I think this is good news for the Liberal leadership campaign.
...There is a view that the party went too far to the right during Jean Chrétien's 10-year tenure. Most leadership candidates appear to be left of centre. Mr. Bevilacqua, however, is not. He is considered to be slightly right of centre, pushing for tax cuts when he was chairman of the House of Commons finance committee. In his speech tonight, insiders say, he will continue to promote his pro-growth and productivity strategy. But to balance that, he will also argue that the ability of the country to produce wealth is necessary to fund social programs, such as medicare and child care.
Being someone who is "slightly right of centre" myself I am glad that this viewpoint will be heard. Considering the source, and how many left of centre candidates there are, this voice wan't be heard very loudly but it is better than nothing. Besides, once Mr. Bevilacqua gets bashed in for being right of centre he can bring his fellow Blue Grits over to the last remaining centre-right party ;)
Comments (6)
He’s definitely left of centre. He wants to produce wealth for the purpose of perpetuating and expanding Nanny statism.
Posted by potato | April 19, 2006 8:45 AM
Posted on April 19, 2006 08:45
That Mr B can even say “produce wealth” without gagging makes him a right wing extremist … for a Liberal.
Posted by nomdenet | April 19, 2006 9:06 AM
Posted on April 19, 2006 09:06
And I thought child care was a basic function of the family unit. Here it’s been a social program all along. You learn something new every day.
Posted by Occam's Carbuncle | April 19, 2006 9:19 AM
Posted on April 19, 2006 09:19
I think the better answer is “Slightly right of the left” for Mr. Bevilacqua. It’s sad that he is in the minority. But — that being said, if the Liberals still want to defend minorities and disenfranchised people, a Blue Grit Liberal is about as minority and disenfranchised as anyone in Canada these days.
Posted by Roby | April 19, 2006 10:24 AM
Posted on April 19, 2006 10:24
OC, it was merely outsourced to families until government could drum up enough free cash to rightfully take it into the public sphere where it belongs.
Posted by lrC | April 19, 2006 2:40 PM
Posted on April 19, 2006 14:40
Mr. Bevilacqua is no champion of the Blue Grits. It’s a sad commentary on this leadership race. When Frank McKenna and John Manley dropped out, this race swung way to the left.
Way back in the day one of my friends got this crazy liberal candidate screaming & swearing at him, threatening physical violence and throwing Reform Party literature at him. That would be the same Mr. Bevilacqua.
You think the Dan McTeague’s and John MacKay’s are going to support this guy. Get real! Those MPs have no candidate in this race.
Posted by Anonymous | April 19, 2006 4:49 PM
Posted on April 19, 2006 16:49