This and That

First off, having a review as to whether we should have an inquiry seems a copout to me. I hope they look into it. A year-long circus with Jean Pelletier as chief prosecutor is unlikely, because Stephen Harper seems to have some form of intelligence.

The whole “this thing that happened 14 years ago needs to be investigated now” line wont work, no matter how hard the NDP and the Liberals try to force that line on the public.

Another thing I enjoy is the sudden approach by the NDP and the Tories that we should listen to what the people have to say and see how credible they are in order to avoid sensational comments. Hopefully everybody is as reliable as Miriam Bedard and Jean Brault…

On Saskatchewan, I wonder if anybody will look into the effect that Jack Layton had on the NDP’s fortunes and Stephen Harper had on the Sask Party’s results. Liberals lost a third of their vote as well. I am not saying it has everything to do with the results…but maybe someone should look into that.

The Liberal track record on tackling poverty isn’t stellar but it is not terrible. (it should be noted poverty rates did go down in the last 10 years, but some would say not enough)

At a minimum, many social programs were decimated as a result of the transfers being slashed in the mid-90s by Paul Martin. I think if the Liberals want to gain any traction on the plan they recently announced, they need to explain their role is helping create some of the poverty, why that was not good, and how they will work to fix some of the mess they created. All they need to say is "we tried the Conservative policy, we know it doesnt work". The deathbed green conversion didn't work. Why do people think a deathbed poverty conversion will?

Dion needs to answer the simple question: why didn’t the Liberals fix this in 2000 with 4 years in power ahead of them and a 17 billion dollar surplus…did they not know it was a problem, or are they only taking it seriously now that they are in opposition?

It’s a valid question…