Martin vs. the Yanks

As with appointment of judges, third-party election advertising and health-care reform, Paul Martin and the Liberals intend to shut down debate over taxation by raising the spectre of the dreaded Yankees:

After pledging to develop a more sophisticated relationship with the United States, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin defined his election platform on Monday largely as being un-American.

The Liberal leader appeared to cast aside his record as a tax-cutter and declared Canada could not afford large tax reductions but would instead pour money into health and social programs under his leadership.

"We are different than the United States. We want to be different than the United States. We want to be Canada, and we are Canadians and we're very proud of it," he told a rally on the first full day of his campaign on June 28.

"You can't have a health care system like Canada's, you can't have social programs like Canada's, with taxation levels like those in the United States."

Martin's chief opponent, Conservative leader Stephen Harper, attacked him for making higher taxes a defining issue.

"Any government that thinks this country is defined by higher taxes deserves to be defeated and overthrown," Harper told a crowd in Smiths Falls, in eastern Ontario, a rural area where Liberal seats are up for grabs.
[...]
The contrast with the Liberals' campaign in 2000, when they had sought to steal the fire from Conservative opponents by introducing massive tax cuts, could hardly have been starker.

Martin was finance minister at the time and he ushered in C$100 billion ($75 billion) in tax cuts, the largest in Canadian history, days before Chretien called the election.

"This is a different time. These are different circumstances," Martin told a rally on Prince Edward Island, an Atlantic province where he hopes to keep Liberal dominance.

My prediction: if the Liberals are really struggling in the polls, they'll release a television ad showing Stephen Harper morphing into George W. Bush. (And if Martin wins, that could lead to some interesting conversation at the Crawford ranch.)

Posted by damian at May 25, 2004 06:33 AM