Modeling Journey

One of the major mysteries of Canadian politics in 2009 is how the leader of a minority government during a severe recession (which the government failed to anticipate, misgauged its severity, and was very slow to respond to), and of a right wing party (impoverished with respect to any major policy initiatives and content to bask in the glory of being the government), should be able to dictate to the major opposition party how that party should conduct its affairs.

Take this for example:

"Some of Mr. Ignatieff's own advisers admit he has yet to offer a clear, defined political identity to grab them.

“They don't know who this guy is, and what he stands for,” said one, who only spoke on the condition that he not be named.

Most Liberals are wary of filling the gap by putting out detailed policy platforms, fearing it will make the same kind of target that Mr. Dion's Green Shift plan did, when it was released months before the campaign.

But they also fear Mr. Ignatieff hasn't given tentative voters any sense of his identity, and how it differs from Mr. Harper's."

Let's pay particular attention to these words (very similar to the utterances of many an unnamed 'Liberal advisor' over the past few months, and of many a Liberal blogger): "fearing it will make the same kind of target that Mr. Dion's Green Shift plan did."

Why not announce to voters what your party stands for? Because you fear that Stephen Harper will trash your policy?

Take a step back and ask yourself this simple question: What kind of a message does this political cowardice spell out to voters?

And ask yourself if you can think of any leader of any significant party in the Western nations who would harbour the same fears and decline to let their voters know what they and their party stands for?

Could you imagine De Gaulle giving this as a reason for not having a policy laid before voters? Or Tony Blair? Or Pierre Elliot Trudeau? Or Winston Churchill?

Perhaps the Iron Lady might have hidden her policies out of fear? Not so: Maggie Thatcher never shirked from letting voters know at all times what she stood for.

How about Ronald Reagan? Do you seriously think that 'The Great Communicator' would shelter in fear of the Democrats and never reveal his policies until the very last minute?

Take President Obama. Did he fear the Republicans so much that he hid his policies from them during the many years of campaigning prior to the presidential election?

One cannot even think that the failed president, Gorge W. Bush, would have so much fear of the ability of his opponents to trash his policies that he would keep them hidden until the very last minute.

So what does this craven excuse for not providing Canadians with a set of policies to help them decide whether to support the Liberals rather than the Tories or the Dippers or the Greens or the Bloc, tell us about the current leadership of the Liberal Party?

That Harper is deciding for them when they should announce their policies?

That they fear their policies will be such that Harper will be able to demolish them if they give him enough time?

That they won't be able to defend their policies against the attacks of the other parties?

Or does it also tell us that these leaders believe that voters should simply vote Liberal by default: that the Liberal Party should become the government simply because we exist? A type of automatic Liberal-by-default reaction which will sweep us to power?

Perhaps such an attitude, and the resultant lack of any reasons for voters to support the Liberal Party, lies behind the following worrying negative trend in the party's traditional edge amongst certain segments of the electorate:

"Mr. Ignatieff has returned the party's traditional core support levels – and revived it in Quebec – but the Strategic Counsel poll found they have lost the traditional edge among women, younger voters, and Canadians who live in cities and large towns, crucial to their hopes of victory. The NDP vote has remained firm."

Wouldn't it be nice if the current Liberal Party leadership team had the courage of their convictions, and gave voters reasons for selecting our party over all the others?