Recently someone posed a question to me that I found more than a little interesting in both concept and potential.
Why doesn't Premier Danny Williams' office abandon its Anyone but Conservative (ABC) federal campaign and publicly support a locally managed party that's answerable locally rather than at to a national body?
Indeed I immediately thought, why not?
Wouldn't that be a much more postive approach than "Anyone but Conservative? Wouldn't it be more likely to lead to real change in the way Ottawa has to deal with the province?
Wouldn't such a positive move have a better possibility success than the current negative campaign?
Recent poll numbers show the Premier's approval rating at 80%. This, combined with his almost "star like" appeal with many voters in the Province puts him in a unique position in our political history.
As such a popular leader, Danny Williams has the tools at his disposal to quickly and effectively take a locally focused new federal party from being a complete unknown to an immediate success on the campaign trail.
For years the people of Quebec have understood the value of electing a federal party answerable to the province, rather than federal party leaders. They clearly understand that in order to make federal MPs listen to your concerns and fight for them on the Hill, even when an election is not looming, you need to ensure that those MPs are beholding to you and you alone.
Perhaps the status quo is working on some level in other parts of Canada, but it's clearly not working in Newfoundland and Labrador. There are too many events in the historical record of this place that prove otherwise.
With Premier Williams already talking publicly about defeating the federal Conservatives on the local scene in the next federal election, what possible reason could he have for not taking the campaign one step further and throwing his full support behind an alternative party?
If, as Williams says, he is determined that the Conservatives not win a single seat in Newfoundland and Labrador in the next election then who does he expect the voters to turn to?
As a Progressive Conservative he is not asking voters to turn to another national party is he?
Where then does he expect those who would follow his lead to mark their X?
Surely he doesn't expect people to stay at home and give up the only chance most ever have to influence their political future?
By offering a negative campaign (with no option available to those who wish to participate), Premier Williams is single handedly undermining his own position rather than ensuring its effectiveness.
By not supporting a new party voice on the national scene, a valuable opportunity for the province's future is being missed and the chances of his ABC campaign being successful are severely diminished.
Nobody doubts the intelligence of the province's Premier. He's shown he can out maneuver even the best strategic political, business and legal thinkers when the situation calls for it, but this apparently directionless approach to "ABC" has started the rumor mill turning in earnest.
The question now being whispered is whether Premier Williams is really out to defeat Stephen Harper's Conservatives in Newfoundland and Labrador or if all the bombast of past months was just a means to make a point?
