© PerryInk, Kelowna Daily Courier.

For insight into Stephen Harper’s policies, as well as important 2004 federal election news events, click on VanRamblings’ full Decision Canada coverage.

He we are at the end of Day 11 of the federal election campaign, as the Natural Governing Party seems to have fortuitously reversed their calimitous slide in popular support among Canadians, and all is well once again in the universe.
Ian Welsh, at Tilting at Windmills, suggests that the Liberals should build on their newfound momentum by running on the Liberal record. Yes, you read right. And, it’s a damn fine idea, too.
Here’s an extended, edited, excerpt of Welsh’s column …

You’ve got a good record on the most important issue. The Economy. The U.S. just went through a recession. During the same period the Canadian economy added two million jobs. If that’s happened in living memory I’m not aware of it. You were the Finance Minister who set up the fundamentals that made it happen. Tell people that. Let’s run through this point by point.

• Talk up the good parts of the Liberal record, especially the economy.
• While doing so, talk about the pain of paying down the deficit you inherited from the Conservatives.
• Talk about the 2 million jobs gained due to having the lowest corporate taxes and lowest cost of business in the OECD.
• Mention that again, and inquire why Harper wants even lower corporate taxes?
• Talk about Iraq. Canadians are bloody grateful that Canada isn’t involved in that mess. Harper would have taken Canada in.
• Mention that you stand by the right to abortion. See above for why this won’t hurt you.
• Mention how much you love Bilingualism and how it is a Liberal policy you’d never abandon.
• Talk about foreign affairs and trade policy. You seem to love this stuff — talk about it. You may think people don’t care, but they do (see the point on Iraq above). It’s a federal responsbility and the fact that you’re good at it will come through.

To summarize: Act like you’re a Liberal and proud of it. Highlight the differences between you and Harper. Don’t do that by attacking him personally, do it by talking about things like abortion, bilingualism, deficts and so on in a way that implies that your opposition is against all these things. Run against Mike Harris and Ralph Klein. People will understand what you’re saying.

Let’s hope someone at Liberal party headquarters surfs to Welsh’s blog.
In continuing coverage of the election, Ian King — over at Vancouver Scrum — points VanRamblings towards a thought-provoking article by the Toronto Star’s Tonda MacCharles, who puts Stephen Harper’s recently-announced law-and-order platform through a reality check. The reality, she suggests, is that the Conservatives’ “lock-and-key policy means Canadians would pay a hefty price, both in individual rights recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada, and in sheer dollars and cents.”
On Thursday, the Liberals will announce a $5-billion promise to create 300,000 licensed child-care spaces. A major plank in their election platform, the Liberals plan — called the Foundations Program — will adopt Québéc’s $7-a-day daycare scheme as a model for the rest of the country.
Writing in today’s Calgary Herald, columnist Don Martin says that in spite of early problems for the Liberal campaign, it’s a bit early to engage in a death-watch for Paul Martin and the Liberal Party. In the coming days, he writes, journalists will focus on how Stephen Harper would govern. And that can only help the cause of both the Liberals and the New Democrats.
For insight into Stephen Harper’s policies, as well as important 2004 federal election news events, click on VanRamblings’ full Decision Canada coverage.

Election tracking: CPAC-SES Poll, June 2, 2004.

EKOS, Leger, Ipsos-Reid, Compas and Environics can say what they will, but when it comes to daily election tracking, VanRamblings tends to turn first to the overnight CPAC-SES results for the most authoritative results.
Okay, okay — maybe we’re a tad (a tad! — ed.) prejudiced against the prospects of a Conservative government, and CPAC-SES has tended, throughout, to publish results favouring the Liberals and the NDP.
And yes, one supposes, we are not entirely unthrilled that the Liberals are eight glorious points in front of the damnable Conservatives, as reflected in the CPAC-SES poll results published today. Of course, as you might well expect, VanRamblings is also more than a little bit over the moon that the New Democrats continue to gain the support of Canadians, and today find themselves up a full point in support — to 19% — since the outset of the election campaign only 11 short days ago.
To be fair to CPAC-SES — in respect of the equanimity and professional they bring to the arduous task of election tracking — VanRamblings will quote President & CEO of SES Research, Nikita James Nanos. From his e-mail today, Mr. Nanos writes, “CPAC-SES polling was the first to show the Liberal-Conservative gap narrowing (LP 34, CP 31) last Saturday. New Liberal campaign tactics seem to be working (though).”
In the current poll results scenario, Martin taking shots at Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty is good for federal Liberal support, even if both Liberal leaders seem to have changed their tune since both the CPAC-SES and EKOS polls — above and below — were taken.
At least as of last night, support for the Liberals has indeed picked up, and momentum would once again appear to be on their side.
As Globe and Mail columist John Barber writes today, “Now that overeager pundits are busy assigning seats in the cabinet of prime minister Stephen (Firewall) Harper, it’s time for Her Majesty’s Loyal Torontonians to play their now-customary role in federal politics. That would be to get scared and rush back into the arms of the Liberal Party.”
Such would seem to be the case. Good for Torontonians. Good for us.

EKOS polling results, June 2, 2004.

For insight into Stephen Harper’s policies, as well as important 2004 federal election news events, click on VanRamblings’ full Decision Canada coverage.

copyright John Maclennan, at rabble.ca

For insight into Stephen Harper’s policies, as well as important 2004 federal election news events, click on VanRamblings’ full Decision Canada coverage.