OTTAWA - Recent market turbulence has Liberals hoping they can turn economic uncertainty into a political opportunity.
As Grit MPs and senators prepare to meet next week to plot strategy for the fall session of Parliament, the economy has suddenly jumped back onto the political radar screen. Global market upheavals driven by the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the United States have shaken complacency in Canada's robust and seemingly bulletproof economy.
And some Liberals hope that will help shake up Canada's stagnant political scene as well, finally giving them an edge over the ruling Tories. At a minimum, it will give them a chance to remind voters that it was Liberals who tamed the national deficit and presided over almost a decade of uninterrupted economic growth.
"I realize our brand has suffered but ... not on economic management,'' Toronto Liberal MP John McKay said in an interview.
Fortuitously, Liberals believe their strength in economic management is a Tory weakness, which they're happy to exploit.
"I can't say that these guys really know what it is that they're doing,'' said McKay.
"If in fact there is an economic downturn, I have no confidence that (Finance Minister Jim) Flaherty is up to speed.''
It's a message Liberal Leader Stephane Dion seems determined to drive home as well. In an interview with The Canadian Press to discuss his summer travels and autumn plans, Dion mentioned Afghanistan, poverty and climate change as priority issues for the fall. But he became most animated when discussing the economy.
He said he's confident Canada's economy is strong enough -- thanks to "good management of a decade of Liberal governments'' -- to weather the latest storm. Still, he said he's concerned that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has made "a lot of mistakes'' that will hurt the economy in the long run.
Among the mistakes, Dion pointed to the decision to cut the GST by one percentage point, the government's handling of income trusts and interest deductibility -- both of which infuriated the business community -- and the promised rebates to purchasers of eco-friendly cars, which have yet to materialize.
Dion said Harper's neglect of massive layoffs in Ontario's manufacturing sector "is typical of a very right-wing economist who thinks that the market will solve everything and that the government has no role to play.''
But, at the same time, he said the Tories are not consistently right-wing, spending money like water without an overall plan.
"It's incompetency,'' Dion said.
"They are run by polls and by the leader of the Opposition. I speak about culture, they put money in culture. But it's not well thought and well organized.
"So if you ask me if I have concerns for our economy in the midterm and long term, certainly. And the fact that (Harper) does not understand the link with energy efficiency, recycling and environmental technologies, we'll pay a heavy price if we continue in this way.''
Nervousness about the economy may yet prove too fleeting to be of much political value to the Liberals, who've been stuck for months in a virtual tie with the Tories in most opinion polls, with neither party in sight of the numbers needed to win a majority.
But, with an election now thought to be unlikely this year, Dion and his MPs seem more relaxed these days about their failure to leap into a commanding lead. Dion disdains the "dictatorship of the polls,'' arguing that voters will only really pay attention and start making real choices once an election is actually called.
The reprieve has given Dion time to do the painstaking rebuilding of the party that he believes will ultimately pay off at the polls. Over the summer, he's spent 51 days on the road, attending 95 events in 48 different ridings and garnering plenty of positive headlines in local newspapers. He's held roundtables with experts on a variety of issues, from arts and culture to agriculture.
"We are rebuilding the so-needed relationship of trust between the Canadian people and the Liberal party,'' he said.
"The fact that my strength is honesty and ability to listen, integrity, I think it will help my party during a campaign.''
The small meetings and intimate barbecues may not have made many national headlines. But Dion said they've given him a much-needed way "to reach the people directly'' and make them realize he's not the domineering federalist or whiny weakling that a decade of vilification by Quebec separatists and a year of negative Tory ads would have them believe.
"For many people, the only Stephane Dion they know is this invented Stephane Dion. And I think at the end of the day it will help me because when people actually meet me they see that it has nothing to do with the truth,'' he said.
Dion said strangers will often tell him how much improved he seems as leader. But then it turns out they've never met him or heard him speak before.
"In fact, what is happening is that they compare me with the negative ads or what they've been told about me. ... It's striking that the point of comparison is this invented Stephane Dion.''
The summer tour also seems to have helped quell grumblings from within the caucus and former rival camps about Dion's leadership.
"All those leadership ponies are all very much in one tent,'' said New Brunswick MP Paul Zed, who co-chaired chief rival Michael Ignatieff's leadership campaign.
Zed said Dion is slowly turning things around for himself and the party. And he and other MPs likened Dion to the tortoise who eventually won the fabled race against the faster hare.
