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Yes, yes, and what sort of policies did he suggest would help us achieve that objective? No, that was the measure: the only thing the Conservative leader had to announce was that he had set this “ambitious goal.” Or, as it might also be described, a fond hope. The prime minister hopes employment will rise by 1.3 million over the next five years. And I hope it will not rain.

And then there is the NDP. The party announced with great fanfare just before last week’s economic debate that it had “fully costed” its platform. This mundane bit of paperwork is always trotted out by the parties, adorably, as if it were some sort of extraordinary exercise in transparency. It is as if a shopkeeper, seeking to attract more customers into his store, were to exclaim, “Look! Now with price tags!”

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In the NDP’s case, the purpose of “costing” would appear to be, in its entirety, that the figures in each column added up to the number at the bottom. The party’s assumptions, notably with regard to oil prices, were conspicuously out of date. Line items worth billions of dollars were broken down no further than an airy “Help Where It Is Needed Most.” Billions more appeared to have been left out altogether.

So it drags on, the curious joylessness of the Tory campaign — More of the Same, You Miserable Curs — matched only by the chiming vacuousness of the opposition parties’: Ready for Change versus Real Change (or is it the other way around?). Mind you, when it comes to running a vacuous, incoherent campaign, let it be said, the Liberals are beating the hell out of the NDP.