A promising message

While the Liberals in general have deserved almost nothing but criticism throughout the campaign, let's give due credit to Irwin Cotler (who's generally toward the upper end of the mediocre lot) for uttering a phrase seldom heard during a campaign:

Federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler said today he was as horrified as anyone by the Boxing Day shootings in Toronto but he’s not feeling pressure to make a “quick fix” to solve the guns and gangs problem in the country’s biggest city.

“I didn’t park my principles at the door when I became justice minister,” he said. “I maintain an open and responsible approach ... and in the end I’ll be able to make an informed, principled judgment.

"I am not going to be rushed and I am certainly not going to be pressured. There is no easy answer and there is no single answer.”

Of course, Cotler's response does raise the spectre of the concurrent Lib problem of studying issues to death rather than doing anything. But at the very least he isn't making promises which will be forgotten within minutes of the results coming in on Election Day. Which is a lesson that his party's leader could certainly stand to learn.