Gordon

Chantal Hebert has a dy-no-mite column today explaining why Harper was so happy to punt the question of EI reform to the blue-ribbon panel. I thought the intervention by the western premiers was interesting, and halfway welcome. On the one hand, I agree entirely with Gordon Campbell’s assessment: we already have an equalization program, and EI should not be used to prop up economically stagnant parts of the country. But then he turned around and proposed a dual national standard for EI qualification: One for urban areas, another for rural areas that are dependent on declining resource industries.

The last fugitive traces of this report on the future of post-secondary education in BC, which sought to make the province the most highly-educated jurisdiction in the world by 2020; was released only two years ago; and was forgotten within weeks of its publication. For this reason alone, I would certainly not vote Liberal if I were voting in the B.C. election this year; I suppose it would come down to the NDP or spoiling my ballot.