I Wonder

If the Liberals keep giving the green light to Tory policies, when will the merger talks between the two parties begin? There are many advantages to such a merger as it would consolidate the centre right in this country once and for all (and would give them for the time being, a solid majority of popular support). It would also lead to an end to confusion for "progressive" voters, come election day.

Update:Jason Cherniak appears to agree that Liberals and Conservatives are moving closer together:

The Liberal answer? My suggestion would be to say that most of the tax cuts are the implementation of Liberal policy. We disagree with the GST cut, but minority Parliaments are about compromise. How can you vote against something where you agree with 95% of it? We should vote for it, take ownership and make it clear to the media that this is a combined effort by Liberals and Conservatives to lower taxes.

Meanwhile, we can hit the NDP and BQ over the head with the fact that they oppose tax cuts if they choose to take that route.

Update 2: Neil Reynolds is positively giddy at the dawning of the "Dion Flaherty Accord".

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Credit Card Conservatism

Well, the Tories are over the moon (although some are cautious) with the latest round of tax cuts. However, there was not a hint of cutting expenditures in this mini budget. Even a socialist like me knows you can only offer services if you have the money to do so. If the economy takes a sudden downturn and the money coming in is suddenly reduced, we could very easily be back into deficit spending and very quickly. So, enjoy the good times while you can (and the 10 or so extra bucks on your pay stub), because the Tories just took out our credit card and spent the wad. The don't-tax-but-spend party is in charge now. Meanwhile, Toronto is broke, the roads are falling apart and there still aren't any daycare spaces.

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Paul Wells Ponders

This afternoon:

Back in the mid-'00s, we used to enjoy a chuckle whenever the Paul Martin crew would come up with some extraordinarily contrived sideshow in an attempt to bury an embarrassing headline. But even that PMO would never have thought it could get away with announcing tax cuts on 24 hours' notice, simply to bury an auditor general's report.

I used to work at a newspaper that, if it spotted such a transparent dodge -- at least from a Liberal government -- would have buried the tax cut on Page 4 and monstered the AG report. But there is no newspaper left in Canada with that kind of self-confidence, is there?

Is there?

Well, let's see which is higher up on the web sites, the tax cuts or the Auditor General's Report? It looks like the MSM has swallowed the bait. The denizens of the PMO must be popping the corks right about now. BTW, it looks like the Star gets the prize for having the most obscure placement of the AG story.

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Poor Dion

Can't even get a date on his own. He is the "friend with the nice personality" who tags along because he has nowhere else to go. His candidate from Central Nova is making him look like a bigger loser than usual.

Update: Memo to Politque Vert. The NDP tried to work with the last Liberal government, but the Liberals weren't interested.

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Required Reading

Today's editorial from the Globe and Mail, about the government's (with an eager assist from the opposition) attempt to scapegoat Muslim women, who wear veils to the polling station.

This is a bill meant to appeal to a sentiment expressed vociferously in Quebec that Muslim women should not be voting from behind face veils. On the surface, the sentiment seems reasonable; a country should not weaken the integrity of the vote by allowing voters to conceal themselves. But look at the facts. Voters are not required to show photo identification, largely because many people do not have photo ID. Two pieces of government-issued ID approved by the Chief Electoral Officer are enough. Alternatively, a voter with ID may vouch for another voter without. Beyond all that, a voter may mail in her vote from abroad. Without photo ID, showing a face proves what? That the bearer has a face?

It is a good editorial but it misses the point. Making veiled women show their faces (even though this has never, ever been reported as a problem) proves who has the power in this society and who is second class.

Update: Others have started to come to the same conclusion. This whole farce is designed to do two things: Chase after the white sheet vote in Quebec (and other rustic areas of the country) and show Muslims who's boss. This is totally, totally disgusting and Layton should be standing on his head to oppose it. The fact that so far he is not, is a sad reflection of how visions of power (or at least official opposition status) is clouding the judgment of the NDP brain trust.

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Canada And Iran Not That Different

When it comes to arms sales transparency. Canada has not released any arms sales export figures since 2002 and has not tracked sales to the U.S. since the 1940's (and has no figures at all on third party sales from that location).

The prolonged silence by Ottawa has now become an international embarrassment, said Ken Epps of Project Ploughshares, an arms control watchdog and peace group founded by the Canadian Council of Churches.

Epps cited a recent report by the Small Arms Survey, a Geneva-based monitoring group, which dropped Canada's transparency rating on arms controls to just above that of Iran.

"Canada's rating is 11 on the scale out of 20 this year and the rating for Iran is 10.5," Epps said. "What does that say to you?"

It tells me there are some folks in our government who would be embarrassed if the information was made public.

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Daycare, Smaycare

If this doesn't get Greg Staples back to blogging and away from Facebook, I don't know what will. The Tories have stonewalled the release of the study done on the feasibility of company run daycare knowing, as everyone else in the world, that business isn't interested in providing daycare to workers. So, the sad fact is, the need for daycare spaces keeps growing. Who needs that kind of embarrassment? There is no mystery why the Tories have a problem appealing to women. You just have to follow the policies.

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