The Election: Day Fourteen

The Liberals were still wiping egg off their faces today after Scott Reid's "beer and popcorn" remarks yesterday. All three opposition parties described the comments as characteristic Liberal arrogance and contempt for voters.

Caught in a bad spot Martin tried to deflect attention by bringing up Harper's position on same sex marriage and asking if he would invoke the Notwithstanding clause to override gay rights. He was not successful in diverting attention from Scott Reid's gaffe.

Meanwhile the NDP joined the child care debate.The NDP would create 275,000 child-care spaces across the country over the next four years, Jack Layton said.
Layton suggested that a national system based on the Quebec model be created. The party would spend $1.8 billion in the first year of the system and increase that amount by $250 million a year over the next three years. The NDP calculates that would be enough money to create 200,000 child-care spaces in the first year, and 25,000 more each year following.

Layton said he would introduce a child-care act that would spell out that federal funding would be spent only on "licensed, high-quality, non-profit child care."

The polls continue to bemuse me. I don't understand why the polls don't seem to reflect what is happening in the campaign.

Also this election was triggered because the Liberal government had lost "the moral authority to govern" as a result of Adcam etc. Apart from the Bloc's pursuit of this in Quebec, when are the Conservatives and the NDP going to remind voters of the Liberal track record of scandal? Someone should be playing Brault's testimony at the Gomery Commission, for example.