Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Ottawa: The PM: After the first six months

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Ottawa: The PM: After the first six months

    The PM: After the first six months

    Windsor Star (Ontario)
    June 2, 2004 Wednesday Final Edition

    Prime Minister Paul Martin, like all politicians mired in an election
    campaign, is running on a slew of promises. In his first week on the
    hustings, Martin promised to hand cities at least $2 billion annually
    from the federal gasoline tax and dump nine billion new dollars into
    health care without raising taxes or introducing premiums to pay
    for either.

    But promises come cheap. Ontarians learned that the hard way when
    Premier Dalton McGuinty whacked them with the biggest tax hike in a
    decade just months after vowing on the stump to not raise taxes and
    to balance the books.

    With that in mind, prudent voters have no choice but to assess
    politicians -- particularly those who've governed and had the chance
    to make changes -- on past performances just as much as future pledges.

    So how does Martin's performance stack up? What did he accomplish in
    his 163 days as prime minister before dropping the writ that might
    convince Canadians to vote for him?

    Sadly, very little. First, Parliament under Martin was a legislative
    wasteland. His government passed only one major new bill -- a piece
    of legislation handing municipalities a 100-per-cent rebate on
    the GST. Most of the other bills it passed, like one to establish
    independent ethics officers for the House and Senate and another to
    change the Patent Act so generic companies could sell cheap AIDS drugs
    to Africa, were recycled offerings introduced in Jean Chretien's final
    term. The few major bills Martin's government actually introduced
    died on the order paper when the election was called.

    Second, Martin failed to slay what he termed the "democratic
    deficit." He consulted with more people, more often, to be sure; but
    his efforts at democratic reform were half-baked. After promising more
    free votes in the House, he cracked the whip on a vote to continue
    funding the rifle and shotgun registry and forbade his cabinet
    ministers from voting in favour of a motion condemning Turkey for
    the 1915 Armenian genocide. On the Supreme Court front, Martin hasn't
    given any clear indication how he'll pick judges, despite the fact two
    vacancies are pending. Martin gave no indication he's about to engage
    in meaningful Senate reform that would take the appointment process out
    of the PMO. And Martin's plans to expand the powers of parliamentary
    committees produced only the farce that was the sponsorship hearings.

    That brings us to another of Martin's failures. He bungled the
    investigation into the advertising money scandal. After he pledged
    to get to the bottom of the mess, the Liberal majority on the public
    accounts committee cut short its inquiry into the alleged scam 12
    days before the election call.

    All this ignores a host of other positive changes Martin might have
    made as prime minister. He could have scrapped the gun registry, began
    work on Senate reform and started the ball rolling on a much-needed
    retooling of the High Court. But he didn't. Overall, he has little
    to show for nearly six months at the country's helm.

    A Martin performance review would be unfair and incomplete if it
    ignored his nearly nine years as finance minister. As a fiscal manager
    he did trim spending and cut taxes to revitalize Canada's economy
    and balance the country's books for five straight years. But his
    record was hardly blemish free. His balanced budgets were largely the
    result of slashed transfer payments to the provinces. The sponsorship,
    HRDC and gun registry fiascos occurred on his watch.

    Since winning the top job, Martin has proved relatively inept; he
    talks a good game but takes no action.

    For that reason Canadians are right to question if Martin might not
    be better suited to playing second fiddle than leading the band. At
    the very least they have to question the veracity of his election
    promises. He hasn't delivered as prime minister. Canadians have a
    right to wonder if Martin would morph into the mailman if re-elected.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Working...
X