Angry in the Great White North
The Income Trust Scandal: The same old same old
Sunday, January 01, 2006 at 10:59 PM

Read other posts by Steve Janke published by the National Post
Leader

"the same old same old"

1. something that has not changed (Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms)
2. an attitude that potentially spells doom for Canada's Liberal Party

The new year opens with an Ipsos Reid poll showing the Conservatives and Liberals in a tie, but significantly, the Conservatives slightly ahead and the Liberals slightly behind.

And momentum is favouring the Conservatives.

What about attitudes?

With three weeks to go, attitudes are souring against the Liberals:

Just one-third of Canadians now agree with the statement "I'd be comfortable voting for Paul Martin and the Liberals in the next election because they will govern very differently next time due to the lessons they learned from the Gomery Inquiry"

That's down 7 percent from a week ago, when Paul Martin garnered more support.

Paul Martin scorched the Liberal Party landscape when he succeeded Jean Chretien. The entire cabinet was replaced. Chretien loyalists like Sheila Copps were hounded out of the party, or turfed at the 2004 election.

The goal was to make the new Liberal Party different from the old Liberal Party.

Why? The old Liberal Party was the party of corruption. The new Liberal Party is the party of integrity. That's what we were supposed to believe. The suspicion that the changes were driven by Paul Martin's desire to be surrounded by loyalists was unfair. This was about cleaning house and earning the trust of Canadians.

Canadians want change? Fine. Vote for the Liberals. They're different. They've changed.

The old Liberal Party was the party of Adscam.

The new Liberal Party is the party of ... um ... the Income Trust Scandal?

Not really all that different. And Canadians are realizing that. Last week 40% of Canadians bought that line. This week, it dropped to 33%. Next week? Who knows? But it's not trending well for the Liberals.

Old Liberal Party? New Liberal Party? Same old same old.

Main Story

Search for more opinions from Canadian bloggers on these related keywords