It makes sense that you would not waste your good ideas a year before the election but nobody wants to play the numbers game. It is just that the last thing that voters care about is how many seats you might win a year from now. And it sounds very naïve to tell reporters that Canadians want a stable, strong government. It was with that banality that Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau wrapped up the Liberal’s Edmonton caucus meeting this past week.
It seems like a terrible waste of time and money to put the caucus on display in not so friendly territory and not deal with ideas and opportunities. Why, for example, could the meeting not consider questions important to Albertans? Why should all these non-Albertan Members of Parliament not have an opportunity to learn directly about the need to exploit the Athabasca tar sands? There are sure a lot of people in that part of the country who would like to talk on that subject.
As a counterpoint, there are also some fairly enthusiastic environmentalists who might have conflicting ideas on that exploitation. With the environmental blindfolds of the current government, it might be helpful for the caucus members to hear from the people on the firing line. It would be such a fine thing for Justin Trudeau and his caucus to show that they give a damn about our Canadian environment.
Instead Justin Trudeau seems to have a strategy that says no voter will be left behind. If they do not at least get to take a selfie with Justin, they will have an opportunity to vote for one of his hand-picked candidates next year.
The only people that seemed to take the Liberals seriously in Edmonton were at the Prime Minister’s Office in Ottawa. They issued some relatively snide comments on the meeting that we do not need to repeat. The PMO even sent MP Chris Warkentin into the Edmonton Westin where the Liberals were meeting. It was like riding a manned torpedo into unfriendly waters and finding out the torpedo and the rider were both duds.
Warkentin told reporters covering the Liberal meeting that the Liberals had spent three days discussing things that did not seem to matter to Canadians. When asked if the Conservatives were worried about the Liberals, he said “Absolutely not.” We assume if the Conservatives were really worried they would have sent someone more important to rain on the meeting.
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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry
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