On weak positions

I can understand how the Libs would want to defuse issues surrounding the Senate given PMS' posturing last fall about calling an election over upper-chamber obstruction. But there's no indication that their stated plan is going to do anything but bring one of their weakest points to the forefront:

Stephane Dion says the Liberals will back term limits of 12 to 15 years for senators, bringing the first modest step toward reforming Canada's Senate closer to reality...

"Term limit is a good idea if it's not too short," Dion said in an interview.

He said the eight-year term proposed by Harper is too short and would potentially give the prime minister "exorbitant power" to appoint every single senator in the chamber.

"That means that if all senators have a life expectancy as senators of eight years, a prime minister who would be there (in power) eight years would choose all the senators. He would renew completely the Senate after two mandates."

Dion said a term of 12 to 15 years would be preferable. A prime minister couldn't appoint all senators without winning at least three mandates. Moreover, he said such a term would be long enough to produce experienced senators but short enough to encourage the appointment of younger senators...

Dion reiterated Liberal opposition to the idea of electing senators without simultaneously opening the Constitution to reform other aspects of the upper chamber, particularly the under-representation of western provinces.

So for the sake of quibbling over a few years of a term limit, Dion has pushed one of the Cons' favourite populist issues back into the headlines and allowed Harper to keep ranting about a Lib-induced lack of democracy in the Senate.

If the Libs were willing to bring forward a stronger reform package or buy into the idea of abolition, it would have made plenty of sense to try to outflank Harper. And even an impassioned defence of the current system might have had some chance of winning over voters suspicious of the Cons' motives.

But the Libs' actual position manages to combine a complete disinterest in defending the status quo with a lack of will for any meaningful change - which can only bolster the Cons' portrayal of Dion as an ineffective leader. And with the Libs already in the midst of a John Kerry-like non-response to the Cons' attack ads, the last thing they can afford to do is offer yet more fodder for the Cons' message.