Values of Convenience

Brad Lavigne, the NDP strategist who appears every day on The War Rooms, a segment on CBC Politics, came up with an interesting expression today when discussing the Liberal Party.

The Liberals, especially when Susan Murray is speaking, like to attack the Conservatives for lacking a plan. The missing plan could be related to day-care or whatever but the point is that the Conservatives don't have a plan, they have an agenda. That agenda of course, is a hidden one.

What's fun about having the NDP around is that they are adept at skewering the Liberals as the Liberals put their strong face towards the Conservatives.

Brad responded to a question from the moderator, Don Murray, by stating that the Liberals like to differentiate themselves from the Conservatives in the sphere of values — the Libs have values, the Tories don't. Susan Murray interrupted to exclaim that was exactly right. The NDP strategist continued on to state that Liberal values are the values of convenience.

Well put and well delivered.

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p.s. The CBC is getting on the ball. This episode of Politics is already up on the net. The exchange occurs around 20 minutes in. Incidentally, the Tory strategist is Sandra Buckler.

p.p.s. My transcription of the exchange between Brad and Susan about a new Liberal advertisement:

“That ad is attempting to suggest that there is some fundamental value difference between Paul Martin and Stephen Harper.”

“You bet there is”

“Actually there is not.”

“You bet there is, Brad!”

“When you have, when you make working families wait twelve years for a programme, after three elections that you promised, and then you've got the courage to put that up on the screen?

“You do not have a national child-care plan.

“All you have done is walked around this country and handed out cheques to provinces and said, whatever you're doing in childcare now, continue to do it and you call it a national plan.

“We have what we're calling the values of convenience that are being perpetrated by Paul Martin.

“Here in a country where we have 1.1 million children who live in poverty, we saw them trying to suggest they're going to clean up the great lakes when their environmental plan is an abolute sham, after twelve years when they promised greenhouse gas emissions would go down 20% they've actually actually increased 24% … ”

p.p.p.s. One final aside, I don't think that Jack Layton's name was mentioned during the segment; kind of weird.