Ignatieff, McFadyen do the shuffle dance

The contractor has arrived, the dumpster is out front and the renovations have begun in earnest at Michael Ignatieff's Parliament Hill office.This is no cosmetic remodelling; the leader of the official opposition has completely gutted his staff and is in the process of rebuilding his strategy. It's not hard to figure out why he needed to take such dramatic steps.

Appointed as leader of the Liberal party just under a year ago, Ignatieff's fortunes have fallen faster than a sack of wet cement dropped out of a 10-storey window. He is now lurking in Dionian levels of support, and Liberals that were quick to get on the Iggy bandwagon are asking themselves if they traded in one leader with no hope of winning for another of the same ilk.

At least Ignatieff is not going to go down without a fight. Following a horrendous autumn, Ignatieff hired former Chrétien communications wizard Peter Donolo, who has hired new staff for every key position. (Included in the mix is Winnipegger Brian Bohunicky, a wonk who cut his teeth in the service of former Manitoba regional minister Lloyd Axworthy. Serving as the new policy director, Bohunicky is as tough as he is smart.)

But it's not just the faces that are new. Liberal insiders indicate Donolo is remaking strategy as well. He is ending the daily blizzard of meaningless news releases. Donolo is also reportedly looking at a new strategy for question period that would see less of a shotgun approach in favour of a focused attack that would see fewer issues raised. This will allow the Grits to hammer Tory ministers on a few important questions, rather than the glancing blows that come from raising too many issues.

On paper, at least, these are wise moves for the Liberals, who are adrift right now with neither policy nor ideology to nail them down. That is not Ignatieff's fault alone; this is par for the course in opposition politics.

With nothing to do but criticize, it is easy for opposition politicians to become whining, broken records who try to hold the governing party responsible for everything that is wrong with society. Whine and complain every time you open your mouth and you know what voters think? That you're a whiner and complainer.

Most reasonably intelligent voters know that no one party is responsible for global warming, an aging and increasingly sick population, street crime or the weather. It took many governments to cement those afflictions.

In lieu of the blame game, what is an opposition leader to do? The classic strategy is be seen, be heard and try to look like a government in waiting. Offer ideas but don't show all your cards, lest the government steal your ideas. And hope the winds of change blow.

Here in Manitoba, we have our own opposition renovation project ongoing.

Hugh McFadyen, leader of the opposition Progressive Conservative party, is looking for traction.

Like Ignatieff, McFadyen has shuffled his staff. Jonathan Lyon, son of former premier Sterling Lyon, is now McFadyen's chief of staff. Tory insiders believe Lyon has more of an edge than Jonathan Scarth, the thoughtful policy wonk who served as McFadyen's chief of staff prior to taking a position as party CEO. Scarth was an upgrade to be sure but in Lyon, the party has someone working with the leader who carries his elbows a bit higher.

In communications, the Tories have made great strides. For years after losing power in 1999, the Tories saw a parade of train-wreck spin doctors. McFadyen has thankfully settled on the efficient and well-respected Liz Peters, who gets her point across without berating journalists, a hallmark of previous administrations.

On paper, it's a good team. But that's only part of the job. The bigger task is figuring out what the party stands for.

McFadyen has challenged Tories to become the party of change. He has committed the party to finding a new and more diverse generation of candidates for the 2011 election. However, the policy platform adopted at the party's AGM earlier this month was pretty safe and predictable. It won't turn many people off but then again, it won't draw in new support.

Like Ignatieff, McFadyen has to show there is more to his leadership than the ability to hire good people. There has to be "something" more. Unfortunately, in opposition no one knows exactly what that "something" is. Experienced political strategists will tell you only that they recognize it when they see it, and hope that it's not too late to take advantage of it. Ignatieff and McFadyen are building strong organizations in the hopes it can produce a winning strategy. Renovations are expensive and stressful, and members of both parties have their fingers crossed this was time and money well spent.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 20, 2009 A9