King Arthur Movie Tristan

Has Belinda Stronach crossed the floor again? I ask because how else to explain her very conservative (and Conservative) column in yesterdays National Post: The Real Issue Facing Canada: Competitiveness.

No kidding, a Stephen Harper complaint from years gone by, being espoused by Belinda Stronach. Too bad she can't reisist a bad dig to start up the column:

Some see it ( competitiveness ) as simply a synonym for lower corporate taxes and restricted wage growth.

We know who this is meant for, Conservatives, but it was Paul Martin and Jean Cretien who believed competitiveness was about lower taxes, especially when the Conservatives talked about it.

The juiciest bite in this article comes from this line, however:

Being competitive globally involves education, job skills, infrastructure, innovation, technology and regulation. It is an integrated package. Competitiveness is the result of a political philosophy that sets the balance between government and the private sector"

She's right, that philosophy is called conservatism. Stephen Harper has been preaching it for years.

Now remember back to when Belinda left the Conservatives because their lack of tolerance:

We have our priorities backwards. Other issues such as government accountability, lowering the GST and same sex marriage rights are secondary to making Canada competitive for the future.

Has she told this to Stephan Dion? She left the Conservatives supposedly because they didn't make same sex rights a priority. And what is Belinda's main accomplishment as a Liberal? The Pink Book:

Today, that voice is required more than ever as the Conservative government pursues an ideological agenda that ignores the needs of many women and cuts the funding of groups dedicated to those who need help most.

The Pink Book: A Policy Framework for Canada’s Future, Volume 1, describes a different direction – a progressive course that is essential not only to the advancement of Canadian women, but to the success of our country in the years ahead. We believe that a future Liberal government must focus its efforts on advancing the equality and economic status of women. Within this document you will find ideas and recommendations designed to achieve those goals – and to improve in other ways the lives of women and families across the nation...

Our ultimate goal is a better society for women and families – a society based on our Canadian values of justice and equality.

Yours sincerely,
Hon. Belinda Stronach, P.C., M.P. (Newmarket-Aurora)
Chair, National Liberal Women’s Caucus

That's just the introductory letter. The rest of it is loaded with non-competitive ideas and leftist buzzwords, things like pay equity and "$1 billion over five years towards the development
of a national caregiving agenda." It very certainly has it's "priorities backwards."

Based on this article, I 'd say Belinda is leaving politics, and heading back to Magna (perhaps my new boss at Chrysler). That's the only explanation why she's worried about productivity (buzz word for competitiveness) and not same sex marriage or Kyoto inmplementation (which is the opposite of increasing competitiveness).