Pointed Comment

Here is the very cogent comment by Chantal Hébert, columnist for the Toronto Star, on the Manley Report:

"Under the timetable put forward by Manley, the Commons might not vote on the issue until after the April NATO summit. The debate could be overtaken by a spring election.

Under that scenario, voters would have to choose between a prime minister whose management of a defining foreign policy file has been found wanting and a leader of the opposition whose plan for its future has been dismissed as half-baked by one of his own elder statesmen."

It is entirely possible, as she states, that any action on the Afghanistan file would be prevented by an earlier election. That will happen if the Liberals vote against the federal budget expected within a month or six weeks. However, it is unlikely in my opinion that this will change anything. I doubt very much that the Liberal Party under Stéphan Dion will succeed in achieving anything more than another weak minority government, if that. More probable is the re-election of a minority Conservative government which could possibly bring about a change of leadership in both parties.