On flip-flops

Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn is now criticizing the Libs for seeing the light on anti-scab legislation. Which is particularly amusing coming from someone who has himself reversed course on the issue, only in the opposite direction:

This time, the so-called "anti-scab" legislation has received the support of about a dozen Conservatives and almost unanimous support from the opposition parties, including the Liberals. Ironically, Jean-Pierre Blackburn, the Labour Minister, was one of four Progressive Conservative MPs to vote with the Bloc against Brian Mulroney's government when the legislation was proposed in 1990.

Presumably we'll never get to find out how it is that what's worth voting for under Mulroney is no longer so under Harper, as Blackburn now seems stuck in a rhetorical loop about "balance" without any indication why a slight rebalancing would (in his words) "paralyze" the economy. But as weak as his point would be in any event, it's doubly so when he himself has seen the merit of anti-scab legislation in the past - meaning that it shouldn't sway any Libs as they decide whether or not to keep up their support for the bill.