When Paul Martin was still finance minister, a political friend told me Martin would someday become one of the most leftwing prime ministers in history. The reason? Martin is remembered as a fiscal hawk as finance minister, and would want to shed that image as PM.
I didn't believe my friend. I thought he was crazy.
He wasn't.
Tomorrow Martin is going to unveil the most ultra-left, big government Liberal party platform since Trudeau the era.
Some highlights from leaks to the CP wire:
--8,000 new soldiers for "peace initiatives." Note the language: "peace initiatives." This is likely code for "we'll hire the bodies, but they won't be getting any new equipment."
--A quadrupling of funding for wind energy. I guess they want to suck in the Green Party vote? (said to be at around 5%)
--A national daycare program, which has been prmised by the Liberal in every election since 1993.
In total, $27-billion in new spending over the next five years. $27-billion!
There is an upside to this: there is going to be some real daylight between the parties on important issues. It is common to hear complaints about how all the parties are the same. Not so in this election.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 9:30 PM
