Sunday, November 30, 2008

Conservative machine stuck in reverse

Federal Transport Minister John Baird, now apparently reduced to the status of white flag-bearer, has just made another announcement on his government's behalf: the right to strike will not be taken away from federal public employees after all. The Conservatives' proposed assault on pay equity, however, hasn't yet come up. Maybe tomorrow.

Jim Flaherty stated this morning that he would bring
forward a budget on January 27. There's still no official talk of proroguing Parliament until then. But it's unlikely that a dribble of Conservative crumbs will assuage the opposition at this point. Coalition talks are still underway. Proroguing would just be postponing the inevitable. If anything, these concessions should embolden the other parties still further. Don't blow it, guys.

Meanwhile the Cons are out begging for money to prevent what the guardian of their war-chest, Irving Gerstein, is ludicrously calling the "hijacking of Canadian democracy." Perhaps the Blogging Tories should follow Ezra Levant's example, and install PayPal buttons. There's one born every minute, after all.

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