Campaign Decoder

Ike couldn't come at worse time for Dion

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion will face a formidable challenger these next few days and its name isn’t Stephen, Jack or Elizabeth.
Nope, it’s Ike, the deadly hurricane that wreaked havoc on the Texas coastline.
The storm has sent residents fleeing and caused much hand-wringing among motorists forced to swallow exorbitant gas prices.
If you’re Dion and the cornerstone of your election platform is a suddenly seldom-discussed carbon tax plan, to say the timing stinks would be an understatement.
This misguided plan to impose a carbon tax on greenhouse gas emitters assumes corporations will pass along costs of the tax to consumers.
And to help consumers and companies cover the cost, the Liberals would use their carbon-tax revenue to cut personal and corporate income tax.
But for Mr. Dion, no good deed goes unpunished.
The average consumer doesn’t grasp the plan, despite a shared consensus we would all pay more for things like gas.
I’m sure the Liberal leader didn’t miss the collective groan of Canadians paying $1.35 to $1.50 per litre to fuel up these past few days.
He was in Newfoundland today talking about fisheries investments while drivers there are paying about $1.49 per litre for fuel.
But the Grits’ Green Shift is past the point of no return now.
Their critics dismissed changes to the plan earlier this month as a watering down of the document.
How can you make a serious bid to lead the country when you propose a radical tax shift, then act as though you’ve disowned it?

Conservative blunder par for the course in Canada

Is it possible for us to have one federal election during which the Conservative brain trust doesn’t step over the line of poor taste?
The latest misstep is a Conservative-made attack ad video depicting a bird defecating on the visage of Liberal leader Stephane Dion.
I had just about forgotten about the last time the party ignored the voice of reason and ran repugnant political messages poking fun at former prime minister Jean Chretien’s appearance — a result of a medical condition.
Similarly, the ads were pulled. Apologies were swift.
Stephen Harper quickly apologized and did the lost babe in the woods routine for reporters.
Nonpartisan politics aside, it was a bad move.
Even in the U.S., currently mired in a bitter presidential race, where politics is a blood sport, the tone hasn’t turned this personal or vulgar.
For the Conservatives, nearly aloof in their underestimation of Mr. Dion, their dung-dropping sideshow may have had exactly the opposite message.

Election call shrewd move

There are a couple of widely held beliefs politicians often acknowledge if they want to continue governing.
Stay out of voters’ bedrooms.
Never allow an airline strike at Christmas.
And ensure you’re not stuck holding the bag when the economy tanks.
Speculation from the country’s political punditocracy has been flying fast and furious on Stephen Harper’s motivation for next month’s election.
But if you believe the doom and gloom forecasting, staunchly maintaining the hard economic times striking the U.S. will continue their slow migration north, it may be easy to understand why Elections Canada is blowing a thin layer of dust off its pencils and voting cards.
If nothing else, this Conservative government has been shrewd. Nothing is left to chance. Each move is a calculated effort to cement its place in Ottawa.
By calling yet another federal election, one year ahead of his own fixed election date, Mr. Harper believes he can win a political two-for-one.
If the economy takes a nose dive a year from now, the Conservatives will be armed with a fresh new mandate from Canadians.
And a victory, albeit for another minority, would effectively crush Liberal leader Stephane Dion and his carbon tax plan, before it ever got out of the gate.
As for York Region, political junkies won’t have much to get excited about if polls and early prognostications are to be believed.
Apparently, it will be another snooze-fest here as York’s seven federal ridings are expected to remain largely unchanged after Oct. 14.
The only certainty is Newmarket-Aurora will be getting a new MP after Belinda Stronach called it quits last year.
Liberal candidate and former Aurora mayor Tim Jones and Conservative Lois Brown should produce a tight race.
But incumbents Peter Van Loan, Bryon Wilfert, John McCallum, Lui Temelkovski and Maurizio Bevilacqua are firmly entrenched.
However, Thornhill is shaping up as a wildcard where former newsman Peter Kent is taking a run Liberal incumbent Susan Kadis.