Tom Axworthy on why the Liberals need to embrace the Marshall Plan

"Democracies survive on trust.... Thousands of individual Canadians made investment decisions based on the Conservative promise [not to tax
income trusts]. Individual investors and good-faith companies should not be penalized by the Conservative deception." Tom Axworthy

Tom Axworthy also noted that “Liberalism's dirty secret [and it is not so secret these days] is that government doesn't seem to work well much of the time,",

Such is the case with the Marshall Savings Plan. The Liberals profess they want to address Harper’s income trust fiasco for all the obvious reasons that demand that this absurdity be stopped now for the benefit of all Canadians, however the “Liberal Plan” is a mere hypothetical solution in the absence of an election which Ignatieff is stating will not happen this spring, making the Marshall Plan the only solution in the here and now. Failure on the part of Michael Ignatieff to call upon Harper to adopt the Marshall Plan in Budget 2010 will have three obvious and direct consequences to the Liberals and a fourth for Canadians:

(1) It will reveal that the Liberals are not sincere with respect to the Liberal Plan
(2) It will be an example of Liberalisms dirty secret (as Tom Axworthy calls it) that government (Liberalism?) doesn’t work
(3) The Ignatieff Liberals along with the Harper Conservatives will now be joined at the hip in OWNING all of the moral hazard associated will all the negative outcomes of “doing nothing”, following Budget 2010, like the next takeover of an income trust by a group like state owned Abu Dhabi Energy or state owned Korean National Oil Company or the next takeover of a Teranet by an OMERs who are exploiting the unlevel playing field between RRSPs and pensions that is resolved by the MSP.
(4) All Canadians will be the worse off.


Liberalism's 'dirty secret' - It doesn't always work

OTTAWA - On the eve of the Liberal leadership convention, the man
charged with leading the party's renewal process has dropped a bombshell
by questioning one of liberalism's key convictions -- that government
actually works.

By National Post,November 25, 2006

OTTAWA - On the eve of the Liberal leadership convention, the man
charged with leading the party's renewal process has dropped a bombshell
by questioning one of liberalism's key convictions -- that government
actually works.

*In a hard-hitting policy paper obtained by the National Post, Tom
Axworthy, a former top advisor to Pierre Trudeau, says there is an
"implementation gap" between what Liberal governments promise and what
they deliver.*

"Liberalism's dirty secret [and it is not so secret these days] is that
government doesn't seem to work well much of the time," he says, citing
such examples as the 800,000 potential immigrants waiting for their
applications to be processed; massive cost overruns at the gun registry;
lengthy procurement delays for military equipment; poor water quality on
aboriginal reserves; and the Jean Chretien Pledge to Africa Act, which
promised to produce generic drugs to help fight AIDS but has yet to
export a single pill.

Mr. Axworthy's paper also urges the Liberal party to:

- reject the Conservative motion on the nationhood of the Quebecois
because it has "no basis in logic."

- introduce security considerations to Investment Canada criteria to
ensure Canadian assets are not sold to state-owned Chinese companies.

- ensure human rights are raised with the Chinese Communist leadership
so they know such values are central to a relationship with Canada.

*- Reverse the Conservative decision on income trusts, grandfather
existing trusts and put a size cap on trusts with tax-exempt status;*

- Channel higher-education funding directly to students, in the form of
grants, rather than to provinces;

- Offer a Resources Security Pact with the United States, which
exchanges a guaranteed supply of Canadian oil for trade concessions; and

- Reform the party's internal structure by allowing local members to
decide how much funding is retained in the ridings and how much goes to
the central organization.

In the paper, Mr. Axworthy notes that without renewal, institutions
atrophy. "This is what has happened to the Liberal Party of Canada."

He says the party has lost sight of the core mission of philosophical
liberalism -- "to expand the life choices and life chances of every
individual."

The party's chosen instrument -- effective, responsive government -- no
longer works much of the time. Meanwhile, the voluntary organization of
the party "is losing credibility and seethes with discontent."

Mr. Axworthy makes clear the paper is a personal reflection and does not
constitute a consensus of the 30 or so task forces that reviewed all
aspects of the party's operations under his chairmanship.

While it may be just personal opinion, Mr. Axworthy is well regarded in
the party and his observations and recommendations are likely to carry
considerable weight at the party's convention in Montreal next week.

On the question of implementing promises, Mr. Axworthy says that
improving government effectiveness is crucial because one of the great
debates of the next election will be the Liberal argument for investment
versus the Conservatives' case for tax cuts and consumption.

"Liberals have a strong case to make to Canada that it is better to
invest than consume, but only if they can reassure Canadians that such
investments will be made in a timely and effective way."

On Quebec, he argues that restoring the party's credibility with
francophones is an essential task of renewal. He agrees with the author
of the renewal paper on federalism, former justice minister Martin
Cauchon, that the party should strive to recognize Quebec's worth and
its autonomy but should do so within the existing division of powers,
without reopening the Constitution.

He warns that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's motion recognizing the
Quebecois as a nation within Canada, and the Liberal party resolution
that calls for the province's status to be "officialized," will set off
a "cascading number of demands to put constitutional flesh on the
national bone."

"We are being drawn willy-nilly into the dead end of constitutional
negotiations.... In 2006, we are back to the future. Once again, though
more wearily, Liberals should take up the defence of One Canada against
the siren song of deux nations."

His warning is in stark contrast to the current party position; the
Liberal leadership has agreed to support the Harper motion, with almost
unanimous caucus backing.

Mr. Axworthy notes that the world is changing and suggests Canada's
reaction to this new "flat" world of three great powers -- the United
States, China and India -- will be its biggest challenge of the 21st
century.

He says Canada must secure its base in North America, proposing a
Resources Security Pact with a United States that is increasingly
worried about China locking up foreign energy resources. This proposal
may prove controversial with Liberals who prefer Canada conduct an
arm's-length relationship with the United States.

On China, Mr. Axworthy takes an uncompromising stance that appears to
endorse the line taken by Mr. Harper on his recent trip to the APEC
conference in Asia, when he insisted on speaking in a frank manner about
human rights issues with the Chinese.

Liberals in the House of Commons harshly criticized Mr. Harper,
suggesting he was endangering trade hopes. Mr. Axworthy notes that the
ruling Communist party "abuses its own people and supports autocracies
abroad." As a result, human rights should be raised on a regular basis
and Canadian assets should be protected from takeover by state-owned
Chinese companies, he says.

"Our strategy towards China should be engage but never kowtow."

He argues that Canada should regain the special relationship it once had
with India by supporting its membership in the United Nations Security
Council.

"A democratic India and a democratic Japan will be important
counterweights to an autocratic China," he says.

Mr. Axworthy maintains the Conservatives' income trust decision should
be reversed by a Liberal government.

"Democracies survive on trust.... Thousands of individual Canadians made
investment decisions based on the Conservative promise [not to tax
income trusts]. Individual investors and good-faith companies should not
be penalized by the Conservative deception."

He says a new Liberal government should grandfather existing trusts or
put a size cap on trusts with tax-exempt status, or extend the four-year
grace period.jivison@nationalpost.com