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OTTAWA — Opposition MPs armed with a menu of potentially explosive political issues are ready to hijack the government's agenda as they square off today with Prime Minister Stephen Harper in a new sitting of Parliament.
Entering its third year in power, the Conservative minority government must stickhandle through several controversies that have little to do with its long-term plans outlined in last fall's Throne Speech.
Those issues include the future of the Afghanistan mission and the handling of Afghan detainees; an economic slowdown; questions surrounding the government's firing of the Nuclear Safety Commission president; and the continuing saga of former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's cash dealings with German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber.
In addition to dominating the daily Question Period in the House of Commons, these issues are expected to play a large role in the workload of parliamentary committees, where the agendas are controlled by the opposition.
Pollster Nick Nanos said these are all "red flags" for the Conservatives and how they handle them will have a significant impact on party poll numbers. "When an incumbent government is trying to manage a number of very volatile issues, Question Period is basically the best platform for an opposition leader and opposition parties to attack the government," he said. "When the House is not sitting, the government has a greater likelihood of controlling what's in the news."
The Conservatives intend to keep the focus on their third budget and predict the opposition will pay a price if it strays too far from issues that impact the lives of Canadians.
"We obviously intend to focus on our positives," said Conservative House Leader Peter Van Loan. The minister noted that while the opposition is on the attack in Ottawa, Canadians will be seeing the results of Conservative policies, such as rebate cheques at tax time and the lower GST.
"It's hard to think of a Question Period that was dominated by an issue that mattered to Canadians in my riding," he said. "The things that matters to them are what it takes to make ends meet and keep the kids in soccer and hockey and so on."
On the Liberal side, MPs face the uncomfortable choice between triggering a federal election while trailing in the polls or facing accusations of weakness for allowing another Tory budget to pass in February or March.
Liberal House Leader Ralph Goodale said his party has not ruled out any option heading into the budget, but wants to make economic issues a priority.
The former finance minister said his party intends to portray the government as poor financial managers who abandoned the previous Liberal practice of leaving billions in the bank as "prudence" to cover unforeseen costs.
"They have spent money like drunken sailors on one side, and they have eroded the federal tax base on the other side with tax policy that does nothing for productivity or competitiveness or fairness or savings or investment," he said.
NDP Leader Jack Layton said he intends to repeat his practice of writing a detailed wish list to the Prime Minister indicating how the government could win the votes of New Democrats. "We're going to do our best to push back on behalf of the increasingly squeezed middle-class," he said, pointing to issues such as bank fees, credit-card rates and cellphone bills.
