Election ads?

In today's lead editorial, the Globe and Mail calls on Stephen Harper and Michael Ignatieff to explain how they would "return the country from deficit to surplus," citing the nasty surprises in B.C. following the May provincial election. If the leaders do not provide an answer, "it will need to be demanded of them" - presumably by the media - the editorial concludes.

Good on the Globe for both points: one reason for widespread surprise out here on the west coast is that the NDP helped deceive voters by basing their election platform on the governing Liberals' revenue projections. And, with the opposition not making the deficit an issue, reporters covering the campaign - fewer than in the past because of the financial state of the industry - hardly pursued the issue themselves.

However, rather than having to be hounded by reporters, wouldn't it be something if the Conservatives and Liberals devoted at least one of their election ads to the deficit - inviting voters to check out a detailed plan on their websites? And, while they're at it, how about another ad in which Messrs. Harper and Ignatieff tell voters what role Canadian soldiers - two more of who were killed yesterday - will play in Afghanistan after 2011?

Contrast the reticence of our leaders on Afghanistan with the outspokenness of former Prime Minister Lester Pearson - whom Mr. Ignatieff says is his model. In a 1965 speech at Temple University, Mr. Pearson called for a negotiated solution in Vietnam. So upset was President Johnson that, at their next meeting, he is reported to have berated him in rather salty language ("Don't you come into my living room and piss on my rug."), while grabbing onto his lapels.

Interestingly, notwithstanding the differences, the Vietnam War is increasingly being invoked for its parallels to the situation now facing President Obama as he awaits a request for a further increase in troops to deal with the deteriorating situation. Reports of election irregularities and government corruption are becoming more frequent and more serious. Mr. Obama's Democratic Party is abandoning him, as it abandoned Lyndon Johnson - in the process ending his presidency. Allied support - and not just Canada's - is weakening, which threatens to turn Afghanistan, too, into an American war.

Yesterday, British PM Gordon Brown and German Chancellor Merkel-the former reeling from recent troop casualties and the latter from Afghan civilian casualties - called for an international conference to shift responsibility for security in Afghanistan to the Afghan government. Meanwhile, President Hamid Karzai, in a Le Figaro interview , was dumping on Britain and the U.S. - who, with Canada, have been doing most of the fighting - while praising the French.

For all their differences, Messrs. Harper and Ignatieff appear to agree on one thing: the less said about the Afghanistan war the better. If we are to have an election, let's try to make sure it serves our interests, and not just the interests of politicians, party insiders and lobbyists.