Dion Leads, Harper Lags

Over the past few months and in this campaign, Harper has had many chances to show himself to be a “strong leader”, but time and again he has failed. Instead, despite the media narrative, it has been has been Stéphane Dion who has stepped in to fill the void and act as a Canadian Prime Minister should….

- Dion was the first to release the costing of his environmental platform and spell out what it would cost Canadians and what it would achieve. Still waiting for Harper to do the same….

- Dion has put forward a plan endorsed by environmentalists and economists. Meanwhile, environmentalists are ashamed of Jack Layton and surely economists are appalled by Stephen Harper.

- Dion was the first to call for an inquiry into the Mulroney-Shreiber affair. Harper railed against the idea before caving (but of course shows real leadership by stalling the inquiry until after the election).

- Dion led in Montreal to establish a 182 country consensus on post-Kyoto framework. Stephen Harper and John Baird instead obstructed an over 100 country consensus at Bali and earned us condemnations across the globe.

- Dion called for Maxime Bernier’s resignation as Foreign Affairs minister for months. Harper relented only after a dozen more embarrassments.

- Dion was the first to call for a public independent inquiry into the listeriosis outbreak. Harper still insists on a private closed door one and staunchly defends his incompetent and horribly insensitive Agriculture minister despite calls from numerous scientists and food safety representatives for strong action.

- Dion was the first to raise the troubling practices of the Conservatives relating to the In and Out scandal. Harper has stonewalled at every turn trying to prevent Canadians from having all the answers.

- Dion was the first party leader to call for the repatriation and a fair trial for Omar Khadr (as every other western leader has done for its citizens), while Harper stands essentially alone in the world in his belief that Guantanomo Bay is a place where 'justice can run its course" (not even McCain and Obama believe this).

- Dion was the first to come out in favour of having Elizabeth May in the leader’s debates. Harper waited till he stood alone before caving.

- Dion was the first to call for a Commissioner for Gender Equality and his party has fielded the highest percentage of female candidates (36.7%) in this election. Harper is dead last in his commitment to women’s issues and giving an equal voice and equal representation in the House of Commons.

- Dion has proposed economic solutions to get our economy rolling again, while Harper offers no plan and says only "don't worry, be happy" when more and more experts are saying Canada has serious troubles ahead that need to be tackled.

- Dion has stood firm in casting out any candidate who have run counter to basic Liberal party principles. Neither Jack Layton nor Stephen Harper can say the same. Or do these candidates they are hanging on to actually reflect their party’s principles?

- Dion was the first major party leader to release his full platform and its costing in this election and economists, environmentalists and numerous stakeholders from across the spectrum (cities, infrastructure, education, crime, farming) have endorsed the numbers and the plans. Harper may not even have a platform, let alone a costed one. When Stockwell Day was asked for the costing of some of their proposals his response was “Doing the math on these things isn't easy.” That’s the steady hand for our economy? That’s Conservative leadership?

With Canada’s economy in trouble, our standing on the world stage never worse, and a climate crisis worsening we need a Prime Minister who leads, not lags.

A Prime Minister who would govern with convictions and purpose, not through focus groups and polls.

A Prime Minister who leads a team ready to do the heavy lifting of running a government along with him, not a one-man show.

A Prime Minister who promises serious solutions, not pie in the sky ideas that aren’t affordable and won’t work.

A Prime Minister who has a plan for the next 10 years, not just until October 14th.

Canadians deserve a lot better than the Prime Minister we have now and only Stéphane Dion is ready and able to take his place.

We just have got to be reminding Canadians who the real leader is in this race and who is the one that is obviously most prepared to get down to work on tackling this country’s challenges after all the votes are counted.

For all the talk of the media the fact remains that a large majority of Canadians do not want Stephen Harper as their next Prime Minister. I hope that majority can work to see we don’t still end up with him on October 14th, but Liberals need to keep working to ensure that more and more Canadians see over the last half of this campaign that Stéphane Dion would be a Prime Minister we could all be proud of.

