Interim leader Bob Rae was here in BC Saturday stating his personal positions as party policy and once again has painted the Liberals into a few corners.
First, we heard from him on the Constitution:
He [Rae] claimed that the Conservative government led by Stephen Harper, on the other hand, believes that the provinces and Ottawa have different roles (see here)
Umm, how is it possible for a leader of a federal political party not to know that there are clear, distinct jurisdictional differences between the provinces and the federal government?
Then we had this gem on the native issue:
“As it gets closer to us it also has to be closer to our hearts and to our understanding, to extent that we have not embraced aboriginal culture, we have not understood First Nations history, we have not appreciated the loss, the indignity and the deep sense of injustice that now has to spur us to action.” (see here)
Rae is admitting to being clueless how to fix it and only mouths platitudes about a problem which his own party has allowed to continue for generations by shovelling money to the native politicians and others who have made a career out of keeping band members in poverty and misery.
Then to top off his visit he supported an oil tanker ban on the West Coast:
“The reason for the tanker ban, which (Pierre) Trudeau put into effect in the 1970s, was very clear. We want to make sure that the most dangerous waterways, or the ones where there is the greatest potential risk, are in fact protected — and that position hasn’t changed.” (see here)
Just don’t count on Rae getting back home to Ontario and calling for the same ban on East Coast tankers (including those on the St Lawrence Seaway) which imports oil from competing OPEC nations.
