One reason the Liberal Party is languishing in trail to the Tories is its ongoing policy vacuum. Without solid policy the party really has nothing to say to the Canadian public and I think that's reflected in the dismal polling results.
A couple of months back Mr. Ignatieff convened a "thinkers' conference" that was heavily weighted with academics, corporate executives and management consultants but that doesn't seem to have generated any great policy initiatives.
Maybe what the LPC needs is a bottom-up approach on party policy. Here's your chance. Give one idea above all others you think needs to be incorporated into Liberal Party policy. One policy that would be attractive enough for you to definitely vote Liberal.
Here's mine. I want the Libs to rip the lid off climate change and the impacts it is going to bring to the Canadian people, on a region by region basis. I want the government to focus on getting specific information out to Canadians to make them aware that climate change is real, that certain impacts are coming no matter what we do, and that we need to use that information to plan and implement remediation and adaptation measures tailored to each of our specific regions. We have that information. The scientists at Environment Canada can get it out to the public once Harper's gag is torn from their mouths.
So that's my one policy proposal. What's yours?
My choice is a solid, far-reaching and immediately implementable policy of political reform, aimed at making Parliament work for the people. It would include changes to candidate selection, incentives to encourage parties to elect women, changing the behaviour of MPs in Parliament, encouraging greater co-operation between parties, greater power for individual MPs, and remedying the democratic deficit caused by our archaic first-past-the-post system of electing MPs.
ReplyDeleteI can see your points, particularly the ratcheting-down of hyper-partisanship and some form of proportional representation. Of course could you imagine giving MPs no excuse not to be responsible? The mind reels.
ReplyDeleteI would like to see the Liberals attack the present health care system in this country. Several doctors have told me flat out I am correct when I say the system is in its last legs. When a person who has ulcerative colitis and has a remedie at hand but cannot receive it due to ...mitigating factors...such as not having received other therapy which has failed and who cannot afford 30,000dollars for one years treatment, something needs to be done. Waiting almost a year to be told this now while my life has been on hold, not being able to accept job offers due to a medical condition while there is help available. Mr. Iggnatief where are you? Just from this blog, here are three policies which Mr. Iggnatief ought to be "harping" upon instead of talking about keeping the present GG. Anyong
ReplyDeleteA solid point Anyong. The purpose of this post was to show there are many important policies the Liberals can pursue that would clearly resonate with the Canadian public.
ReplyDeleteAnother policy that could be revived was Paul Martin's initiative to focus healthcare funding on potentially lethal diseases such as heart disease and cancer. Why fund acne treatment when that public money could easily be put to greater use?
There are so many badly needed and neglected policies the Liberals could promote if only they weren't abject milquetoasts.
Ulcerative Colits is as bad as heart disease and cancer. In the first case, colits can lead to cancer and second, other life threatening diseases due to anemia. A relative passed away from kidney failure due to non successful colitis treatment. I understand your point and you are correct.
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