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| THE MANY PLATITUDES OF PAUL - Wednesday, November 19, 2003 at 15:32 |
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PUBLICATION: The Toronto Sun ------------------------------------------------------------------------ What can fairly be said about Paul Martin in the three days since he was elected Liberal leader - fawning media coverage aside - is this: - Unsurprisingly, he gave a good acceptance speech last Friday night, one which he has basically been practising for most of his adult life. - He was, predictably, well received by rabid Liberals, who see him as their best bet for retaining their iron grip on Ottawa and our taxes. - He said little of substance in a speech loaded with platitudes. He was selling us hope but he could just as easily have been selling us soap. - Starting with his pre-Grey-Cup meeting with the premiers on Sunday, he has been paying lip service to the kind of federal-provincial co-operation which every PM and premier always talks about, and always fails to deliver. Lost in all this media euphoria is the fact Martin was finance minister while the feds were blowing billions of our tax dollars on the useless gun registry, the Human Resources Development Canada boondoggle, the Quebec advertising sponsorship fiasco and other disasters. Martin can't run away from that legacy, which he shares with his political nemesis Jean Chretien, even as he meets with the PM today to discuss when that title will be transferred to him. Once that's over, we'll want to hear a lot more from Martin than a rehash of the platitudes contained in his acceptance speech and his quickie policy book modestly called: Making History, The Politics of Achievement. In that, Martin tells us government must shorten wait times for surgery and deliver measurable results on health care. Stop the presses. Same goes for his motherhood rhetoric on balancing the books while combatting homelessness, ensuring dignity for seniors, encouraging lifelong learning, forging a new deal with cities and patching up Canada's rocky relations with the U.S. while pursuing an independent course in the world. Plus, MPs must be given more power to represent constituents. Yes, yes, yes. And no doubt they should all keep the law of the wolf cub pack as well. Laughably, on page 12 of his policy document, comes the punchline. Martin informs us, "I am committed to establishing an independent ethic commissioner who reports to the House of Commons." Right. Well, let's just hope he's more committed to it than Chretien was when he first made that promise in 1993 in his election Red Book and then promptly broke it. Liberals! Who do they think they're kidding? |