Author: Stephen Taylor

As Paul Martin dyspeptically delays and attempts to manipulate the election date to his own advantage, the latest pre-writ poll indicates that the Grits are headed into a minority government. We’ve heard of this news before, but this time the numbers have a special significance. The Liberal Party of Canada has shown a trend of dropping in support as election campaigns progress. Indeed, Paul Martin may wish that those 36 days, outlined in the law, could be shortened to perhaps one week.

The campaign will not serve Paul Martin well to allow him to stake his own ground and tell voters why he’s not the Liberal Party of Canada while telling them at the same time that he is the Liberal Party of Canada. New Coke was a marketing flop, yet unlike the drink, Paul Martin will have the same bad taste if he reverts to his classic Liberal brand.

The Liberals are at 39% of decided voters, while the Conservatives have narrowed the gap as their party stands at 31 percent. The NDP is at 17%. The Liberals are feeling pressure from their ideological constituents on the left and on the right as the NDP has become more mainstream and as the Conservative Party of Canada has become the moderate and accountable voice of the centre-right .

It may be that the Liberal Party can only sell itself to the Canadian public as “The Government”: We’re what you know. Fear what you don’t. Elections aren’t won this way. Rather this tactic is one that loses. The latest slate of attack ads produced by the Liberal Party show signs of desperation (they’re starting to think they actually might be losing).

If the Paul Martin can tell Canadians why his Liberal Party deserves another term as our federal government instead of telling us why the Conservative Party does not, then they just may form another majority. However, as the CBC’s Larry Zolf writes, Canadians are more likely to point out that the emperor has no clothes.

The first shots of the web campaign were fired today and it was quid pro quo as both the Liberals and the Conservatives seemed to have played off of each other with perfect timing. The Liberal Party of Canada released the website stephenharpersaid.ca while the Conservatives released the website teammartinsaid.ca.

The Conservative website, featuring many quotes of Paul Martin’s Liberal crew, is much more detailed and damning than the effort put forth by the Liberals. The Liberal website features five main quotes of Stephen Harper ranging from the firewalls remark to remarks in support of our troops and in support of our allies.

TeamMartinSaid.ca includes quotes from all of the key election issues such as health care, the UN and the Iraq war.

“Team Martin” will find it difficult to attack the Conservative Party with this quote attributed to Stephen Harper “we support the war effort and believe we should be supporting our troops and our allies and be there with them doing everything necessary to win” when the David Pratt, the Liberal defence minister, was pro-war saying “I think it’s unfortunate that this is the first time where the Australians and the British and the Americans have been involved in a conflict that we haven’t as Canadians. That’s something of a precedent.” and if it couldn’t have been any clearer:

“Should the United Nations fail to accept its responsibility and enforce its resolutions, I believe that this country working with our traditional allies, the United States, Great Britain, Australia and others, should, indeed must, keep its options open in terms of participating in a coalition of like-minded countries to disarm the regime.” — David Pratt, current Liberal minister of defence

One of the more shocking quotes came from Pierre Pettigrew, the current Minister of Health on the issue of Québec after the 1995 referendum:

“I believe in the territorial integrity of Canada and of Quebec, but if Quebec becomes independent, I will then be a Quebecer.” — Pierre Pettigrew

Today is likely the last day of the 37th Parliament and Paul Martin is expected to call an election during the Victoria Day weekend for a June 28th election. Some MPs will not be running for re-election and among them is the Right Honourable Joe Clark.

The former Tory Prime Minister is a man who has always stuck to his principles, and to him, he believed that governing properly should supersede that tricky game that parties play called partisanship.

Regardless of his status as an independent parliamentarian, Joe Clark always spoke his mind and has done so with an enviable degree of eloquence. The 2000 debates, I remember, allowed the electorate to see the stark contrast between Mr. Clark and former prime minister Jean Chrétien for this very quality. Yet, statesman he was, effective leader he was not. Clark, with his stubborn focus on his ideas (the right ideas in his opinion) never allowed him to effectively maintain a coalition of opinions. A party with a narrow and refined vision was the only party that Mr. Clark could comfortably lead and therefore he could never effectively and comfortably attain steady leadership on the governing side of the House of Commons.