Tuesday, June 15, 2010

On contrasting treatment

Following up on this morning's post, I'll note that there's one area where the NDP has left itself open to significant criticism on the detainee document process.

The party's current message is one of making the truth public and upholding Peter Milliken's ruling. And I'm all for framing the NDP's position around those concepts.

But having accepted (and indeed trumpeted) the earlier agreement in principle which fell short on both of those points, the NDP unfortunately contributed to the idea that there was no longer a problem with the Cons' actions. And that may have the unfortunate effect of allowing the Cons to claim far more legitimacy than they deserve for a process which looks to be nothing short of a farce.

Having noted the area where the NDP probably deserves some criticism, though, it's also worth pointing out how ridiculous the Libs' response looks to be. In particular, Ralph Goodale's decision to lash out at the NDP stands in stark contrast to his regular admonitions that the the Cons could be counted on to negotiate in good faith (not to mention his expectation that they'll suddenly start showing "honest behaviour"). And the Libs' continued choice to equate "good faith" with "giving Stephen Harper what he wants" can only further call into doubt their interest in doing their job in opposition.

(Edit: fixed wording.)

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