The Economist to Martin: "Go to sleep"

This has been noticed elsewhere, but I love it when the international press notices.....

THE last time a Canadian prime minister addressed the nation on prime-time television, in 1995, the country was in a crisis: Quebec was perilously close to voting to secede. On Thursday April 21st, it happened again: Paul Martin, the current prime minister, took to the airwaves to address the scandal that has enveloped his Liberal Party. Mr Martin made a sober but strongly worded case against rushing to judgment. But, as the leader of one opposition party noted: in 1995, Jean Chrétien was trying to save Canada; this time, Mr Martin is trying to save the Liberals.

That's right: Not after Grand Mere, Gagliano, Guite, Jane Stewart, HRDC, the gun registry, APEC, the Riot at the Hyatt.....

Nope: only when it was apparent that the Liberals were sinking in the polls did they decide that they had to "address the nation". It's funny that the arrogance of the Liberals means they mistake "Liberal Party Crisis" for a "Canadian Crisis".

Lame.

In his televised speech, Mr Martin bemoaned the fact that electoral calculations are distracting members of parliament from the business of improving Canadians’ lives. But the opposition leaders said the same thing, reminding voters that the scandal is of the Liberals’ own making, if not exactly Mr Martin’s.

No. Way.

Electoral calculations like "timing an election". The Liberals would never stoop to such tactics.

Thank god they only got a minority government.