Editorial

Still waiting for the election call

They thought it would be a cakewalk. The Liberals, that is.
Prime Minister Paul Martin and his freshly-scrubbed band of henchmen thought an election would be a walk in the park with the new Conservative party in ‘creation’ mode. We’d hazard a guess they believed that even their neophyte caucus could easily out-perform the fledgling party at the polls without too much effort.
That is, until Auditor General Sheila Fraser delivered her damning report on the millions of dollars that found their way into the pockets of Liberal friends and acquaintances as the feds launched the sponsorship program. All of a sudden, the Conservatives didn’t appear nearly so rushed to get their ducks in order and game plan laid out for the election that Martin originally planned to spring on his opponents as soon as the new leader as the new party names its new leader — if not sooner.
But caught with its proverbial pants drooped somewhere around the top of its runners, the Grit election machine slipped into what looked an awful lot like stall mode. Suddenly Martin’s almost imperceptible cocksureness faded and the election that was penciled in on April calendars seemed to move south – perhaps as far south as October – or maybe even 2005.
And while he waits for the call, Athabasca MP David Chatters says Martin will have to make the call sometime this year – preferably sooner than later – if he hopes to avoid the fallout, the bottom line.
The bad news is being unveiled almost daily, says Chatters, and the PM’s mantra has become, “That matter is under investigation,” as he side steps the tough questions. But investigations can’t last forever, and the findings could come back to bite Martin in the butt is he doesn’t make the election call soon.
But the PM could be offering some mitigating moves if he’s truly serious about cleaning up what’s becoming a very tarnished image for the Liberals, says Chatters. Those could pave the way toward a relatively clean slate as he leads his troops in to election mode.
But the way it looks from here, the hot seat will only get hotter as Martin stalls, waiting for the perfect time to drop the writ. At his age, we’d think he’s realized that day dreaming about miracles is not gonna make them happen.
We agree with our MP that it’s time to get the show on the road.

We’re gonna miss him
And speaking of distinguished Members of Parliament, we’re going to miss the fine representation we’ve enjoyed in Ottawa during the past decade.
We’re not meaning to pre-judge or comment on any situation. But just for the record, we do applaud and thank Dave Chatters for a job well done.
Being first a back-bencher, then an Opposition member has got to be very frustrating But while his proverbial hands were tied in many areas, our MP lived up to his promise to do what he could in every situation and with every request.
No job was ever too big --or small -- for his utmost attention. And Chatters made sure the outcome was the best it could be, given the respective situations.
The riding’s nominating meeting for the new Conservative party hosted in this community left us with a funny feeling.
It had nothing to do with the people or personalities involved. We’re sure each of the candidates is just as serious about standing up for the constituency as Chatters. But things will never be the same.