Protestors follow NDP Leader Jack Layton as he arrives at the Langevin Block to meet with Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Aug. 25, 2009.CHRIS WATTIE/Reuters
In the past few days, as talk has turned to a fall election, we've heard a lot about the Liberals' strategy as well as their tactics in an upcoming campaign. Aside from the odd editorial, however, much less has been said about what's best for the country. And, out here in Victoria where I live, we hardly hear or see or read anything that points to how a fall election will help ordinary Canadians in their daily lives.
Therein lies the disconnect between Ottawa politicians and journalists and the rest of the country. Other than rabid Harper-haters - of whom I grant you there are a considerable number, particularly in Québec - few Canadians see the need for an election right now, what it would resolve and, most importantly, how it would help them get through this difficult period in their lives. Instead, politics is being treated as a game.
The irony in the current situation is that Michael Ignatieff has so far shown that he's not particularly good at that game - judging from his 24 hour flip flop on visiting China, not to speak of yesterday's clumsy effort on how the Liberals would deal with the deficit. In fact, only a neophyte would ever have been taking advice on whether to push for an election from the likes of Bob Rae, Denis Coderre and Dominic LeBlanc - all of who are safe in their ridings and hankering after his job.
With a rookie Liberal Leader having been suckered into an absurd position, the hopes of Canadians now rest with Jack Layton, not normally a comforting thought. Personally, in this situation, I'm hoping that he'll drop the political nonsense that affects the NDP as it does the other parties. Stuff like regulating credit card rates, for example. Instead, I'd like to hear him deliver a simple message: that he'll support the Conservatives for the next four months through the fall session, in return for it agreeing to extend employment insurance benefits for four months.
A four-for-four deal would be of benefit to the large number of Canadians who are out of work for increasingly long periods of time. It would dish the Liberals on what had once been their signature issue and would make them look foolish. It would allow the Conservatives to continue with the difficult task of taking Canada through its deepest recession in twenty years. And it would allow the rest of us to get on with our lives at least until Christmas.