Election Platform Dept: It is true that, with a Parliament of minorities, an election platform may be suddenly needed. If he has one written, Mr. Ignatieff should keep it securely in his back pocket, for emergency use only. Further policy development is an open business for the party as a whole, not to be pre-empted from above. Its present membership will be invigorated, greatly needed new members will be attracted only if they feel wanted, not as mechanics in a political machine, but as contributors to the shaping of future government policies, according to Globe And Mail. This is not a prescription for passivity. Liberal leadership today is not about fixing policies. It is about affirming purposes. Many of those are common to the national parties, but one has chiefly distinguished successful Liberal government from the Conservative alternative. It is egalitarianism. When a convention last adopted comprehensive policy statements, it declared with particular force that the Liberal Party “will continue to fight for a still closer equality of opportunity and well-being.” From such a start, in such a party, little could be expected quickly. Now, however, this summer’s parliamentary recess affords Mr. Ignatieff the best, if not the last, opportunity to rally the support of his troops. Certainly he will be greatly pressured to fill the vacuum of federal Liberal politics by making strong policy declarations. He should not do so yet. If Mr. Ignatieff short-circuits the process by his own decisions, he will not lead but repress his party’s revival. As
reported in the news.
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@t equality of opportunity, short circuits
2.7.10
