Category: Other

The National with Peter Mansbridge

Mansbridge: “Tonight! Day 11 of the unwanted election campaign. Some Canadians still say that they aren’t ready for this election. We’ll have reaction from Liberal communications director Scott Reid.”

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Reid: “Canadians have been forced to the polls early by Stephen Harper and they are weary of the Conservative hidden agenda on healthcare. Canadians know where Liberals stand on corruption and they know that Paul Martin is sorry. While our agenda on corruption is out in the open, thanks to the work of Judge Gomery, the Conservative agenda remains hidden.”

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Mansbridge: “Are Canadians weary of a potential Conservative majority? Will Canadians blame the resurgence of the Quebec sovereignty movement on the Harper government following the demise of the Liberal party in Quebec? We’ll have stock footage of Jean Chretien after the break.”

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Mansbridge: “Best buddies… How will a Conservative government align Canadians with the administration of George W. Bush? We go to Neil MacDonald in Washington to speculate on how Canada might find itself aligned with the United States, Israel and the Conservative new world order.”

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Mansbridge: “Tomorrow, we’ll have coverage of day 12 of the election that Canadians didn’t want at this time. Thanks for watching.”

Paul Martin is facing perhaps his most devastating setback yet: Bono is “annoyed” with the Liberal Prime Minister.

Paul Martin has previously drawn upon the powers of rock. He did so most notably during the Liberal convention of 2003 when Bono gave his blessing to the coronation of the new Prime Minister at the Liberal leadership convention.

But lately, Bono’s been upset at Martin inaction on the dedication of 0.7% of Canada’s GDP to foreign aid by 2015.

“It’s a time for real leadership” — Bono

Paul Martin is set to address the nation tonight in a rare Prime Ministerial address that is usually reserved for times of national crisis.

So, I have to ask… what is Paul Martin doing?

First of all, this doesn’t look good on his part. For those that watch politics this has the optics of an act of desperation. Prime Ministers have historically reserved national addresses for times of national crisis. Is the nation facing a crisis or is this ‘crisis’ and desperation merely the aspect of turnover of a corrupt government that has finally run its course? I’m not particularly more anxious about my personal well-being than I was, say, last fall. However, I am doing my taxes next week so perhaps I’m a little miffed at where some of those dollars have been going. But crisis? No Paul, this is your crisis, not ours.

Perhaps this is merely symptomatic of the Liberal mindset that the government is synonymous with the the Liberal Party, and by extension of their logic, with the people of Canada themselves.

So, what is Paul Martin doing? Will he attempt to set the tone for the upcoming inevitable election? Will he take a swipe at the Conservatives? Will he try and give birth to the election issue and name it ‘healthcare’?

If he does, it will fail. Canadians already know what the next election will be about and it’s not healthcare.

So, what is Paul Martin doing? He has already promised to get to the bottom of the Sponsorship Scandal. One year later and here we still are. Gomery got us closer to the bottom of the pork barrel, but we’re finding that Paul’s been waiting there all along. Will he claim success? This seems absurd.

He will stress that Gomery needs to finish his work. Testimony is set to wrap up soon and Martin asks that we await the judge’s verdict. Trouble for the Liberals is that we’re absolutely certain whom Gomery isn’t going to vote for in the next election. Indeed, we will all render our verdict upon the Liberal party soon enough, whether we’re “ready” or not.

Speaking of being “ready” for an election… that biased media question that crept into polls and became the main Liberal talking point for the past two weeks. Ah yes, we’re not “ready” for an election. I don’t know about you, but I’ll take the half hour out of my day to vote because I don’t require much mental preparation given what we’ve been learning from the Gomery commission. In fact, it’s the Liberals that aren’t ready to face the music and lose their grip on 12 years of power.

This “address” must have been planned for a while. So why do it on a Thursday? At 7:45pm? Is it really going to be that bad? While it’s best to release good news on a Tuesday before 4pm so that it can cycle through the rest of the week, bad news is usually released after 4pm on a Friday because Saturday, and indeed the weekend, commands the smallest of audiences in the news market. But this is a television address at 7:45pm on a Thursday. This timeslot commands the highest television audiences (on other networks). Yes, Paul Martin’s awkward address to the nation on CBC/Newsworld will be wedged between Joey, Survivor, the O.C. and C.S.I., the four most popular shows on television. If Paul Martin wanted people to watch his address, why is he starting it staggered between two television timeslots and during the Must See TV Power Hour? Is it really that bad? Or is this address merely a gesture so that people (who won’t watch it) will have the general feeling that he addressed the issues? Also, the PMO didn’t request mandatory time from the networks. He wouldn’t want to pull people away from the Immunity Challenge after all.

There is no press either to be present either. Therefore, this will be a carefully crafted message without scrutiny from the press.

So, what is Paul Martin doing? Is he trying to take control of the message from the news media as the PMO claims? Or is he trying to appear to be in control while hiding out on Newsworld and CPAC while Canadians watch Survivor?

This is not a Prime Ministerial address. This is a muted act of desperation veiled by an image of control.