It’s been interesting these past few weeks watching Stephen Harper try to bait the Liberals into triggering an election, watching the Liberals dance around these land mines, reportedly losing credibility as they go, and then watching the media reaction.
The media are clearly buying and perpetuating the premise that the Liberals are weak, that they are not ready for an election, that they have leadership issues, and that they are using the excuse that “Canadians do not want an election” to justify their current actions. The NDP are yelling that the Liberals either need to act as the opposition or get out of the way. The Bloc want an election before the Conservatives make any more headway in Quebec. For our part, the Green Party wants an election as soon as possible so we can get past the political gamesmanship and back to discussing policy on key issues. And the Conservatives just laugh, thinking they’ll get the election they want soon or until then they can act as a majority without fear of reprisal.
Meanwhile, every campaign for every party is gearing up, getting ready for the writ at any time in the next 6 months, and every columnist and blogger is speculating about what it will take to push Dion too far. The Toronto Star today asked, “Is there a line across which Harper cannot go without the Liberals bringing down this government?”
All of this seems to paint the Liberals as divided, inept, incompetent, cash strapped, and directionless.
It’s such a pervasive opinion that, of course, it got me thinking about whether it was true. Or is there another way to see this?
Consider the possibility that Stéphane Dion has a strategy up his sleeve with all of this and if so, what is it?
It could be that the Liberals are content to buy time, patiently holding the door open for the Conservatives to confidently walk through, leading the Conservatives to keep upping the ante in an effort to find Dion’s line in the sand, and laying out stronger and stronger land mines in an increasing effort to goad the Liberal leader into triggering an election.
The fact is, while the media are busy lambasting the Liberals for abstaining from votes, they are also busy criticizing the Conservative policies from which the Liberals are abstaining. Newspaper editorials, magazines, and even entire TV newscasts, while tearing Stéphane Dion a new one for not bringing down the government, are justifying their case of why he should by thoroughly analyzing the effect of Conservative policies and telling us why these are bad for large swaths of Canadian citizens.
Consider the possibility that the Liberals are letting Stephen Harper paint himself into a corner with bad policy and then will come out swinging with a campaign team that is fully behind their leader, and a stack of media coverage about how poorly the Conservatives have been governing.
Everyone agrees the Liberals are short on cash. But even if they weren’t, they couldn’t buy media half as effective as this.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I don’t think this argument holds given the recent mini-budget. The bulk of the tax cuts (almost 60%) are focused on a GST reduction. This is a significant problem if the Dion really wants to ramp up spending on the environment, infrastructure and econmic development. It will be very difficult to roll back the tax deductions once they’re in place.
At some point (and many feel we’ve reached that point) the Harper cabal might as well have a majority if they’re going to be allowed to continue down this path. I’m one of those.
Why would Stephen Harper bait the Liberals when he in nowhere near majority territory? He is doing it to ram his agenda thru parliament knowing full well the Liberals are not in a position to stop him.
PMSH would bait the Liberals now because he knows that he will not be in a better position next spring due to an economic slowdown and having given the Liberals that much more time. –Glenn
BTW Glenn, does the Green Party support Bill C-303 – the “Daycare” Bill? I have been reading it and it really concerns me that:
1) It blatantly intrudes into provincial responsibility – education. It’s probably even illegal.
2) Some parents who may not opt to use the public system may see their taxes rise (which is inherently unfair)
I haven’t read Bill C-303 and I’m unsure right now of the official GPC position on it until I can reach someone in the party. So I can’t really comment on your first point. Perhaps you could shoot me a link to the text of the Bill?
On your second point, this could be said of any social service. Anyone who is healthy and doesn’t make their fair share of use of the health care system still pays taxes to support it. Anyone who has never been unemployed and has never claimed EI still pays the premiums. Anyone who does not drive still pays taxes for highways. Anyone without children still pays taxes for public schools.
The proper test is whether a program or a social service provides a public good that goes above and beyond the needs of the individuals who happen to be utilizing that service.
As much as I’m against programs which serve to “encourage” population grown (I think there are economic consequences to having children and people should factor that into their decision), there is a public good that comes from a greater availability of an early childhood education system for those that need it.
From Vision Green, page 65, here’s our policy on Child Care…
Canadian families need access to affordable, high quality child care as an aspect of early childhood education. There are also clear benefits to maximizing time together for parents with young children. Canadians want a programme with flexibility. A cheque for $100/month does not begin to address these needs.
Our Vision
The Green Party believes we need a high-quality federally-funded universal child care program in Canada. Workplace child care has been shown to improve productivity, decrease employee absenteeism, ensure quality care for children (because parents can “drop in” at any time to see their young children), and permits longer breast-feeding of infants. Work-place child care spaces create other benefits, recognizing the emerging literature that children benefit enormously from time with their mothers, especially when very young.
The beneficent spiral of providing workplace child care also includes making it easier for many working Canadians to use mass transit. When parents and children are traveling to the same destination, the trip can often be made in less time on public transit, while parents are able to spend more time with children.
Green Solutions
Green Party MPs will:
–Glenn
Hi Glenn. Thanks for clarifying that for me. I hope that by”universal” the Green Party is not saying multi millionaires only have to be $7 a day for daycare. I think there should be an income means test for subsidies. Unlike other social programs which everyone will use at some point in their lives – like healthcare – not everyone would choose to use daycare or have kids for that matter.
I’m also glad the Green Party supports parents who choose to stay home with their kids and I assume that means they will be exempt from any tax increases for this program.