Election roundup

The first week is in the bag - 5 more to go. Conservatives pretty much set the agenda, despite a few miscues, and have solidly defined what they stand for: lower taxes, accountability, fixing public health care. When you think about it, those are three great vulnerabilities for the Liberals. But it's a very long campaign, and lots can and still will happen. Here are some of the recent headlines, via NealeNews and Bourque:

• Conservatives say Canadians are massivily overtaxed - Gee do you think? Apparently Harper may annouce income splitting. That would be #$%^&* outstanding for single income families and seniors. Absolutely wonderful. The measure would be a boon to single-income families who could reduce taxes by dividing total earnings between spouses. Supporters of the idea say stay-at-home parents would no longer be essentially penalized for caring for young children, and seniors would have the fairer treatment they've sought for years. They've also released new TV ads...
• Dippers are confusing on healthcare: Campaigning in Vancouver's Chinatown Sunday, Layton said private clinics are a "fundamental aspect" of the health-care system founded by former Saskatchewan premier Tommy Douglas and not much can be done about them. Layton says he wants to stop tax dollars from boosting the bottom lines of big health-care corporations. "Our focus is to keep public health-care dollars going to public and non-profit facilities," Layton told reporters. "What happens with people in the privacy of their own relationship financially, that's up to them." (I think I may vote NDP this election, just because of that statement...ok, not really, but still, that's awesome) Oh, and with friends like the CAW, who needs enemies?
• Liberals have released new ads, and Paul Martin's heckler gets 4 days in jail - what, you thought we had free speech? And we have a new mideast policy, apparently....