The last edition of Ezra Levant's Western Standard asks (free registration required) the question that some conservatives are starting to mutter under their breath (except for Gerry Nicholls, who has done more than mutter): have Stephen Harper's Conservatives forgotten they are supposed to be conservative? To wit:
Program spending is set to increase by 5.7 per cent for the fiscal 2007-08 year. In the Tories' first budget, it rose 7.9 per cent. "Look, there are Martin budgets, when he was finance minister, that I would pocket before taking this one," says John Williamson, federal director of the Ottawa-based Canadian Taxpayers Federation advocacy group.
While it won't make those around Harper happy, this is the kind of journalism that the Standard, as an organ of the Canadian conservative movement, ought to be doing.
I admit to being concerned about the direction the government has taken since Christmas. The period from their election in January 2006 until the end of last year was nothing short of spectacular, in my view. But lately, there appears to be a new approach -- and I'm not sure it's going to work. The polls aren't really moving. More on this later.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 1:35 PM
