Michael Ignatieff’s chief of staff has a message for Liberal MPs: “Vigorous opposition to a destructive government is just one half of our job.”
In a letter sent to the Liberal caucus today, Peter Donolo laid out their challenges for the next year. Not once, however, did he mention an election, trying to defeat the government or even hint at a confidence vote – a huge departure from the previous Ignatieff team who were all about taking out Stephen Harper’s minority Conservative government.
Rather, Mr. Donolo spells out what needs to be done: “In 2010 our task is to earn the trust and support of those millions of Canadians who are yearning for an alternative to the callous and cynical Harper Conservatives.”
In the two-page missive, which only went out to MPs after noon, Mr. Donolo talks about establishing Liberals in 2010 as “the clear alternative.”
He doesn’t dwell on the controversy of the day, the Afghan detainee imbroglio: “In recent weeks, as the Official Opposition, we’ve been very busy exposing the lies and cover-ups of the Harper Conservatives in the Afghan detainee scandal,” he writes. “But vigorous opposition to a destructive government is just one half of our job. The other half is in many ways more important.”
With that, he lists the policy announcements made recently by Mr. Ignatieff and his team, including the leader’s speech on the environment, the trade roundtable this week that was chaired by Nova Scotia MP Scott Brison and the leader’s private member’s bill yesterday on pay equity.
“The important point is that these policy announcements will have a long-term impact to be felt all through 2010,” Mr. Donolo writes.
MPs will be fleeing the Hill today and tomorrow for the Christmas break; they return Jan. 25.
