Unringing the bell

There are few safe predictions within an election campaign. But here's one: what Buzz Hargrove actually means...

Anyone with a progressive bone in their body rejoiced at the important measures taken by the minority government during its 17-month lifespan. More new social spending than any other government in the last quarter-century (all the more so thanks to Jack Layton's amendments to the 2005 budget). A long-awaited national child care program. Crucial new rights for workers — most recently including protection of collective agreements against the unilateral dictates of bankruptcy judges. Affirmation of same-sex marriage. A historic deal to address horrendous living conditions among aboriginals. Measures to reduce poverty among seniors and families with children. Other initiatives on housing, immigrants and the environment.

After two decades of hard-nosed, pro-business rule (under Conservative and Liberal majorities, alike), this is an incredible change. Obviously, this didn't all happen because Prime Minister Paul Martin had a conversion on the road to Damascus (though his leadership has been important). No, it happened because his party had to appeal to others to stay in power — both in the Commons, and indirectly to a broader range of interest groups than the powerful and well-connected ones who usually call the shots around Ottawa...

The best the left can now hope for is a re-creation of another Liberal minority — this time, we hope, with the NDP holding a clearer balance of power, and the two parties negotiating a more stable and lasting way of working together.

...will receive far less attention than what he's believed to have said last week.

A good chunk of the blame has to go to Hargrove for apparently failing to understand the optics of last week's speech by PMPM. And he'll be duly punished if the effect of last week's events is to push the Libs into majority territory and another business-first policy package. But at least as much blame has to go to the same media which (aside from the Rabble link above) seems to have done precious little to correct the Liberal spin.