Michael Ignatieff's Liberals are trying to think big this weekend, attempting to fill what they say is a policy vacuum created by the "hyper-partisan" tactics employed by Stephen Harper's Conservatives.
"We have a climate of gotcha politics and, frankly, gotcha journalism that doesn't focus a lot on the serious questions," a senior Ignatieff official said today, "particularly in what people consider to be in a hyper-partisan atmosphere right now in Ottawa."
The official was speaking at a not-for-attribution briefing today, leading up to the Liberal Party's weekend conference in Montreal. The setting was similar to anonymous background briefings conducted by the Tories
About 300 participants are expected Friday for the three-day conference. Liberals hope it will provoke lots of big policy ideas for the future.
Ironically, the Liberals say they will be losing money on the gathering, which Mr. Harper's Tories are mischievously referring to as the "Spenders Conference."
"We're investing in the conference - in that we're spending more than we're bringing in," one of the officials said.
Liberals like to hold these conferences when they are in opposition as a way to reinvigorate the party with new ideas. They started in 1933 in Port Hope under Mackenzie King; in 1960 they held a conference in Kingston conference under Lester Pearson and in 1991 there was a conference in Aylmer, Que., when Jean Chrétien was opposition leader.
"It's an article of Liberal faith that each of these conferences has preceded an election of a Liberal government," a senior Ignatieff official said. "Don't know if we're going to get a four-peat but we'll do our best."
This conference is called Canada 150. It centres on discussions about the sorts of jobs and issues that Canadians face on the country's sesquicentennial.
The Liberal officials - three spoke at today's briefing - say it is a non-partisan event although it is aimed, in part, at formulating the Liberals' next election platform.
For example, former Bank of Canada governor David Dodge will be leading off a discussion on Saturday morning about retirement. He is to be joined by C.D. Howe Institute's Bill Robson. And former Mulroney chief of staff Derek Burney, who served as Canada's ambassador in Washington, will speak on Canada-U.S. relations in 2017.
No one is "scripted," according to one official. However, one of the officials said some people declined invitations to participate, saying "with this climate in Ottawa, with this government it's a political risk I don't want to take."
"I won't add anything to that. I think it speaks for itself," the official added.
There has been criticism that Liberal MPs are not attending the event. But it was noted today that the 1991 Aylmer conference was limited to 125 delegates, most of whom were from outside the party; and in 1960 only two Liberal MPs attended the Kingston conference - Lester Pearson and Jack Pickersgill, who later served as a senior member in Mr. Pearson's cabinet.
Mr. Ignatieff is attending this weekend's sessions and will give the closing speech on Sunday afternoon. Other Liberals will be participating via websites and satellite hook-ups.
The OLO team, however, did not or could not define what they would consider a successful conference. One official did note that they will not be walking out of the conference with a platform all neatly tied up in a bow.
The Montreal conference will be followed by five regional policy conferences in May and June, which will also go to formulate the Liberal platform.