Stephen Harper’s fifth anniversary as PM coming up, and Liberals just don’t know what to get him
In the Toronto Sun, Warren Kinsella notes that this coming Sunday will be the fifth anniversary of Paul Martin’s defeat in the House of Commons—the one that triggered the election Martin lost and that put Stephen Harper in power. Wikipedia suggests that the traditional thing to do would be for the Liberals to give Harper wood—it really does—but that is unlikely on a number of levels. Instead, they’re probably going to give Harper what he really wants: a little more time consumed with Liberal backbiting.
Kinsella leads off with a three-point lesson in the traditional Grit fratricide:
After half a decade, it seems Liberals still haven’t settled on an issue that clearly distinguishes them from their main rivals.
The economy? Liberals would have spent the recession stimulus faster, but not so differently. Health care? Both parties employ a lot of the same rhetoric.
Afghanistan? After last week—and thanks to Bob Rae’s Chamberlain- like capitulation—that issue is lost, too.
Far be it from us to disagree with the towering political mind that helped bring us Rocco Rossi’s mobster-themed ads, but perhaps Perhaps the Liberal Party’s problems on Afghanistan aren’t all the fault of a former NDP premier of Ontario. Maybe the guy who wrote this in 2003 has something to do with it, too. Whatever happened to that guy, Michael Ignatieff?
Susan Delacourt adds fuel to the fire on her blog for the Toronto Star, saying (among other things) that the Liberals suffer because they’re never happy with the leader they’ve got. Lawrence Martin does his part, too, speculating that all their troubles began when the Liberals won big in 1993. Nobody can deny that for the Grits, it’s all been downhill from there.
• Liberals lack strategy [Toronto Sun] • The Liberals’ woes [Toronto Star] • The 1993 election changed everything [Globe and Mail]
UPDATE: As noted in our comment section below, Warren Kinsella had nothing to do with the Rocco Rossi mobster-themed ads. The Informer regrets the error.
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