Martin Attempts to Rally

Earlier this week, Canadians were treated to the sight of Paul Martin asking for the time to wait for the Gomery Inquiry to complete its report this fall before an election.

I must confess to some mixed feelings on the matter. I am quite disgusted with the obvious corruption that riddled the upper echelons of the Liberal party at that time - some of it at least borderline criminal in severity.

On the other hand, one thing that has become quite clear to me lately is that Paul Martin wasn't the man at the helm at the time, and Jean Chretien appears to have done his level best to exclude Martin from a lot of things. The vagaries of party politics and name meant that Chretien had to give Martin a fairly prominent post in the cabinet; it did not mean that he had to involve Martin in his pet projects.

A serious criticism of the Chretien government was the concentration of political power in the Prime Minister's Office ("the PMO"). Legitimately, I think much of what went on under the Sponsorship Program was done without any real knowledge on Martin's part.

The Opposition Parties are salivating at the notion of a spring election - seeing Liberal fortunes in the polls fall to lows not seen since the days before Mulroney's election.

This voter is unconvinced that any of the Opposition Leaders is anywhere near ready to lead this nation.

I had high hopes for Jack Layton, and he may yet grow into the role, but his antics during the last election don't leave me feeling overly optimistic. He's persistent and consistent in his positions, which I admire, but his theatrics are over the top, and lose credibility very quickly.

Gilles Duceppe, for all that he is well spoken, simply should never be at the helm of this country. He represents a vision of Canada that I think few really believe in - a Canada without Quebec. I am not a Quebecer, but I believe that both of Canada's infamous "two solitudes" are the richer for their association with one another.

As for Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, he is a man at the helm of a party that I simply do not trust. The howls of "a debt owed" by people like the Byfields make me suspect that the religious wing-nut faction of the party is still a major influence in the back rooms; their fiscal arithmetic last election was laughably bad.

I am old enough to appreciate just how awful Brian Mulroney was as Prime Minister of this country; Harper worships at Mulroney's altar - hardly a sign of something that makes me hopeful. Harper has been pretty clear that he would cowtow to American policy demands, turning us effectively into a vassal state to US paranoia and aggression. It was the latter years of Mulroney's era that bought us the debt and deficit that the Liberals spent the 1990s erasing.

I think the Liberals need a good, solid, spanking at the polls - but none of the mainstream parties have my confidence either in their policies or leaders. Martin doesn't strike me as a bad man, nor do I believe that he was a major player in the rot that pervaded Chretien's inner circles.

Perhaps I shall vote Green - their policies are surprisingly mature looking - relatively middle-ground and generally moderate (I'm not so sure that making policy that is environmentally sensitive is a bad idea right now - big business is fighting Kyoto tooth and nail, and I'm just not convinced that there is good reason to do so). I don't know their leader, but maybe its time to consider alternatives that are outside of the current parliament - especially if the slavering idiots in the opposition trigger an election before the Gomery report comes out.

(BTW - even though Gomery is a judge, he is not hearing a trial right now - so his report is unlikely to be the end of the saga, but it should give Canadians a reasonably clear overall picture)