Dumbest Political Press Release I've Seen in a While (and that's saying something!)

Posted by Devin Johnston on November 5th, 2009

I get press releases from the Liberals, New Democrats, Conservatives, and Greens delivered to me daily via RSS. As you might imagine, most press releases from most of the parties are asinine most of the time. The point of a press release is to try to frame an issue in a way that is favourable for your party and unfavourable for other parties. Fair enough, I get that. But today's press release from the Liberals on pension reform really stands out as one of the dumbest I've seen in a long while (even dumber than this one).

The basic premise is this: the Conservatives should be criticized for failing to deliver pension reform and the NDP should be criticized for, in Judy Sgro's words, "'misleading Canadians'". How have New Democrats misled Canadians, you ask? Well, it seems that on two occasions, the NDP had the audacity to introduce bills in the House of Commons which, if passed, would deliver meaningful pension reform. Most recently, New Democrat MP Wayne Marston introduced Bill C-476, which would amend the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act to give unfunded pension liabilities priority status in bankruptcy proceedings.

How is this misleading? Well, according to the Liberals, Bill C-476 is "nothing more than a piece of paper that will never see the light of day." You see, the bill is unlikely to pass because the Conservatives are stalling it. Sgro eviscerates Jack Layton, stating "'The NDP is leading people to believe that it will deliver help when they can’t.'" Now, bear in mind that it's the Conservative Party, not the NDP, that is holding up the bill. After all, "'[t]he government is the roadblock,'" according to Ms. Sgro. Nevertheless, Jack Layton deserves scorn for giving Canadians false hope.

So far, this is just par for the course when it comes to poorly-conceived political press releases. The best part is the Liberals' proposed alternative. Since the Conservatives are going to block any opposition attempts to amend the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, you'd think there are only two options left: either vote to bring down the obstructionist government or back down and shut up. After all, supporting an amendment that the government would block would be "'empty posturing'" and "'misleading Canadians'", right? And since Iffy has backed down from his election threats, that would seem to leave only one option.

Wrong. The Liberals' proposed solution is for the opposition parties to unanimously support an amendment to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. You see, "'[a]ll opposition parties support the notion of amending the BIA so why not get together on this? MPs need to start working in a way that will deliver real results on pension reform.'"

Now it seems to me, and forgive me if I'm missing something obvious here, that this is exactly what the NDP is trying to do and exactly the reason that Ms. Sgro attacked the NDP. In fact, Sgro stated that the reason for attacking the NDP is that "'[r]egardless of the merits of the bill, the chance of it becoming law is nearly zero,'" intimating that she thinks the bill is meritorious.

So, if Sgro were to follow her own advice, it seems like the best strategy for the Liberals would be to support Bill C-476. Here's my question for Judy Sgro: "'All opposition parties support the notion of amending the BIA so why not get together on this? MPs need to start working in a way that will deliver real results on pension reform.'"

Of course, it's not in a Liberal MP's nature to support a New Democrat motion, much less to give credit where credit is due. So, even though "'[t]he government is the roadblock,'" the press release attacks the NDP for trying to get reform done, rather than the Conservatives for trying to block it.

Below is a quick breakdown of key words and phases used in the text of the press release. It should give you some idea of who the Liberals think should be blamed for the lack of action on pension reform.

Spread the word and fan the winds of change: