Happy Tom

You're going to love him. At least when you get to know him:

The detailed poll of more than 4,500 voters, conducted for internal party purposes late last year, revealed Mr. Mulcair’s name-recognition level across Canada was dangerously low with less than one year to go to the general election, party sources acknowledged in recent interviews. The finding prompted a drastic change in Mr. Mulcair’s public appearances, bringing him increasingly out of his comfort zone in Parliament and into main-street Canada, such as a microbrewery in southern Ontario last week, to highlight his middle-class roots and hammer away at the highlights of the NDP’s platform.

But just in case you thought anything had really changed:

Mr. Mulcair is focusing his messaging on a few elements: subsidized daycare spaces across the country, a new $15 minimum wage for employees in federally regulated sectors, a reduced qualifying year for Old Age Security and help for small businesses.

Sour old wine in snazzy new bottles. 

Comments

[John Chittick]

So far the campaign is shaping up to be a competition to see which Party can offer the most free shiny objects to the human ballast that inhabits the "mushy middle". Even producers respond to such nonsense as if getting a small portion of their taxes back at horrendous transaction cost is an endeavor worthy of encouragement. This is the electorate reduced to the capacity of dancing monkeys.

The proper role of the state is that of part-time citizen legislators quivering in mortal fear of citizenry taking up arms against them at the slightest hint of such paternalism.