Tuesday, 08 June 2004
Prime ministerial behaviour unbecoming - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER - The news that Paul Martin is planning to send Governor General Adrienne Clarkson to represent Canada at the state funeral of Ronald Reagan this Friday, is mired in politics.
Having taken out a long weekend to travel to France, without the other federal political leaders who refused to take the PMO up on their invitation, to mark the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landing at Normandy, Prime Minister Martin is also cutting short his participation at the G8 Summit at Sea Island in Georgia by one day to return to the campaign trail.
The G8 Summit, a yearly gathering of world leaders is being held in Georgia, with leaders from the top eight industrial nations of the world: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The European Union and some other Middle Eastern countries show up to discuss world issues as well, and beginning today, bilateral talks between nations, and a dinner. The real talks happen Wednesday and Thursday. Thursday, when the leaders discuss, "peace support operations and sustainable development, including debt relief, fighting corruption, science and technology, Africa, famine and food insecurity, polio and HIV/AIDS," Paul Martin will not be in attendance. No, the Prime Minister will leave to return to the election fray. And perhaps he should, as Stephen Harper and Jack Layton have had an edge over Martin, being able to campaign cross-country while the Prime Minister is out of the country on Prime Ministerial business. Yet that is what his job is, to do the nation's prime ministerial business regardless of political exigencies at home.
The Prime Minister leaving the G8 summit when such subjects as African debt relief and HIV/AIDS are being discussed strikes me as odd, considering these are supposedly vital concerns of the Martin, especially since getting the endorsement of U2's Bono. This Prime Minister, both as finance minister, and when he was out of office, was a champion of such causes as sustainable development and fighting corruption in the African continent (yet, doing precious little in fighting corruption in Canada, one might add), that vamoosing from the G8 early to return to the campaign hustings strikes one as deeply political if not disingenuous. Perhaps, as the polls indicate, Mr. Martin won't have to worry about such issues as I'm sure these concerns will be taken up by a new prime minister.
It is obvious that the Liberal campaign is in disarray. Why couldn't Ralph Goodale, who was front and centre picking at the Conservative platform when it was released last week, or Anne McLellan (Martin's Deputy PM) take over the national campaign in Paul Martin's absence? It would be good for someone other than Martin to take the stage, making sure that some sort of succession mechanism is in place in the party, as well as, more importantly, that the Liberal face is not just Paul Martin, but at least one other person amongst the 308 Liberal hopefuls across the country. Or maybe McLellan is tied up trying to win her Edmonton seat, which has proved historically tenuous at best in previous election bids, or cabinet ministers like John McCallum and Judy Sgro are too busy heckling Stephen Harper at Conservative rallies, to campaign for the leader on a national stage.
What we are seeing is a strong campaign from those star candidates that Paul Martin either shoe-horned into ridings or appointed outright. These campaigns, in the traditional Liberal fashion, are regionally based. The message for Quebeckers isn't the same as that for Newfoundlanders or British Columbians. With the release of the Liberals so-called "made-in-BC" platform, it's clear that the star candidates in this province are really fighting a battle to win their own ridings, rather than proffer themselves to the general public to provide for a strong national government that's more than just the sum of its parts. The broad pan-Canadian vision that Joe Clark had been bleating about prior to the election is absent from the devil he knew, the Liberal Party.
Doubtless Her Excellency (along with former prime minister Brian Mulroney) will represent Canada and its peoples honourably and well at the Reagan funeral; however it is a tad disappointing, irrespective of politics that the Prime Minister couldn't be there as well. (And if we're discussing protocol, I wasn't the only one who found it curious and precedent setting that the Prime Minister was joined by both the Queen and the Governor General at Juno Beach for the D-Day commemoration.) It is reported today that Martin by not attending is distancing himself from the Americans, which is politically good for him in this campaign. If that's the case, which is highly plausible considering the tinges of anti-Americanism in the Canadian political psyche in both the Liberal and New Democratic parties, then it illustrates clearly the disarray within the Liberal campaign. By leaving the G8 early and dismissing the Reagan funeral, it seems that he doesn't want the job of being Prime Minister. Ditching the G8 for crass campaigning, and ducking the Reagan funeral for political leverage, is highly offensive for the Canadian people, who are being asked to vote for Paul Martin to be their Prime Minister yet again, when his actions in these two instances is less than prime ministerial.
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An archive of Joseph Planta's previous columns can be found by clicking HERE .