Martin is still all over the map

Recently,

I decided it was time to

publish an anthology of my columns. The challenge, of course, was finding a consistent theme to them all. I’ve written on everything from drug laws to downloading, leadership races to football games. How would I pitch it to a publisher as a serious body of work on any one subject?

Finally, it came to me: I’d pick an overriding theme so broad, every topic could fit under its umbrella. So after reviewing everything I’d written the past couple of years, I retroactively determined that everything I’d written was a study examining what it means to be Canadian.

All right, none of this actually happened. But if it had, my efforts would have been on roughly the same level as Paul Martin’s attempt earlier this week to give shape to his legislative agenda.

Speaking to civil servants in Gatineau, Que., on Tuesday, the Prime Minister wanted to let them — and us — know that the past 21 months have really been about something. To his credit, the text he delivered was as ambitious as anything he’s attempted since he came to office — a genuine attempt to convey a greater sense of legislative purpose. But the thing is, what Mr. Martin delivered wasn’t a serious summation of the government’s actions since he took office, nor a realistic blueprint for what’s to come — it was a game of connect the dots in which he attempted to retroactively draw lines between an array of disparate policies with little relation to one another.

By picking two of the broadest big-picture goals imaginable — adapting to Canada’s changing demographics (particularly its aging population) and preparing us to compete with emerging economies such as China and India — Mr. Martin’s strategy was clearly to give himself two enormous umbrellas under which he could cram as many policies as possible.

So under the “changing demographics” tag, we got health care reform, including last year’s underwhelming deal with the provinces and a pledge for shorter wait times; improved “accountability” with the provinces on everything from early childhood education to municipal reform; better policies for Aboriginals, including health, education, housing and “economic opportunity”; and more and better immigration.

Addressing “the realignment of global political and economic strength,” it turned out, offered an even broader scope. Among other things, the PM managed to throw in his “New Deal for Cities” and funding for small towns and rural areas; environmental investment, particularly in combatting climate change; “global engagement” on everything from human rights to conservation to “promotion of Canada’s artists abroad”; domestic security and emergency preparedness; protection against global pandemics in the form of the new Canada Public Health Agency; multilateralism; military investment; development assistance; balanced budgets and debt reduction; pension reform; integration of North American economies; a fairer trade relationship with the United States; the cultivation of other trade relationships; development of our energy industry; Northern sovereignty; and child care and early childhood education (again). There’s more, but you get the point.

None of this is necessarily wrong; in some remote way, perhaps fighting climate change and promoting Canadian musicians really will help us compete with India and China. But because the two broad goals are actually cover for virtually every policy aim imaginable, the whole thing is pretty meaningless. When you have a million priorities, in many ways you have none.

Ostensibly, this week’s address could not have been more different from Mr. Martin’s address at the 2003 Liberal leadership convention — the one in which he vaguely pledged to “change the way we go about the nation’s business” and usher “the great debates of our day” into Parliament. But even considering the need to present civil servants with a broad look at his government, this speech was plagued by the same problem that’s dogged the PM since before he took office — the inability to narrow his focus to a smaller, well-defined, practical set of goals.

Everyone who has spoken with Mr. Martin behind closed doors, away from the cameras, comes away impressed by his mind for policy. But his is a fluid, big- picture sort of thinking; it’s when he tries to get down to the nitty-gritty that he gets into trouble. And so we wind up with him wavering on difficult decisions, or putting them off entirely, or adopting such a scattershot approach that nothing ever really gets done.

In my profession, one has the luxury of scattered thinking. In Mr. Martin’s, there’s much less room for it. Rather than trying to do everything at once, the PM would be better trying to do a few things well.

National Post aradwanski@ nationalpost. com