So Just Who is PM Material Mr. Dithers?
Dear Editor:
So the man nicknamed “Mr. Dithers” by the prestigious British-based magazine, the Econonist, thinks that because Stephen Harper along with millions of Canadians supports the traditional definition of marriage Harper is not qualified to be PM. The magazine article slammed Martin for being indecisive and clearly creating “the impression that Canada’s top job is too big for him.” So the self-proclaimed “defender of the Charter” is once again wrapping himself in the Canadian flag and cranking up the familiar and tired old rhetoric we heard in the last election about him and the Liberal Party being the only legitimate defenders of Canada’s interests.
It’s not suprising that a Prime Minister and Party as bankrupt and bereft of new ideas as Martin and the Liberals have to continue to resort to fear and deception to hang on to power.
The truth is that the sponsorship scandal under the Liberals (Martin was the Finance Minister) has breathed new life into the sovereignty movement in Quebec which hardly puts Martin in a position to claim himself a “defender of Canada.” Martin did even support the Clarity Act while Stephen Harper did. It is also true that over 30 of Martin’s own MP’s support traditional marriage which according to Martin would disqualify any one of them seeking to be P.M.
Martin’s phony war of words with the Americans has done nothing to solve the softwood lumber dispute and relations with the U.S. have further deteriorated under his leadership or lack thereof. With full knowedge of Canada’s abysmal environmental record and our failure to come anywhere near keeping our own Kyoto committments Martin recently criticized the Americans for a poor record on climate control when in fact their record is significantly better than ours.
So the man who was going to “address the democratic defecit”, clean up the PMO and restore good relations with our biggest trading partner has managed to accomplish none of the above. I think Canadians are pretty good judges of who is PM material and will find Mr. Martin’scredentials sadly wanting on January 23rd.
Gerald R Hall
Nanoose Bay, B.C.
