After a weekend of parties, a strong endorsement of their leader, and a newly minted policy platform which pushes them towards the political centre, Conservatives say their Liberal opponents can no longer paint them as the scary bogeyman of Canadian politics.
Liberals did that, of course, during the last federal election with considerable success. Tories, and Leader Stephen Harper particularly, were accused of having hidden agendas and that they would use the “notwishtanding clause” to override individual rights.
“The Liberals will continue to run on that,” Harper said during an exclusive interview on CTV’s Question Period. “They have nothing else to run on. They're not going to run on their record and they're certainly not going to run on all their broken promises.”
Deputy Leader Peter MacKay, also speaking on Question Period, echoed that statement. “We're less susceptible to accusations of not having policies or hidden agendas — all of that nonsense can be answered very quickly now.”
In fact, Harper says its the Liberals who have the hidden agenda now. Two weeks ago, at the Liberal policy convention, Liberal delegates voted in favour of adding new policies for the party that would legalize prostitution and would legalize marijuana. Prime Minister Paul Martin, though, said he would not legalize prostitution and the government is already in the midst of “decriminalizing” marijuana possession but has no plans to make it legal.
“Mr. Martin claims one thing and then his own party goes out and says it's for legalizing prostitution and for legalizing drugs,” Harper said. “I think the problem with the hidden agenda is going to be Mr. Martin explaining why what his party says is different than what he always says.”
There’s lots more post-convention stuff here, much of it exclusive to CTV. Look for the video links down the right-hand side of the page you’ll be taken to and you can watch the entire interview with Harper; MacKay’s appearance on Canada AM and, of course, watch the piece I filed Sunday night for CTV National News.