In his 15 months as PM, the Liberals have been completely rudderless. Mr. Martin's pre-election term was punctuated by the reintroduction of Chrétien-era legislation, much of which died on the Order Paper again, when Mr. Martin called last Spring's election. His post-election term has once seen the re-reintroduction of many of the same bills but very little that is new and bears the new Prime Minister's stamp.

Take the two biggest issues before Parliament at the moment for example. The same-sex marriage legislation is based on legislation that was referred to the Supreme Court by Mr. Chrétien and likewise, AdScam is a holdover from the previous administration.

On other matters, the PM has been indecisive, evasive or otherwise averse to action. It is difficult to find anything in either the Liberal election platform or either of Mr. Martin's Throne Speeches on which there has been substantial progress. In fact the often promised, yet to be delivered (and much needed) Foreign Policy Review still has yet to be delivered, the National Child Care plan has been ground to a halt because the Federal Government has yet to allocate any money to it, and the Mr. Martin's Kyoto plans remain shrouded in secrecy.

Given that track record, Canadians, and The Economist, can be forgiven for fearing the PM will never get on with it and start governing.

Further Reading:
“Mr Dithers” and his distracting “fiscal cafeteria” (The Economist)
British magazine labels Martin 'Mr. Dithers' (Canadian Press)