- Saw this article in the Globe and Mail today. The Conservatives (read: Stephen Harper) are now asking Canadians to give them a majority in the next election, because otherwise Canada will have to endure a Liberal minority or – horrors! – a Liberal-NDP coalition! Good on the Tories for being up front with their desires (and I’m not the only one to think so), but these scare tactics alone will not win them any more support. Many Canadians, especially in Ontario’s Rust Belt, think the government has too rosy a view of the economy, and there’s still the sense (especially with urban and suburban voters) that the Tories are still too socially conservative to be trusted with the power of a majority. Never mind that voters, I think, aren’t tired of minorities per se, but of the brinksmanship and petty power struggles we’ve seen in the last two or three Parliaments.
- Speaking of Harper needing to think things through better, here’s an interesting Toronto Star column about his famous mistrust of the press. Even many fellow conservatives (big C and little c) disagree with the Prime Minister’s virtual embargo of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. Reporters (as opposed to editors or, ahem, publishers) try to report on people and events as fairly and accurately as possible because if they don’t they’re looking for a new career. Besides, if you hide from reporters, they may think it’s because you have something to hide.
- It seems Health Minister Mary Schryer spent her summer vacation studying flightless birds, because she’s doing a very good job of acting like an ostrich. Schryer’s article doesn’t address the biggest reason why the provincial medical society has declared the province physician unfriendly – the doctors’ total lack of trust in the government, as symbolised by the pound-foolish (and court challenged) wage freeze former Health Minister Mike Murphy pushed through in June. Unless Schryer extends a real olive branch towards doctors, they’ll continue to see this government as an obstruction rather than a partner.
- And finally, the non-sequitor:
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