Linkage

Someone's got to take the fall: Paul Wells may go on about Stars, but really, if today's federal Liberals need a theme song, it's got to be R.E.M.'s "Falls to Climb". When the movie comes out--you know, the one with Sean Connery as Jean Chrétien and Tom Selleck as Jean Brault--they're really going to have to get the rights.

To deal or not to deal: The NDP offered their support of the budget to the Liberals in exchange for the nixing of corporate tax cuts and funnelling that money into various underfunded programmes. Layton gave Martin twenty-four hours to make a decision (Paul Wells: "make a decision? you cruel, cruel man."). The first word was no, and then when everybody started talking about what a bad decision that had been, he changed his mind. (Way to make sure the Mr. Dithers label sticks *forever*.) My verdict: a big win for the NDP (though really, it would have been a win either way), a big sacrifice for the Liberals (as they've now made sure progressives will view the NDP as an alternative to the Liberals), a big annoyance for the Conservatives (as this may mean they can't call an election, depending on what the Independents decide), a possible big win for me, as I might be able to vote in this election yet. Good news all around.

Numbers, numbers: There's been a new poll since Martin's speech. Some high points: the majority of Canadians want to wait until the Gomery report for an election, the who-would-vote-for-whom data is unchanged, though the swell of Conservative support may have been stopped. Nothing too exciting here unless you're a polling geek like me.

Prescient idealistic pragmatists: This is what I wrote the day after the federal election last summer. Sometimes I scare myself.