Monday, April 4, 2011

Ignatieff (Also) Backs Development of Lower Churchill Dam

Ignatieff promises to develop Newfoundland's long sought after hydroelectric dam, but tries to distinguish himself from Harper in usual campaign rhetorical flourishes.


Basically Ignatieff seems to have thrown his support behind Harper's campaign promise while trying to question Harper's commitment to the plan. He also makes other technical quibblings about the deal that must have originated somewhere in the Liberal campaign think tanks. (For example, ignatieff notes the absence of a loan guarantee, while failing to note the original origin of this entire idea originally...) On the flipside, it also demonstrates the reactive quality of  Ignatieff's campaign, as the Conservatives put forth an idea the Liberals jump on afterwards.


Ignatieff also accused Harper of coming Green Energy only lately, which to me is a subtle reframe of the issue whereby Ignatieff can try to regain his primacy in this issue. Newfoundland is an important province for the Liberals, and cant afford to fall behind after the Conservatives' offered this especially popular proposal here.


He also speaks of ' sharing' the new power with Quebec - except that Quebeckers don't want the plan to go ahead because it well compete in HydroQC's export markets in New England. He also makes reference to Canada's under-performance and failure to achieve ' superpower' status - not sure where he's going with that.


In the end, Ignatieff has further demonstrated his inability to come up with his own ideas for economic development, and the Globe and Mail has tried to reinforce this frame.


(immediate disclaimer - I know National Post is just as guilty, and plan to point out some of their biases as well, but the Globe was the first one I read this morning)


Here's the link:
Campaign Notebook - The Globe and Mail

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