Wednesday, January 18, 2006

On poor excuses

It should be embarrassing enough for the Liberals that during their reign, Campaign 2000's name has become anachronistic rather than future-oriented, without any progress actually being made on poverty issues. But an election report card on child poverty from the anti-poverty coalition (note for PMPM: see what the term means when it's used correctly?) shows that the Libs aren't even pretending to take positive action.

The Libs receive two "Yes" rankings (both on aspects of their child-care plan) and two "Partial" rankings out of eight issues, with glaring "No" rankings on the Child Tax Benefit, on EI and on the minimum wage. Meanwhile, the NDP wins seven "Yes" rankings and one "Partial". Which indicates that when it comes to poverty issues, in contrast to the NDP's genuine commitment to getting results, the Libs can't even be bothered to put up the appearance of caring. (And that's all the more damning given that even a Liberal promise doesn't tend to lead to action until a decade later.)

So which of the NDP or the Libs is best suited to oppose the Cons' wall of "No"s? Martin may think, as usual, that the right answer is "whatever benefits the Libs". But if you're primarily interested in ensuring that meaningful action is taken to reduce poverty in Canada, the NDP is plainly the party of choice.

(Via Vote for a Change.)

(Edit: cleaned up first paragraph.)

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