Has Paul Martin gone mad?

[chickenfeet]

Paul Martin heads a minority government. His party is mired in one of the stinkiest scandals of recent times. 74 of the 135 MPs in his caucus come from Ontario. Without Ontario to all intents and purposes the liberal party of Canada ceases to exist as a viable entity. So what does Martin do? He goes out of his way to (metaphorically) kick Ontario in the goolies by doing an utterly indefensible deal to buy himself political capital in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, which will of course be paid for (as always) by taxpayers in Ontario and Alberta.

I wonder if he realises just how fragile Liberal support is in Ontario. At the last election I'm convinced that most Liberal voters in Ontario at the last general election voted that way out of sheer consternation at the alternatives. Frankly, at this point any kind of credible opposition party would wipe out the Liberals at the federal level. Either a secular conservative party (instead of one headed by a rabid religious nut) or a credible radical party (perhaps along the lines of the Lib Dems in the UK) would be pretty much unbeatable.

Comments

[klig.livejournal.com]

Where do the Liberals sit on the Canadian political spectrum?

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

On the fence, next to the pork barrel. They are essentially unprincipled centrists. They espouse whatever policies are most likely to get them re-elected.