people need to ask themselves whether one person can run a country

I am a little surprised to see so many polls showing the Conservatives with a strong lead, and a lead that seems to be holding quite well over the first week of the campaign. The latest Harris/Decima poll has the Conservatives at 41%, a number that would probably give them a majority. I do not think that Stephen Harper is a radical conservative who would destroy Canada, but I do think that his values are not in tune with the majority of Canadians. I think that a Conservative majority would do great damage to Canada’s cultural institutions, to the justice system, to the rights of women and minorities, and most importantly would mean no action on climate change that has any hope of having any real impact.

One question that no one seems to be asking is how would the Conservatives manage to run a majority government when they are so thin on reasonable cabinet talent. Harper has pretty much run his government as a one man show, and I think that the results have been poor for Canadians. With a majority, Harper could essentially do whatever he wants. Not even his cabinet would have much of a say in the direction that the government takes the country. The strongest performer in Harper’s cabinet was arguably David Emerson, and he is not seeking re-election. Jim Flaherty has been terrible at finance. Peter McKay seems to be all but ignored these days. The only strong cabinet minister left appears to be David Prentice.

The Liberals provide stark contrast to the Conservatives’ lack of cabinet talent. Stephane Dion himself has occupied several to cabinet posts. Bob Rae was premier of Ontario, Ujjal Dosanjh was premier of BC and a federal cabinet minister. Many of Chretien and Martin’s cabinet ministers are still members of the Liberal caucus. Martha Hall Findlay, though lacking in any government experience, is one of the most articulate and well respected women in Canadian politics today.

The largest liability facing the Liberals in this campaign, and over the past two years, has been their leader. Stephane Dion is an ineffective communicator in the English language (I unfortunately do not speak French so I cannot comment on how effective he is in his native tongue). What the Liberals have failed to do effectively so far in this campaign is highlight their team. Michael Ignatieff, Bob Rae, Gerard Kennedy, Martha Hall Findlay, Ujjal Dosanjh, Justin Trudeau, Ralph Goodale, just to list the names that I can think of off the top of my head, are all valuable assets for the Liberals. Show me one person in the Conservative ranks who has the depth of knowledge about foreign policy that Michael Ignatieff has. Dion’s personal numbers have been poor, and seem to be getting worse as he gets more and more media exposure during the campaign. I think it is time for the Liberals to give up on pumping up their leader, and focus on their team, a team that is lead by Stephane Dion for sure, but one that starkly contrasts to Harper and his weak ban of cohorLs.