Canadian Auto Workers president Buzz Hargrove has given Jack Layton his marching orders: keep supporting Paul Martin's government, at any price:
Mr. Hargrove, who heads the Canadian Auto Workers union, said yesterday that a number of issues are still waiting to be dealt with, including health care and a need to increase protection for pensioners.
"I don't think bringing down the government makes any sense," he said yesterday. "We should try to make the government work . . . there's just too much to be done to force an election."
No surprise that a big union boss is perfectly comfortable propping up a corrupt government with its hand in the till.
The problem, however, is that no one has figured out just what's so important for the Liberals to deal with that we can't have an election at this time. Not even the Liberals.
The oft-repeated mantra that "Canadians don't want an election at this time" is misleading at best and an outright lie at worst. Most people don't want an election at any time, any more than they want a root canal. Yet both procedures are necessary at the time and afterwards, people feel better for having gone through with them.
Moreover, who is inconvenienced by holding an election, other than the people who work on them? Elections aren't like snow storms: they don't block highways, shut down businesses and leave people trapped inside their homes.
The only people who don't want an election, once they think about what the question means, are the people who fear to face judgment.
But then, the Liberals have always mistaken themselves for the voice of the Canadian people.
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