Thinking about stuff

Business:

• Get Rid of the Performance Review! (It destroys morale, kills teamwork and hurts the bottom line. And that’s just for starters.)

Politics and Policy

• Child Care in Canada: An Introduction

Minor annoyance in Toronto’s parks — at least the ones around my house. The playgrounds have a sign that says No Dogs in Playground. But then a little farther inside the gate is the standard parks sign that includes the bit about all dogs must be on a leash. If you try to point out that dogs are not allowed (which I rarely do because usually the kids love to see the dog), the person points to the leash sign and says they have the dog on a leash.

Just about everyone seems to think that Stephanne Dion should resign today and that does seem to be the tradition in this situation (like firing the coach when the team misses the playoffs) but it’s not going to fix what’s wrong with the Liberal Party.

The Liberals are significantly less popular than the policies/positions they are standing for. But in the last two elections (with two different leaders) they’ve still campaigned as though they’re still more popular than those policies/positions. As though “We’re the Liberal Party” (or “We’re not the Conservatives”) is more attractive than “This is how we plan to govern.” It was this approach of Liberals that elected the Conservatives in these two elections, more than anything the Conservatives did.

For example, the Liberals’ solution to “vote splitting” (“vote for us, of course”) is no longer the obvious solution to the voters. And the Liberals have alot of work to do if they expect to change that.

Maybe they will come back from this but right now they still don’t seem to get it. The principles and policies that the Liberal Party stands for would be better served by the dissolution of the party than by the path they’ve been on for the past few years. Canadians aren’t well served by a party leading the opposition that spends all it’s time “rebuilding.”