I was struck by one of the Labour billboards that has a certain Ms Boffa, a business process re-engineering consultant, telling us that Malta needs a change in direction. Business process re-engineering consultants are usually engaged when a company needs to fundamentally rethink its operations and dramatically improve its state of affairs.

My question to Labour is what exactly are you going to change?

The European Union is saying that our economy is one of the very best performing economies in the eurozone. How and why is Labour going to fundamentally change our economic direction?

We had year after year of record tourism performances. What changes is Labour proposing in the tourism sector?

We are generating jobs and managing to keep unemployment at bay. What fundamental change is Labour proposing in our job creation strategy?

At the end of a long campaign, I have yet to understand how and what Labour, if elected, intends to change on these and other fronts.

They talk about change but I feel that few people have understood how a possible future Labour government will affect them personally and professionally.

Will things change for the better? Will we get beef like it says on the box or will we get horse? If this campaign is anything to go by I’d say that we will get horse.

With all their talk on positive campaigning, they engaged on one of the most negative campaigns I can remember.

They shudder every time we mention their shortcomings, feigning horror and disgust, yet miss no opportunity to deride the Nationalists as some sort of evil clique, bent on staying in power at all costs.

With Labour, unfortunately, what you see is not what you get, what they say is not what they mean.

This is not to say that we need a status quo. Anything but.

This country needs constant change. In the past two decades, we stayed ahead of the game because we continued to change.

We dropped unproductive industries and went for ventures that gave us higher returns. We changed our centralised, super–protected economy into an open, diversified economy where private initiative reigns supreme.

The day we stop changing is the day we start regressing. But we must continue to evolve rather go for unnecessary radical and fundamental upheavals.

We did not just change economically. Our society changed, becoming more liberal and open.

Nationalist governments gave a stronger voice to us citizens through pluralisation, the introduction of local government and European Union accession.

Meritocracy, another subject on Labour’s billboards, is not something one needs to aspire for. It exists. Labour’s claim to the contrary is an insult to all the Labour- leaning people who occupy top positions, even the highest positions, in public office; it is an affront to all those Labour supporters who secured a Government-funded scholarship to pursue their studies; it disrespects all those who under a Nationalist government entered the University and graduated without the need to seek a ‘sponsor’.

The wealth generated over the past 25 years did not go to the few or some small group of Nationalists.

We all worked to change Malta, and all of us – irrespective of our political creed – gained in the process. Life in Malta is not any different from life on the continent, if anything it is better.

So permit me for not being impressed at all by this talk of Malta Tagħna Lkoll (Malta For All), positive thinking and meritocracy.

Having said that, one has to acknowledge that political sentiments in Malta remain high.

So high that sometimes we do feel and act like a divided nation. This polarisation has some benefits – for instance, it generates a high voter turnout in elections – but it also has its downside.

Sometimes I wonder whether we spend more time debating style rather than substance. Sometimes I wonder whether we are wasting too much energy and resources in entrenching rather than in building bridges.

Political debate is not only necessary and healthy; it is a fundamental ingredient of democracy.

Having been brought up to believe and practise the politics of persuasion, I yearn for more, not less, political debate. But such debate has to be on bread and butter issues, on matters that impact our environment, on questions that have a bearing on future generations. In this sense, I do feel that there is a need to change the way we do politics in this country.

If we do not, there is a real risk of the electorate losing faith and respect towards the political class.

That would be certainly a change in the wrong direction.

Mario de Marco is Minister for Tourism, Culture and the Environment.