Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Paul Wells is pleased to have received some response about how the Cons claim to be saving money. But it's worth taking a close look at the substance of that response, and particularly highlighting that one of the few general explanations actually looks to signal a plan for privatization and outsourcing rather than actual cost savings:

- Focusing on our core mandate and leveraging the expertise of the private sector – one of our key priorities is to provide opportunities for the private sector, particularly for small and medium enterprises. This means, in some cases, getting out of businesses that can be done by the private sector. By leveraging this expertise, our department will eliminate overhead costs, allow us to better focus on our core mandate, as well as support growth in the private sector.

Of course, how "supporting growth" of particular functions in the private sector is supposed to be desirable even as a government brags about eliminating those functions in the public sector is left as an exercise in corporatist dogmatism.

- Meanwhile, if the Cons were actually interested in eliminating their deficit responsibly, they'd do well to take a look at the list of potential revenue sources developed by Canadians for Tax Fairness.

- Chantal Hebert notes that any premier wanting to start a discussion about Senate abolition can get the ball rolling by passing a resolution which would demand a response from other governments. But I wonder whether that possibility might prove better for potential premiers than current ones: might, say, a platform commitment from the Saskatchewan NDP serve to win populist votes (particularly when compared to the Wall government's broken promises on the Senate issue)?

- Finally, it's worth noting that the NDP's focus on organization isn't limited to the resolution passed at #vancon2011, as pointed out by Jack Layton following his keynote speech:

In a news conference following his speech, Mr. Layton said the party has to strengthen riding associations, especially in those ridings where New Democrats came second, and build riding organizations for new MPs.

“It’s kind of a constant process. It’s like tending to a garden. You can’t sit back and watch. You have to work at it all the time.”

Mr. Layton said fundraising is also part of the exercise especially with the Conservative decision to eliminate subsidies for parties.

“We will be working hard to increase the number of people who give us a little bit of money. We have improved our fundraising dramatically over the last number of years, but we have more of that to do,” he said.