I don’t think the charmingly named ”Liberal Express”, a bus tour that has spent many kilometres traversing the hills and plains of Canada, has been a mistake. It’s normal for the opposition party to try and use down-time to increase their visibility in the media and the minds of Canadians. So when Michael Ignatieff embarked on his cross-country tour to meet and greet Canadians, I didn’t think it was a bad idea.
Since the Conservatives seem to disappear into cottage country and frontiers beyond during the summer months, the Liberal Party have had an opportunity to capitalize on the lull in messaging from the big blue machine. But what kind of message have they been getting out? Have the Liberals finally expanded upon their oft-touted plans to balance the budget while simultaneously continuing stimulus spending? Did they explain the fiscal logic behind their desire to erase the deficit while also rolling out a universal child care program?
Alas, we know that the off-season campaign trail is no time for clear answers. It’s much easier to hammer on the Conservative Party with ironic messages about how the government is creating a climate of fear, and then proceed to make frightening statements about how scary the Tories are.
For instance, on recent a stop in West Vancouver, Mr. Ignatieff said that Conservative politicians have tried to make the public “afraid of people you don’t even know.”
“Politicians should shut up and let these people do their job,” Mr. Ignatieff declared, adding “we must always be a haven in a heartless world.”
But it isn’t scary Conservatives who are making people afraid of Tamils. According to a Leger Marketing poll, 52% of self-identified NDP voters think the Tamil boat should have been turned away as it approached Canada. In fact, a majority of political supporters across the spectrum, except for the Liberals, believe that the Tamils should have been denied entry and escorted back to Sri Lanka by the Canadian navy. This includes 65 percent of Bloc Quebecois voters and 62 percent of Green voters.
Mr. Ignatieff also slammed the Conservatives for “smearing” civil servant Richard Colvin over the handling of Afghan detainees.
Ah yes, Richard Colvin, the darling of the Liberal Party. You’ll find plenty of Richard Colvin all over the Liberal website, touting him as some kind of whistleblowing hero over allegations of torture in Afghanistan.
But what you won’t find are the names Gavin Buchan and Major-General Timothy Grant, two men who gave testimony to the Parliamentary Committee for the mission in Afghanistan on April 28, that directly contradicted Richard Colvin. That’s because neither of those men provided the narrative of torture, war crimes, and rendition that has been the Liberals’ mantra for over a year now.
Following the war crimes card, Mr. Ignatieff played his other go-to suit by saying the Conservatives have ignored Omar Khadr in Guantanamo Bay. Which, of course, is only telling half of the story. Omar Khadr has been detained in Cuba for eight years now, four of them under Chretien-Martin governments. It’s disingenuous for Mr. Ignatieff to demand information on alleged torture which may or may not have taken place when the Liberals were in power. It’s equally disingenuous to inquire why the Conservatives haven’t demanded the repatriation of a “child soldier” who sat in detention for the first four years under the reigning Liberals.
The Liberals have been masters of making you “afraid of people you don’t even know” for over six years now, beating on the hidden agenda rug and making absurd statements that are quite easily refuted. And yet of the many opportunities where they might have a legitimate cause to attack — the deficit, the spending, the bureaucracy — there is but a whimper, with no answers or alternatives to offer.
So while the Liberal Express may not be a “flop”, as some in the media have termed it, there’s certainly nothing new to offer beyond a novelty bus tour and Mr. Ignatieff’s rare appearance outside of formal speaking events in academia. But hey, at least he’s out there selling himself and his party and not “MIA” as he was last summer. For the Liberal Party, this can actually be called an improvement.
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ignatieff/4791130586/
