A sharp edge for the Ignatieff/Donolo Team

Two weeks before he was asked to join Michael Ignatieff's team, pollster Donolo had this to say about the tactics of the Liberal Party:

"He needs to find issues that have sharp edges to them and that serve as really sharp wedges between him and the government. And he needs riskier events to do that."

The Cat agrees with that advice, and offers a sharp edge for the Liberal leader and his new Chief of Staff to consider.

Harper's Tories are consistently winning headlines and beating the Liberals in the media war by coming up with new proposals every week or so on one of the topics which the voters see as being a Tory topic: crime.

And every time the Liberals splutter, mutter and then come out with a Me-Too chorus. Too late, too ineffective, and too reactive.

So let's use a sharply edged issue that will resonate with the public and which the Liberals can clearly own, with the Tories unlikely to get much traction on, due to their history of broken promises and questionable actions.

The sharp edge issue?

Making Parliament work.

The theme - Come out with a comprehensive, hard edged set of policies which the Liberal government will craft legislation on, designed around the theme: This is your Parliament, and we can do better.

New Accountability Act - Include a revised Accountability Act, with teeth in it; spell out the details.

Taxpayers' money - Include restrictions on the use of taxpayers' money by governments, so that political parties cannot use our money to advance their parties (for example: no cheques with PM names or party names or emblems; no wasted advertising which does not provide clearly defined information to voters about government programs, and end there; an independent body to have powers to investigate complaints by political parties and/or individuals of questionable advertising which might have breached the new rules, and claw back the wasted monies from the political party responsible for the waste).

TV in the House - Change the ability of the television cameras to show all of Parliament (including split screens), and not just the Speaker and MP speaking – this will show buffoons acting like buffoons and reduce the childishness we see so often.

MPs speaking - Provide for MPs to speak while sitting down (this reduces foolery).

Accountability Czar - Beef up the ability of an independent body to investigate, comment on and publish findings on the costs of proposed and current government initiatives, with the proper staffing and funding, and without Parliamentary interference. Set out very clearly what such a body can and cannot do. The Accountability Czar would also have the right to comment on the completeness of any government answers to questions raised during Question Period.

Best practices - Introduce steps which other parliaments have taken and which have improved their ability to represent their constituents. See my earlier posts for some suggestions.

Free votes - Legislate for more free votes in Parliament, without party whips riding herd on MPs.

Democratic reform - Commit to set up a process to decide on parliamentary reform, with a view to introducing legislation after a successful referendum, which provides for some form of modified proportional representation.

Gender fairness - Provide for additional public funding of political parties which field more female candidates as MPs, and which increase the number of female MPs in parliament.

Political promises - Legislate accountability for political platforms, by requiring parties to document a set of promise and policies prior to elections, and, if they become the government, to report to voters each year in a state of the nation report on their promises, their progress to achieving those promises, and their reasons for their failure to do so.

Election debates - Legislate a series of public debates between leaders of all parties which have achieved a national vote of at least three percent (3%) in the preceding election, with all television channels to air them and if needed the government to fund them; there should be at least five such debates, covering at least one hour each, with independent moderators; questions are to include questions selected at random from those submitted by Canadians to the moderators; and topics of each debate are to cover the major issues facing Canadians. The format is to provide for serious debate, without interruptions and gotcha nonsense.

Above all, be bold.

Harper will find it very difficult to defend against such a sharply edged issue, given his broken promises over the past few years, and current contemptuous use of our money.

And then make sure that the party hammers home this issue repeatedly, and in as many ways as possible, to ensure that it reaches past the filter of the lazy media to the ears of the voters.

How about it, Messrs Ignatieff and Donolo?