By Julia Skikavich
The Liberal Party of Canada is about to become Team Martin.
In an effort to distance the Liberals from the Chrétien regime and its scandals, the party is trying to cloak itself in the personality of the man who is more popular than the party itself.
As the Liberal party is unexpectedly floundering in the polls, Paul Martin’s popularity among Canadians is on the rise.
And to cash in on these votes, the Liberals are set to unveil a new and improved logo, just in time for the election campaign.
Election signs will feature a deeper colour of red and the words “Team Martin.”
There is also talk of a new logo made up of a red maple leaf with “Liberal” plastered underneath it.
Money is being thrown at this damage control campaign in the hope Canadians may have a love-in with the new prime minister and miss the fact that this sudden team mentality and logo change is just another “smoke and mirrors” effort being used by the Liberal party to try to make the past decade disappear: kind of like Martin insisting he doesn’t know much about the sponsorship scandal.
He hopes Canadians will conveniently forget he was finance minister during that time.
But, Canadians won’t be fooled by Team Martin. They know a new logo doesn’t mean a new party.
It doesn’t even mean a revitalized party. It just means the same old crap in a new package.
Canadians should in fact be asking why Martin and his Liberal caucus are orchestrating this decision.
Party logos don’t belong to a prime minister or his caucus cronies. They belong to entire political parties.
The Liberal party is steeped in history, and though the party must evolve, those changes are ones that must be made by the party membership – and in turn by card carrying Liberal Canadians.
But this proposed logo change isn’t an evolution. It’s an effort to drag an eraser across the pages of the history books. It is Paul Martin demonstrating the same tyrannical leadership style for which he often criticized Chrétien.
Changing the logo does little for the Liberal party or the people of Canada.
Whether the logo is a maple leaf, a Canada flag or an image of Paul Martin sitting atop a giant “L” crowned king of Canada – it will still only be a red sign on front lawns and roadsides.
And it is a red some Liberals aren’t ready to see.
Liberal backbenchers aren’t ready for an election and they don’t want to go out and get new signs printed when they’ve already got some sitting in barns and garages across the country.
Hey Paul! Maybe you should be listening to your backbenchers. They are on to something.
Canadians don’t care what your signs look like. They don’t care if you’re Team Martin.
Want to know what they do care about?
The party’s platform. And Team Martin isn’t it.