If Shawn Graham was hoping to appease Al Hogan by throwing in a Cath Lab for the Moncton Hospital in his party platform, he shouldn’t have bothered.
Not only did Al Hogan not mention that Graham addressed his top election priority while the Premier has not (three straight days Al hammered the Cath Lab issue), Al turned up the savage attacks against Shawn Graham in today’s We Say (about auto insurance):
Not only are Shawn Graham and his party wrong about the facts – the “problem” existed last election, not this one – but by raising it and inviting close scrutiny of the government’s record, they are helping to prove Premier Bernard Lord’s claim the matter has been effectively and positively dealt with by his government.
Indeed, this appears to be a case of taking the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach by the Liberals.
Mr. Graham has said he’ll check out the facts and introduce public insurance within 60 days if the industry is gouging consumers. That does not mean he will bring in public insurance. It is rather an admission that he doesn’t know the facts and needs to get them, then he’ll decide what to do.
That is not a well-thought out platform plank nor is it a sign of a well-prepared leader. It is rather a sign of a last minute decision to toss one more issue into the pot and hope it helps.
In fact, I think Al saw the Liberal’s promising a Cath lab in Moncton as a slap in the face. He felt embarrassed as he had to consider the possibility that he would have to agree with a Shawn Graham policy.
The Liberals should have stayed away from that issue altogether. Better to ignore Al than try to apprease him and risk the full frontal assault as he did this morning.
As the election looms closer, you can expect the Times & Transcript editorially and through its coverage to crank up their Tory bias.