A change would do you good

A strong majority of Canadian voters went into the past election looking for change. Unfortunately, it looks like the attempt has failed on two fronts. It should be no secret that Stephen Harper is all too happy to continue with entitlement politics as usual. But today, we find out that rather than taking some lessons from the past election, key Liberals are determined not to learn a thing after being removed from power:

Liberal officials are being urged to hasten the selection of a new leader so that the party can be ready as soon as possible for an election.

"We are, I would say, reinvigorated and energized," interim Liberal leader Bill Graham said in an interview at the end of Harper's controversy-plagued inaugural week...

"That's the shortest honeymoon of any government in Canadian history," chortled former deputy prime minister John Manley in brief remarks to the assembled aides.

"David Emerson really is a great Liberal. In one move, he united the Liberals and divided the Tories."

Manley joked that "every once in a while we have to let the Tories take over so that Canadians remember just how good a Liberal government is."

Indeed, the Libs are so unconcerned with the shenanigans of Harper's first week that it took the NDP to organize a rally where Emerson's voters could show their frustration with being lied to over the course of the campaign. The Liberal riding association got into the act somewhat, but the national party has been happy to largely accept Emerson's betrayal as politics as usual - as long as that leads to positive results for the Libs in the end.

In fairness, the Libs' power structure has at least shown more consistency than those who have tried to find differences between the respective defections of Emerson and Stronach. But that consistency puts the Libs squarely on the wrong side of a Canadian public which wants to see a country run with more ethics and less cynicism. And the more both the Libs and the Cons go out of their way to show that they couldn't care less about respecting the voters, the more opportunity there'll be for the one party which has consistently advocated for keeping MPs accountable.