgotten for whom they are working. As a result, they deserve some of the blame for the public’s disillusionment with politics. Reducing politics and government to a horse race instead of examining issues doesn’t serve Canadians. IE