Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff speaks to children at a daycare in Regina
REGINA – Canadians could wake up on May 3 to a Canada that is less democratic than it was five years ago, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff warned on Saturday.
Ignatieff said that Conservative leader has been gradually lowering the ceiling on democracy and that the Liberals are trying to connect the pieces for Canadians to see the whole picture.“What I’m trying to get to is a certain kind of cynicism in which we start accepting stuff we shouldn’t accept, in which the prime minister slowly lowers the ceiling on us without anybody noticing,” said Ignatieff after visiting a daycare centre in Regina.
“And we suddenly wake up on the morning after the 2nd of May thinking, this country is less democratic than it was five years ago and why didn’t we do something about it.”
The comments came a few hours after Ignatieff urged a crowd in Sudbury to “rise up” against the Conservatives and fight back against what he described as its lack of respect for democracy.
He said recent incidents, including an attempt to nullify votes at a polling station at the University of Guelph are part of a pattern of behaviour by the Conservatives.
Although he drew links between this and similar incidents in the Middle East, he said he wasn’t calling Conservative leader Stephen Harper a dictator.
“I did not compare anybody to a mideast dictator,” he said.
“I’m saying if somebody began to engage in manipulation of an election, you wouldn’t be surprised if it was in Syria or the middle east. But you’d be surprised if it was in Canada. That’s a very different statement.”
Ignatieff said he loves Canada and is standing for its values.
“The fundamental issue in this election campaign is can you trust Stephen Harper with power, and the answer when you put all these little points of light together is that you absolutely cannot,” he said.
Ignatieff also said that a Liberal pledge to create a new childcare fund for the provinces would provide a boost for the economy by making it easier for couples to maintain two incomes with children.
He said the plan wouldn’t impose any solutions on parents, but rather provide them with more options.
Speaking to local reporters, he also said the Tories have been taking Alberta and Saskatchewan for granted.
He said the Tory Saskatchewan caucus, in particular, was made up of “stooges” who failed to stand up for the province when faced with the Potash foreign takeover bid.
Ignatieff, who later participated in a local pow wow, is scheduled to speak at a rally Saturday evening in Edmonton with former Liberal prime minister Paul Martin.
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