You really have to wonder how much Freudian analysis should be given to Ken Dryden’s personnel, for coming up with the idea of A Big Canada as the title of their election platform. (You can click on the image to look at the PDF version of this document.)

Well, he’s certainly big on rhetoric:

WE ARE LEARNING BEINGS. That is what distinguishes us from other living things. From our first breath to our last, we learn. As individuals, we do – we see, hear, feel – we connect all this to other things we have learned, we learn some more, we adapt, we do it better. As companies, we do – we provide a service, make a product – we see, hear, feel – we connect all this to other things we have learned, we learn some more, we adapt, we do it better. We sell – the service, the product, the system, the technology we develop to provide the service or make the product. We learn some more. It is this learning and only this learning that will allow us to adapt to the impact of giants – of China and India – and keep us in the economic race to the top. (page 2)

Note that he doesn’t mention the United States as one of the giants. I suppose someone told him that being “America-friendly” wouldn’t be a vote-winner. In any case, does this prose strike you as being a bit on the windy side?

Okay, when the document talks about child care, it gets a bit vague apart from maybe reviving the Liberals’ old child-care scheme which basically meant big bucks and bureaucracy. Ditto post-secondary education although Dryden’s a bit more concrete here:
he wants to establish five government programs (i.e. bureaucracies) to give money to students.

As you go through the document, you can see that “big bucks and bureaucracy” are dominating Dryden’s platform, as in “there’s a problem? Let’s spend money and set up a program to deal with it!”

There’s pretty much only one aspect of the Canadian agenda when Dryden doesn’t use this sort of solution: discussing the Armed Forces and procurement. In fact, apart from some mumbling about maybe changing Canada’s military role in Afghanistan, he’s pretty silent on the topic. Ditto domestic responses on the War on Terror.

Dryden concludes by saying that his proposals will help the Liberals win the election. But the problem isn’t his proposals, it’s the attitude that they’re rooted in — the idea that a central government can and should solve all of society’s problems. Socially, it’s quite idealistic. Economically, however, it’s not responsible. If Dryden wants to know why he’s not being taken seriously as a Liberal front-runner, all he needs to do is take a closer look at what he’s just written, and ask himself how it’ll be paid for. I guarantee that most voters won’t like the answer.

I have to wonder if the Liberals really want a leader whose preferred solution to dealing with problems is to expand the bureaucracy. Of course Paul Martin as PM tended to operate the same way, and look where that got him . . .

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 5th, 2006 at 17:07 and is filed under Fisking Exercises, Libranos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.