Monday, March 29, 2004

WHERE IS MARTIN RUNNING TO?

Last October I linked to this picture which prompted me to comment on how Chretien was the last of Trudeau's men. At the time I inferred (as most others did) that PM PM would attempt to distance himself from the old regime as much as possible and that with his ascension there would be a major changing of the political guard in the Liberal Party and Ottawa. I worried that this would be a break from traditions and policies that Canadians had come to recognize as their own but I held out hope that Martin would be able to re-invigorate the Liberal government. More and more the former is proving to be the case.

Today Paul Wells reports that the word Liberal was entirely absent from the banners decorating the halls at the recent nomination meeting in St. Maurice (Chretien's old riding) and further that candidates were told not to mention the name of the former prime minister. Even more unbelievably, at the Ottawa South nomination (the one to replace John Manley) John Manley himself was forbidden from addressing the meeting and organizers were told not even to acknowledge his presence in the room.

This kind of behaviour on the part of Team Martin does not exhibit an attempt to forge a new path for the Liberal Party. It represents an attempt to deny the Liberal Party ever existed. Paul Martin does not relate to the tradition of those men pictured above. Sure those Prime Minsters brought us a huge national deficit, and Adscam among a few other low lights. But they also gave us peace-keepers, official bilingualism, a constitution, two referendum victories, the Clarity Act and the balancing of that budget deficit. Most notably, they won elections.

If Martin does not want to at least acknowledge this legacy, I don't want to support him.

Posted by Matthew @ 5:35 p.m.