Which came first, the Liberal
or NDP line on pensions?
Jane Taber
Michael Ignatieff stood up in Question Period Wednesday and sounded like Jack Layton.
“When will the Prime Minister stop lining up behind banks and insurance companies and start lining up behind middle class Canadian families who need security in retirement?” the Liberal Leader asked.
Mr. Ignatieff was on about pensions – an issue the NDP has also trumpeted. He was criticizing the Harper government for ignoring the issue for several years only to propose an option that he says will weaken the Canada Pension Plan.
And he continued sounding like the NDP Leader even when he asked the question in French.
It did not go unnoticed by New Democrats, or reporters. In fact, it sparked some pointed commentary:
“If you close your eyes and just listen to the translator, it really sounded like Jack,” an NDP staffer joked. “Or, if you want to know what the Liberals are saying just listen to what we said last week, last month, last year.”
The NDP accuse the Liberal Leader of being “Iggy-come-lately” to the issue: “We welcome the Liberals to the debate and hope they will also support the New Democrat plan to enhance the Canada Pension Plan,” said Karl Belanger, Mr. Layton’s spokesman.
More and more are Canadians seeing the Liberals and NDP jockeying on the same issues – corporate tax cuts also come to mind – as they fight for a bigger share of the Canadian electorate.
For the past few months, however, Mr. Ignatieff has been trying to characterize the next election as a choice between the Liberals and the Conservatives, dismissing a ballot case for the NDP as a protest vote.
So what about pensions?
“The NDP has zippo to do with it,” a senior Ignatieff official told The Globe. “The more we force the choice between keeping Harper or replacing him, the more the boutique parties get squeezed.”
The official said pensions are one of the “big issues” that Liberals will be pushing more and more this year.
“It’s about families and their sense of insecurity. It’s about us standing up for the little guy, and Harper standing up for corporations.”
My thoughts:
Two things struck me when reading this article. First, what a perfect example it is of the lack of originality in Canadian politics. And then I considered that I might be wrong, it isn’t a lack of originality but perhaps a lack of willingness to give the Liberal party a chance to prove themselves. Rarely do I read an article about the Liberal party that has a positive slant.