Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday.

- Jim Travers shares the theory that the Cons' anti-coalition spin has more to do with their own fears than public perceptions:

Voters have good reasons to be skeptical of Michael Ignatieff. They’re just not the same reasons Stephen Harper is rolling out in ads savaging the Liberal leader as a grasping prodigal son home to seize power in an illegitimate coalition with socialists and separatists.
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Given the wealth of other available material, the current ads attacking Ignatieff are deliciously — if accidentally — self-revealing. Written between the lines are Conservatives’ fears that, after reflecting on Harper’s parochialism and the Conservative predilection for driving emotional wedges deep into national divisions, Canadians might just respond positively to a cosmopolitan leader committed to Commons cooperation.
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Offshore coalitions are different from the successful minorities of Canada’s past; they are also no panacea. But as Harper accepted when he tried to topple Paul Martin by joining forces with the NDP and Bloc, coalitions are legitimate.

With another election looming, Harper is trying to turn Canadian sensibilities upside down. Conservative ads nastily argue that those who lug success home in their luggage can’t be trusted and that co-operation is punishable democratic behavior.

But of course, the Cons' odd choice of attacks stands a much better chance of succeeding if it's met with an equally derisive take on coalitions from the Libs rather than an effort to turn the coalition concept into a positive.

- Tasha Kheiriddin makes a point that's well worth keeping in mind (even if one understandably disagrees with her tedious anti-tax ranting):

In the end, you can shut out politics, but it won't shut you out. It will affect the taxes you pay and the schools that educate your kids. We can blame politicians for not knocking on enough doors, and our busy lives for leaving no space for political involvement. But ultimately, it is up to us to take personal responsibility.

Failure to act means leaving the fate of our cities, provinces and country in the hands of those who do take the time. Those people might as well be you.

- The safety of Canada's food is officially being decided by corporate actors, with no input from Health Canada. What could possibly go wrong?

- And finally, the Onion highlights the wealth gap between the rich and the poor as the 8th wonder of the world. But how long will it be before someone on the right actually starts asking us to celebrate and memorialize inequality?