While Paul Martin was campaigning with CaW president Buzz Hargrove in Strathroy Ontario, Hargrove urged Canadians to do anything they can to stop "Scary" Stephen Harper from forming the next government. When a reporter asked if that included Quebeckers voting for the separatist Bloc, Hargrove said, "even if that means supporting the separatist Bloc Quebecois. The union leader added, "He's [Harper] is talking the same language as a separatist".
Hargrove later clarified the statement by saying that Harper is a federalist but is playing into the hands of separatists. Martin did a little dance but refused to distance himself from his new best friend. This is hardly surprising since Paul's last best friend was Bloc co-founder and now Transport Minister, Jean Lapierre. Martin said, "I have large differences with Stephen Harper, but I have never doubted his patriotism."
Martin's never doubting Harper's patriotism has been one of the big lies of the campaign.
Paul Martin has always cast dispersions on Stephen Harper's patriotism. It began in the 2004 campaign when Martin spoke of values. He made Liberal Party values synonymous with Canadian values, thereby implying that anyone one (not just the Conservative Party) who espouses different values from those that he holds was "un-Canadian". It's only those on the right who earned the tag "un-Canadian". Those who are supporters of the socialist NDP share the same values. If they didn't, Martin wouldn't have allowed Jack Layton the opportunity to be co-prime minister during the last parliament and pass a budget. If you need further proof of their shared values, both Martin and Layton are spending the last days of the campaign fighting over the same voters.
During the present campaign, the Liberals ran an ad implying that Stephen Harper was receiving money from "ultra right" americans. In much the same way that we were to imply that a Harper government would put "soldiers with guns" on the streets of cities to be used against Canadian citizens, the "ultra right" ad strongly inferred that Harper has more loyalty to the United States than he does to Canada.
One of the reasons that Martin and his Liberals are doing so poorly in this campaign is that the allegations of lack of patriotism are not confined to Harper and his party; they are directed at all Canadians who would like to see the Conservatives come into power. Not only are these Canadians accused of being un-patriotic but they are treated as if they are total idiots.
When Martin's communications flak, Scott Reid, opposed the Conservative Party's proposal to give parents $1,200 for each child they had under the age of six on the grounds that the parents would just spend the money on beer and popcorn, very few people believed he wasn't speaking for the Liberal Party. Paul Martin and his party have utter contempt for those who hold views that are fundamentality (Paul loves that word fundamental) from the Liberals' view.
Martin's campaign should be contrasted with the one that Jack Layton is running. Layton has never attacked Harper's patriotism; he merely says that Stephen Harper is wrong. That's the way campaigns should be run.
If Martin really disagreed with what Hargrove said, he would have severed his new but intense relationship with him. although Martin tried to distance himself from Hargrove's remarks, the CaW leader is still a valued member of the Liberal team.
Those of us that verge on the cynical might even think that the Buzzy and Paul were playing good cop/bad cop. It's something to consider.
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