Let’s see, Smirkin’ Jack Layton postures himself and the New Democrats as a man and a party of principle, but then carefully crafts a way to save the absolutely unprincipled Liberals from defeat in the House of Commons.
What kind of jiggerypokery is this?
Of course, Layton may somehow have convinced himself his ploy will actually benefit the masses of the impoverished in our country, hence his contortionist tactics are in reality highly principled.
Perhaps the NDP leader really thinks the political tail can wag the political dog, but, if so, he’s in for a rude awakening.
Reading up on a bit of history might make Jack realize what a dangerous game he is playing in saving Prime Minister Paul Martin’s government from defeat if it will cancel some already rather uncertain tax cuts for business and industry.
The $4.6 billion in cuts contained in Finance Minister Ralph Goodale’s budget don’t even edge in until 2008 and, like the supposed ‘huge’ budget increases for the Canadian Armed Forces, may never see the light of day in any case.
In both instances, until the cuts are made or the money handed over, it really is all smoke and mirrors stuff.
Which is why Martin, with his back up against the wall, and the vise closing in relentlessly, may well try to win some breathing space for his government.
Yesterday, Layton was talking as to how the $4.6 billion should be invested in “people and the environment” rather than supposedly being given to “big” corporations.
Martin himself was scrambling to save face and pretend he wasn’t capitulating to Layton by pointing out to backtrack on tax cuts to “small and mid-size” businesses might jeopardize job creation.
So we can see what’s coming—some more negotiating and some more bafflegab as to how small and mid-size business still need “modest” tax cuts, but cuts to “big” corporations will have to wait for another day.
That “big” corporations today are generally owned indirectly by Canadians by way of their employee pension plans or their own RRSPs—even union pension plans and union members’ RRSPs—simply means killing the tax cuts will penalize the long-term savings of average Canadians. Layton isn’t likely to explain that to voters, being too busy licking his lips as he conjures up an image of himself as a giant killer or individual who directs history.
Martin, he of Canada Steamship Lines, and a master mariner at dodging the tax man himself, must be chortling that he can save his government’s hide with this sleight of hand.
It’s easy to see what’s in this scenario for Martin—time to ride out the scandals coming from Mr. Justice John Gomery’s inquiry—but it’s very, very hard to see what’s in it for the New Democrats.
Smirkin’ Jack, with his delusions of grandeur, likely feels he and his other 18 MPs can somehow control the entire Liberal agenda from now on.
Just bit by bit, naturally.
That’s what NDP leader David Lewis felt in 1972 when he threw in his lot with Pierre Trudeau’s Liberals, who came out of the federal election that year with 109 seats to Progressive Conservative leader Robert Stanfield’s 107.
Back then, I was with Stanfield in Halifax on election night, and most of us felt, as I have said previously, that Trudeau’s reign would turn out to be simply a four-year bad dream rather than a 20-year nightmare.
Lewis—rather than backing Stanfield, utterly decent and with a deep social conscience—threw his support behind Trudeau’s Liberals and was rewarded for his treachery in 1974 when the Liberals pulled the plug on the arrangement. The Liberals regained their majority, and the NDP saw its seats cut from 31 to 16 as voters deserted en masse.
If Layton and his party stalwarts really wanted to show Canadians they are individuals of principle, they should unite with Conservative Stephen Harper and Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe, and bring an end to the Liberal regime.
With that, Canadian voters could decide the future course.
Or perhaps—and he likely does—Layton thinks he is smarter than anyone else in the Commons, even in the country.
Yet he especially should know the Chinese proverb: “He who rides the back of the tiger generally ends up inside it.”
Enjoy the ride, Jack.
It will be shortlived.
Copyright ? 2005 Paul Conrad Jackson.
Click here to read Paul Jackson’s full and fascinating biography. Paul Conrad Jackson is one of Canada’s most distinguished and thought-provoking journalists. He is currently senior political commentator for the Calgary Sun and other related newspapers, after being both Editor and Associate Editor for a number of years. Mr. Jackson has interviewed such world famous political figures as Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachev, John Diefenbaker, Brian Mulroney, Pierre Trudeau, Yitshak Rabin and Benjamin Netanyahu.
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