What's the campaign issue?

Election timing punditry seems a national sport in anglophone media. As the speculation about a UK election on may 6th dies out, Don Newman treats us to his conclusion that "the election clock will start ticking" in the fall.

It all depends, of course, on whether the Tories find a campaign issue that would justify triggering an election. That's a gigantic "if". The Budget was voted through without too much ruckus and there doesn't seem to be any major political minefield on the horizon. We must find one witin the next couple of months.

A fall election is definitely the right way to go. The summer is a dead season where people are too busy attending festivals and sorting out arrangements for the next academic year. In winter we greet Flaherty's cleaver and wave goodbye to our hard earned cash: hardly an enthusing prospect.

What can keep voters interested in July and August and bring them to the polls in late September? Ignatieff won't throw us the Green Shift bone, we'll have to smoke him out. I recommend we keep it at home. I'd say we avoid all international policy except free trade. The Liberals are masters at milking the feel-good-about-yourself factor in that regard; we can out-milk them if we play the free trade card right.

The prospect of higher energy bills in the coming winter months could help using energy policy as a good starter. Quebec has a huge gas shale which, if developed properly, could make the region very rich. Chalk River needs replacing. There's still plenty of hydro energy to be tapped. As long as we stay away from bioethanol we should be fine.

Imagine the ballot question. A viable cleaner source of energy today (shale gas) versus an unsightly utopia tomorrow (wind farms, solar panels and perpetual motion).

All I'm saying is we have to relate our election trigger to people's pockets in more ways than just saying we will spend their money wiser.