Friday, April 21, 2006

Kudos and a Question for Stephen Harper

Kudos to Stephen Harper for standing up for his government's daycare plan. The conservatives are bargaining from a position of strength while the Liberals look for a new leader. He should use the opportunity to get some of the toughest changes through.

Kudos also to the new government for their promise to support agriculture. They clearly recognize that agriculture is still a very important industry to our economy and that farmers need assistance dealing with some of the many challenges they are facing. Chuck Strahl will need to be careful to direct the funding in a way that will not cause more trade issues, or distort production decisions.

Now a question, the Globe&Mail reports that the Prime Minister will pre select nominations for committee chairs. Although there are strong arguments for this and I'm sure he will select very talented members of parliament, I'm still concerned. Weren't the Conservatives elected on a platform to improve our democracy? Centralizing power in the Prime Minister's Office at the expense of members of parliament means less democracy not more.

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