The first week of the federal election campaign was all about denial. Verbal contortions to avoid linkages with unpopular figures are stretching the limits of even the cynical concept “plausible deniability.” The importance of high profile endorsements seems to have been eclipsed by the centrality of high profile disassociations, with the notable exception being that everyone wants their picture taken with Calgary Flames captain Jerome Iginla.

Stephen Harper’s favourite line when preaching to his choir at campaign rallies last week was that Paul Martin “claims to have never met Jean Chrétien” during his tenure as finance minister, as Martin pleads ignorance and pledges to relegate the sponsorship cronyism to history.

Harper, though, could easily be accused of claiming to have never met Stockwell Day or Preston Manning, as he tries to Reform his “new” Conservative party into a more palatable cross-Canada and Québec ruling party. (Hence, the resignation of Scott Reid from his post as Conservative language critic after he called for cuts to minority language programs.) You might also think Harper had never met Ralph Klein or Mike Harris, as he stridently assures us of his unwavering support for public health care and opposition to a two-tiered, increasingly privatized system.

Martin, for his part, would envy the electoral free ride that his predecessor had in 1997 and 2000. The new prime minister is hampered by the widespread opposition to (neo)Liberal governments in Québec and British Columbia and, more recently, by resentment of Dalton McGuinty’s budget in Ontario. The cuts of Jean Charest and Gordon Campbell, in particular, have sparked province-wide protest movements. Martin is eager to make voters forget his statement last year that Gordon Campbell is “my kind of Liberal.”

In B.C., few will be fooled by the efforts to separate the provincial and federal Liberals. After all, Paul Martin’s campaign director in B.C. is none other than Mark Marissen, the husband of B.C.’s deputy premier, Christy Clark. Marissen, the quintessential party hack, is so connected among west coast Liberals that The Globe and Mail even spoofed Kevin Bacon with a “six degrees of separation of Mark Marissen.” Some of the connections made by The Globe December 31, 2003 worth reviewing in the context of current election spin are:

  • David Basi [fired in wake of B.C. legislature raids] is a friend of Mark Marissen and worked for Gary Collins, the [B.C.] Finance Minister.
  • Bruce Clark, Christy Clark’s brother, was the chief fundraiser in B.C. for Martin, during the leadership campaign.
  • Mark Marissen is Paul Martin’s campaign director in British Columbia. He was his campaign director during the Liberal leadership campaign as well.

Jack Layton, for his part, could only be indicted for feigning to have never met, or read, Karl Marx, or even John Maynard Keynes. Layton has been happily aligning himself with provincial NDP governments in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and with the increasingly reborn and popular opposition in B.C. The party’s federal platform, unveiled last week in Toronto, was at pains to propose only modest taxation increases on corporations and the wealthy to fund investment in public health care and important initiatives like opening new child care spaces and funding improved accessibility to post-secondary education. These polite encroachments on capital’s prerogatives were delivered with Layton’s promise of five straight balanced budgets.

Nevertheless, many were quick to pounce on Layton for retaining policies of the “old NDP,” an apparently pejorative term to describe even modest efforts to redistribute wealth. The Province headline screamed “NDP Wants to Hike Taxes” May 27, ignoring the party’s promises to eliminate all tax on low-income earners ($15,000 and under), to increase the child tax credit, and to scrap the GST on family essentials.

Layton and Martin also figured into the opening “controversy” of the campaign, after the NDP leader told a rally he held the prime minister responsible for increased homelessness and deaths due to inadequate housing, due to the severe cuts to social housing implemented by the then finance minister. Martin, who for years has taken personal credit for producing budget surpluses, demanded an apology, denying the accusation that he was somehow responsible for the predictable results of his own policies.

Soon George Bush will be demanding an apology from those accusing him of being somehow responsible for the deaths of thousands of Iraqis and hundreds of American GIs.

The prime minister, it seems, has taken denial the furthest. Not only does he want to avoid association with unpopular Liberal premiers, he now also seeks to avoid any links with the consequences of his own policies. The federal government sets the country’s agenda, and Paul Martin’s years of cuts to transfer payments for health and education have undeniably paved the way for provincial regimes like that of the B.C. Liberals, with all the consequences — including impoverishment and premature death — that their cuts have entailed.

Derrick O'Keefe

Derrick O'Keefe

Derrick O'Keefe is a writer in Vancouver, B.C. He served as rabble.ca's editor from 2012 to 2013 and from 2008 to 2009.