The federal Liberals will hold a major policy convention in early May, but they are refusing to discuss policy ideas and say they are avoiding making any policy suggestions that the governing Conservatives can copy in the next election.
They say they are keeping their still-developing campaign platform top secret in order to keep the focus squarely on the government amidst the rapidly deteriorating economy.
"What your policies are going to be in an election are announced just before you go into it. You don't want to provide an opportunity for target practice in the meantime," said Liberal Senator David Smith, one of four national campaign co-chairs charged with preparing the party for the next election.
This is an incredible position with a minority government in power. 'Sorry, we're not going to tell you what we think, as the Loyal Opposition.' This is obviously an Iggy strategy. When he took over the Liberals, he was asked what his advice/input would be for the Conservative budget, and he answered that it wasn't his budget. Even though, it wouldn't have passed without his party's vote. I'm not so sure this is a good strategy for voters looking for alternatives.
Isn't the whole point of the Loyal Opposition to contribute to the debate? For the good of the country isn't this appalling bad faith, to hold your cards until an election? 'Oh we realize it's an economic crisis, we have a solution out of it, but we're not going to tell you until the time is right for us.' Shouldn't somebody remind Iggy and the Liberals that the interests of the country are more important than political partisanship?
Actually this has been working for the Liberals quite well. The party about nothing, has had great success. Most voters prefer not to hear about policy issues. Even when the Liberals do announce their policies during an election, they do not feel they have to follow through if elected. Remember the Red Book of Liberal policies? Once elected the Liberals ignored everything they had written in the Red Book. The Liberal party have a long record of preaching one thing in an election, and then doing the opposite when in power. Why do people keep voting Liberal, I have no idea.
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