Off to a couple of undisclosed locations for the next week, with little to no blogging in the meantime. But let's note one point worth watching as Parliament reconvenes.
While I don't think there's much room for dispute that the Cons have tried to move Canada as far right as possible, they've seldom been brave enough to actually defend their ideological positions when there's been any available means of deflecting from substantive debate.
Throughout their stay in office, the Cons' regular response to questions about social issues has focused extensively on the Libs' previous time in government - either based on a failure to address issues substantively (climate change, child care, etc.) or outright cuts (to health care and education). Which may have made for a valid point in assessing the Libs' credibility, but hardly serves to defend the Cons' own failings.
And for the past two-plus years, the other consistent mantra from the Cons has been coalition, coalition, coalition - representing another decidedly substance-free complaint to distract from real policy choices.
Now, both of those default responses will be entirely obsolete.
With that in mind, even if the NDP can't get anywhere in securing meaningful answers to its questions, it's well worth watching what the Cons adopt instead as their standard talking point in responding to the NDP's choice of issues to highlight. And it's entirely possible that an attempt to extend the "high tax vs. low tax" question that made for the lone response during the campaign may end up backfiring in a genuine debate over the funding of public services.
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