Mini-Dithers

There's been plenty of talk about Stephane Dion's speech on his economic plans - which, as noted by Andrew Jackson, doesn't seem to vary at all from what ex-PMPM would have said on the same issue. But I haven't seen any attention paid to the fact that based on an interview afterward, Dion would rather see the Cons stay in power than implement the plan anytime soon:

Canada's minority Parliament may stay alive for another 10 months if Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has his way...

The leader of the Official Opposition's comments are in a stark contrast to his comments upon winning the Liberal leadership crown in December when he had a warning for the prime minister.

"Stephen Harper, we are counting the days until the next election," he said at the time.

But now it seems the Liberals may have to count to at least 300 before an election comes if Dion has his way.

"I'm not sure Canadians want an election every year," he said after delivering a speech at an Ottawa hotel. "It's very demanding to be always in an election. So I don't want an election."...

When asked later by reporters if he would vote against Flaherty's budget if it included another GST cut, Dion said he won't comment on the budget until he sees it.

"You don't request an election each time you disagree with the government," he said. "Otherwise you would request election all the time. I think Canadians deserve not to have an election every year."

Note that Dion's comments aren't even based on an attempt to get anything done in the current Parliament. Instead, he seems to have reached the conclusion that because an election itself would be "demanding", he doesn't see a need to bring down Harper's government on any issue based on what we already know about it...which needless to say will only weaken any attempts Dion may make to criticize Harper's government in the future.

What's worse, that position - combined with the Libs' continued vagueness as to any conditions for support - is only likely to enable Harper to push the limits as to what the Libs are prepared to support (or at least fail to oppose) in a budget. And that may relieve the Cons of any apparent need to deal with the substantive requests of the other parties, whose terms for support have been or are being made public. Which means that the main difference between Dion and his predecessor is that the new Lib regime may not only be failing to get things done on its own, but also getting in the way of other parties who might otherwise be able to accomplish something positive.

Of course, as Dion also noted in the interview, the Cons are likely looking for reasons to go to an election as soon as possible - so Dion may not get his wish in any event. But no matter when the election actually happens, it speaks volumes that the Libs are trying to delay both any action in the current Parliament and the possibility of an election to hold the Cons to account.