It seems more than a little ironic that Susan Delacourt, author of Juggernaut , should write this : "No human being could live up to the hyperbole that surrounded Martin's reputation all that time he was the Liberal heir-apparent and the darling of everyone at all points on the political spectrum."

UPDATE: The Toronto Star is reporting much larger numbers regarding both tax cuts and increases. More information will be available soon, when the NDP posts it's full platform online. UPDATE II: Apparently the the NDP's tax plan does not include $9.5 billion in tax increases, as originally posted, but actually nets $9.5 billion in increased taxes over five years. However, the vast majority of the NDP's tax measures are still revenue neutral, paying for tax reduction on middle- and ...

Prime Minister Paul Martin unveiled his healthcare platform yesterday. It was billed as a generational plan for Canadian Medicare. But the Liberal plan turns out to be little more than a numbers game -- and Martin still falls $700 million short of closing the Romanow gap. Let's get right to the Enron-style numbers. Until recently healthcare payments to the provinces were made through the Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST) which is now being split into the Canada Health Trans...

So, the Paul Martin Liberals have gotta brand spanking new ad . Go watch, I'll wait. While everything the ad says is true, it still manages to be shamelessly dishonest. This is the same Paul Martin that said Canadian taxes "must continue to come down" to ensure our tax rates are competitive with those in the United States . The same Paul Martin that said Canada's corporate taxes and capital gains taxes should be "lower than the United States". The same Paul Martin ...

Well, the funniest line of the campaign so far has got to be from the NDP's " Reality Check ": "The Liberals are right about one thing: Jack Layton's campaign launch was a show - it was a show that Canadians will stand with a party that is standing up for the issues that matter to them, like public health care, the environment, and education." "Not everybody's campaign launch has to look like a funeral. But that's what you do when you are trying to bury something -- like the Li...

Ian Welsh , the moderate conservative blogger at Tilting at Windmills and BlogsCanada eGroup , offers these thoughts as the election begins: "I’ve only seen Jack Layton once. It was budget time in Toronto and I thought I’d go watch city council in session. I arrived late in the day, after work, to one of those interminable sessions where citizens give depositions to the city government...." "Most of the people obviously cared a great deal. One man had an entire box of docu...

Horse Race : Good: "A new Ipsos-Reid poll, conducted for The Globe and Mail and CTV this week, showed the Liberals falling four percentage points to 35 per cent..." Better: "The Ipsos-Reid poll also shows the New Democratic Party, not the Conservatives, picking up the support that the Liberals are losing...." Best: "The Liberal strategy of painting Conservative Leader Stephen Harper as scary is ineffective because respondents do not think he wil...

As we all know , Liberals and Conservatives launched attack websites against one another this week, StephenHarperSaid.ca and TeamMartinSaid.ca . The Liberals' launched their website in support of a negative ad campaign, meant to get out ahead of Stephen Harper. But the Conservatives taught Team Martin a lesson in quick response: the Tories' site went online Tuesday morning -- just as the major newspaper's began covering the original, Liberal ads. Now the Conservatives have redoub...

Medisys, Paul Martin's private healthcare provider, was apparently amongst those Jean Chrétien threatened to have shutdown in 2000: "Yesterday, echoing earlier warnings by federal Health Minister Alan Rock, Prime Minister Jean Chretien threatened to penalize Quebec and other provinces that allow private clinics to do magnetic resonance imaging." Quoted in defence of two-tier healthcare is one Sheldon Elman, CEO of Medisys and personal physician to Paul Martin : ...

Two weeks ago, Canadians learned that Paul Martin frequents a Montreal based private healthcare provider . It appears, however, that Medisys -- Martin's clinic -- not only provides private medical services, but may be exploiting a Medicare loophole allowing it to practice outright two-tier healthcare. Martin claims that his own treatments at Medisys are all covered under Medicare; however, many patients may not be so lucky. Here's how it works. Medisys offers expensive executive ...

Sy Hersh blows the Abu Ghraib prison torture story wide open. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Under-Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen Cambone approved a black ops interrogation program to used in Iraqi prisons -- a program originally designed for use against high-level Al Qaida terrorists: "The roots of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal lie not in the criminal inclinations of a few Army reservists but in a decision, approved last year by Secretary of Defense ...

My suggestion for a positive NDP ad: Exterior, Parliament Hill. An offset, medium-wide shot of Layton. Bright, blue sky, blown out. LAYTON: I believe that this is the greatest country in the world -- and we have a positive vision for Canada. LAYTON: But most Canadians are working harder than ever, just to get by. And too many are still left behind. LAYTON: We can choose a vision that says: 'This is the best we can do. Some people win, some people lose.' LAYTON: Or,...

This is rich .

My suggestion for a comparative NDP ad: Auditorium. Out of focus crowd in foreground and background. Deep-background lite with deep, dark orange gels. Layton at a podium. Picture letterboxed. LAYTON: [ briskly ] At a time when our hospitals, our students, our cities, our environment are being straved... LAYTON: At a time when our world is in chaos... LAYTON: The new Liberal Party promised us a 'bold new vision'... LAYTON: [ amused ] Is this it? LAYTON: [ calml...

My suggestion for a negative NDP ad: CHYRON: [ blue on black ] "Blue Liberal" Blue tint, blue trim, waving blue Canadian flag. Upbeat music. VOICE OVER: Prime Minister Paul Martin. VOICE OVER: Conservative MP Scott Brison has joined his team. B-roll of Paul Martin with Scott Brison. VOICE OVER: Former Conservative Premier Ernie Eves says 'He gets it'. B-roll of Martin and Eves. Blue trim still waving. VOICE OVER: And Alberta's chief Conservative Ralph K...