Today  the liberal friendly working families coalition launched a new series of negative ads  . For those who think calling the WFC a liberal front group is  just another over exaggeration.. back in 2007 the WFC had a fairly public squabble with unions who did not  back  the Liberals  instead opted to support their traditional ally the NDP.

From  Toronto Star 
On July 20, Pat Dillon of the provincial building trades council wrote an accusatory letter to Michael Lewis, brother of former provincial NDP leader Stephen and a former Steelworkers official. Dillon accused Lewis of actively discouraging other unions from joining the working families group.

In his letter, Dillon recalled “the great harm done” by the Conservative regime under Mike Harris and Ernie Eves and declared: “Instead of trying to undermine the only effective voice for working people in Ontario, you should be focusing your efforts in trying to prevent a repeat of the Harris-Eves era.”

Dillon also complained that the NDP had appropriated the “working families” brand name for its own campaign slogan (“a fair deal for working families”).

Lewis responded in writing last week with a stinging rebuttal that said only the NDP could be counted on to advance labour’s agenda.

“There are some unions that see things differently, some who would support the Liberals for short-term gains,” wrote Lewis.

“I believe that these unions are mistaken if they think that this promotes the interests of working families.”

Lewis also mocked Dillon’s suggestion that the NDP had stolen the “working families” brand.

“Long before the working families coalition was a gleam in Don Guy’s eye, the NDP has been speaking about and fighting for working families right across Canada,” wrote Lewis.

Don Guy is the Liberal campaign director. He is also president of a polling firm that has done work for the working families coalition.

Pointing to this and other connections with the Liberals, the Conservatives have suggested that the working families coalition is just a Liberal front created to circumvent campaign spending restrictions. A formal complaint has been filed by the Conservatives with the chief election officer and is under investigation.

But the Lewis/Dillon exchange shows that the battle over the working families coalition is being waged not just between the Liberals and Conservatives but also within the labour movement, where the two letters have been widely circulated.

If the WFC was standing up for families why would they concern themselves with further splitting the union vote in Ontario?

If this commentary from a self-described undecided  voter is any indication the Liberals are really in trouble.

From  Times and Transcript

Liberal Party bashing among pundits lately appears to have become a sport, which itself ought to be a strong cautionary sign for the party. After all this includes a lot of people who are more sympathetic to the Liberal Party than any other . . . or once were.

But then, never has the self-styled ‘natural governing party’ been so out of touch with voters. Never have its MPs and closest advisers appeared so clueless about what to do.

If ever a political party needed a blood transfusion, it’s this one. Instead, it lives on inflated false confidence that everyone knows they are the ones who should be running the nation (ignoring two election defeats) and that all they have to do is throw enough mud at the PM and glory days will return.

It’s delusional. Never mind the lame duck leader. (Great unanswered question: why would somebody so intelligent and well informed – Michael Ignatieff is both – stick to hackneyed Party scripts and myths rather than actually lead it where it needs to go?) Despite failure after failure at attempts to create scandal out of stuff only politicians and policy wonks in Ottawa’s cocoon could work up more than a yawn about, the tactics remain unchanged. So the party comes off as arrogant (‘we know what’s best, not you’), power hungry to the point of desperation (and silliness) and still lacks a coherent platform or vision. For most, the tattered Liberal ethos from the late 1960s is little more than a curiosity 40 years later. If the Liberals do end up governing anytime soon, it will most likely be via an accident in how votes split or thanks to a massive error by the Conservatives unlike any they’ve committed to date. Hardly a ringing endorsement!

I’ve said this before and much of the reaction I’ve had or heard from Liberals (and sometimes small-l liberals) has been simply more mud-slinging: suggestions yours truly is just a conservative ideologue. It’s an occupational hazard. Yet, every election I make a choice, and often vote differently than in the previous election – the kind of voter political parties and pollsters who seek certainty hate. That’s another way of saying the Liberals could get my vote, if . . . Here’s a sampling of the sort of things that might do it:

* Drop the knee-jerk ideological devotion to hugely expensive nanny state social programs backed primarily by special interest groups. Devise a workable plan to ensure the programs we have now, particularly health care and CPP, do not end up bankrupting us or being ruined because we can’t afford them.

[Read the Rest]

This quote is taken from  the West Wing It perfectly illustrates the liberal approach to the economy.

[Donna and Josh are discussing what should be done with the budget surplus]
Donna Moss: What’s wrong with me getting my money back?
Josh Lyman: You won’t spend it right.
Donna Moss: What do you mean?
Josh Lyman: Let’s say your cut of the surplus is $700. I want to take your money, combine it with everybody else’s money and use it to pay down the debt and further endow Social Security. What do you want to do with it?
Donna Moss: Buy a DVD player.
Josh Lyman: See?
Donna Moss: But my $700 is helping employ the people who manufacture and sell DVD players, not to mention the people who manufacture and sell DVDs. It’s the natural evolution of a market economy.
Josh Lyman: The problem is the DVD player you buy might be made in Japan.
Donna Moss: I’ll buy an American one.
Josh Lyman: We don’t trust you.
Donna Moss: Why not?
Josh Lyman: We’re Democrats.
Donna Moss: I want my money back.
Josh Lyman: You shouldn’t have voted for us.