Shifting sands

While Buzz Hargrove's non-endorsement of the Liberals was front-page news most of the weekend, a potentially far more important development gets buried within a more general election article:

The NDP was told today that it will have the support of The Muslim Canadian Congress.

Spokesman Tarek Fatah said the congress is endorsing the NDP because Liberals have taken Muslims for granted for far too long.

Fatah says stringent federal security measures aimed at Muslims also played a role in the decision to back the NDP.

He says New Democrats have fought to ensure detained Muslims get fair treatment.

It’s the first time the congress has endorsed a party.

As with the CAW, it'll ultimately be for individual members of the MCC to decide whether they agree with the leadership position. But unlike Hargrove's move, this announcement reflects a principled statement of party support rather than a (misguided) strategic calculation. And if the MCC's endorsement helps to remind Canadians of the Liberals' general lack of concern for individual freedoms, then it could work wonders in winning NDP support among voters concerned with civil rights.