British politicians, facing the prospect of a debt crisis and a minority government for the first time in a generation, have turned to tantalizing voters – and sometimes threatening them – with the spectre of Canada.
The Liberal Democrats, Britain’s centrist third-place party and the likely kingmakers in this spring’s election, pegged their electoral hopes this week on a promise to deliver debt-laden Britain the policies of Jean Chrétien’s Liberals in 1993 – concepts that are completely unknown to British voters.
“I believe Britain must learn from the approach taken by the Liberal government in Canada in the 1990s,” party leader Nick Clegg declared in a key London policy speech.
“At that time, Canada had an annual budget deficit a 10th the size of its economy – almost as large as the U.K.’s is today… Liberal Democrats will follow Canada’s lead.”
He pledged to follow the program-review process the Liberals used to slash the size of Canada’s public service during the 1990s, including the nationwide public consultations.
“You only have to look at the success of the fiscal contraction in Canada, where a purposeful attempt was made to engage the public, to see that it is possible to rally support for deficit reduction, and it makes it easier to achieve the necessary cuts,” Mr. Clegg said.
The threat of a “hung Parliament,” as a minority government is known here, has led to the “Canadian scenario” becoming a scare tactic, while the Chrétien deficit-cutting experience is now a promise.
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