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The Liberal Platform: An Action Plan for the 21st Century

I think Liberals had a lot to be proud of today with the release of the platform. The lack of Conservative response says it all. It's balanced, responsible and takes on the issues our government needs to be tackling TODAY (see here for the costing). Today Canadians have seen just how a Liberal government would compare to a Conservative government.

On Productivity:
- A Liberal government offers Canadians the LOWEST income taxes
- A Liberal government offers the LOWEST corporate taxes
- A Liberal government offers the STRONGEST plan to tackle the infrastructure deficit, help our manufacturing sector, strengthen our post-secondary education system and access for students, and foster greater R&D to bring about the ideas and technologies of the future
- A Liberal government offers the MOST support to families and the ONLY real plan to create child care spaces so parents have more freedom to fulfill their highest potential in the work force
- A Liberal government would recognize the contribution arts and culture make to our economy and support them as they should as opposed to Conservatives who seem to have an ideological loathing of them instead
- A Liberal government would finance its commitments with methods most supported by all major economists: by putting a price on pollution and finding efficiencies as past Liberal governments have done with great success.
- A Liberal government would be the MOST committed to balanced budgets by re-establishing the $3 Billion contingency fund Jim Flaherty did away with. Conservatives are prepared to bring us into deficit, in fact we may already be there. If it turns out Flaherty and Harper are lying about the nation’s finances, Liberals will phase in their promises only based on what’s available, as any prudent government should.

On Social Justice:
- A Liberal government would take on the shame of poverty with realistic goals and a comprehensive plan. You’d be like to ever hear the word poverty mentioned by Stephen Harper once this election.
- A Liberal government would take the health care crisis seriously and actually make progress in decreasing wait times by creating incentives to have more doctors and nurses, while ensuring Canadians needing catastrophic drug coverage aren’t out in the cold
- A Liberal government would fix the backlog in our immigration system and help ensure they succeed, without having to pick favourites and treat them like economic units
- A Liberal government would buid a STRONGER relationship with our Aboriginal Peoples, do more to lift them out of poverty and settle land calims along with holding a First Ministers Conference on Aboriginal issues within 6 months of assuming office and bringing back the Kelowna Accords

On the Environment:
- A Liberal government will cut income and corporate taxes and it shift to pollution as all major economists and environmentalists recommend. The Conservatives plan has been panned by everyone and at the same time Harper is afraid to reveal its real costs.
- A Liberal government would do the most to help Canadians go Green in their homes (through financial support and Green mortgages)
- A Liberal government would do the most to protect our natural resources and natural parks
- A Liberal government would take greater efforts to ensure we have cleaner air, continued fresh water supply and safe food

On the World Stage:
- A Liberal government would stand up for Canadian's rights EVERYWHERE, no exceptions.
- A Liberal government would restore our reputation as a leading voice on human rights
- A Liberal government would restore our place as active middle power in the world so we can make a real difference in major international initiatives again
- A Liberal government would take foreign aid seriously again and strongly ramp up our efforts to be in line with other developed countries.

The Conservatives have no strategy for the years ahead, they don’t understand the economy – they think all the country’s problems can be solved with tax credits and neglect investing in the areas most important to our future productivity – post-secondary education, child care, and research and innovation. Meanwhile while they’ve been moaning about the costs about the Green Shift - the costs of their environmental plan remain hidden until after the election. So now the onus is on Stephen Harper. What’s his plan for the next 4 years? How will he revive the economy? Does he have anything to say about social justice? How will his environmental plan work and how much will it cost Canadians? How will he pay for his platform?

The Liberals have laid out their cards and showed they have a bold, but responsible plan for our country. I imagine Mr. Harper doesn’t have one or is scrambling now to make one up on the fly that at least holds a candle to the Liberal platform. Let Harper try to find a single economist or environmentalist willing to line up behind his plan.

For now though hopefully Canadians see that with a Liberal government Canada would be a world leader in economic productivity, environmental sustainability, protecting human rights, delivering foreign aid, and be a major player again in many of the world’s conflicts. With a Conservative government we would continually fall farther behind on all fronts and lose more and more capital on the world stage with each year. We don’t have to choose that path and I’m hopeful that come October 14th Canadians will choose the party best prepared to meet the challenges of the future.

See here, here, and here for some other Liberal views.

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