Daily Archives: February 10, 2021

The problem, he says, is that the plans total size reaches a scale that risks major future problems. In particular, the total money being proposed far exceeds most estimates of the output gap. (More on that below.) That implies that much of that spending will just slosh around the economy, causing prices to rise, potentially hindering the rest of Mr. Bidens agenda and risking a new recession.

This isnt a conventional argument between doctrinaire deficit hawks and doves, but something more subtle. In the past, Mr. Summers in particular has repeatedly called for larger budget deficits to help combat secular stagnation, in which major world economies are mired in slow growth, and he has supported large pandemic aid packages.

But Mr. Summers says any new spending package should pay out gradually over time and be devoted more substantially to long-term investments.

There is nothing wrong with targeting $1.9 trillion, and I could support a much larger figure in total stimulus, he wrote in a follow-up article. But a substantial part of the program should be directed at promoting sustainable and inclusive economic growth for the remainder of the decade and beyond, not simply supporting incomes this year and next.

Imagine a world in which the American economy is cranking at its full potential. Pretty much everyone who wants to work is able to find a job. Every factory is at its complete capacity. The output gap is, simply, how far away the economy is from that ideal state.

A traditional approach to fiscal stimulus has been to estimate the size of that gap, apply some adjustments to account for the way federal spending circulates through the economy, and use that arithmetic to decide how big a stimulus action ought to be.

In theory, if the government pumps too much money into the economy, it is trying to generate activity over and above potential output, which is impossible to sustain for long. Workers might put in overtime, and a factory might run extra hours for a while, but eventually the workers want a breather, and the machines need to shut down for maintenance. If there is more money floating around in the economy than there is supply of goods and services, the result wont be increased prosperity, but rather higher prices as people bid up the things they want to buy.

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The Clash of Liberal Wonks That Could Shape the Economy, Explained - The New York Times

The two most basic things that distinguish conservatives is, first, a devotion to constitutional government and, secondly, an equal devotion to the free market.

On the one hand, conservative politicians frequently point to the Constitution as the lodestar of their political thought and often call themselves constitutionalists. On the other hand, they profess proud support for economic freedom.

But when it comes to the issue of casino gambling, many politicians who claim to be conservatives all of a sudden come down with an identity crisis.

This Thursday, lawmakers in a Kentucky State Senate committee will consider a bill that will legalize so-called historical horse racing. The bill is designed as a response to a unanimous 7-0 decision by the Kentucky Supreme Court finding that historical horse racing slot machines were not legal on the grounds that they are were not parimutuel wagering on horse races as the horse tracks operating them had claimed.

But the self-professed conservatives pushing this legislation dont even try to hide the fact that it is unconstitutional. Kentuckys Constitution prohibits any gambling outside of pari-mutuel horse racing, charitable gaming and the Kentucky Lottery. Those pushing the bill not only ignore the states Constitution, but the recent courts decision.

The court laid down the five criteria for wagering to be considered pari-mutuel and found that historical racing slot machines fail the test:

Wagering at horse tracks abide by all five, but these machines do not, which make them more like slot machines than horse races.

The bill simply and clumsily defines non-parimutuel wagering as parimutuel wagering, using a definition that is in conflict with virtually every other definition of parimutuel in the country.

And not only does the bill thumb its nose at the court and the Constitution, it goes against every principle of free market economics ever conceived by continuing to give the exclusive right to operate the machines to a few wealthy horse tracks. The biggest recipient of this legislative largess is Churchill Downs, a publicly traded corporation.

The state has received relatively little revenue from the machines. Most of the money has made its way either to Churchill Downs out-of-state investors or into the pockets of wealthy race track owners.

Its something average Kentuckians should remember while theyre waiting for the next federal stimulus check.

Martin Cothran is senior policy analyst of The Family Foundation. He can be reached at 859-329-1919. To learn more about the organization, go to http://www.Kentuckyfamily.org.

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Conservatives in Frankfort are taking liberal positions - The Record

WESTLAKE, Ohio -- Cuyahoga Community College has earned a LEED Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for the new Liberal Arts and Technology building at the Westshore Campus in Westlake.

LEED certification is a nationally recognized benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings. This is Tri-Cs seventh building to receive a LEED designation.

Westshores Health Careers and Sciences building earned a LEED Gold designation after it opened a decade ago. Development of the campus along Clemens Road in Westlake coincided with Tri-Cs creation of a sustainability plan.

The notion of building green has guided Westshore Campus since Day One, said David November, the colleges sustainability manager. In many ways, this campus represents the robust sustainability standards that Tri-C now brings to every project.

The Liberal Arts and Technology building opened in September 2019. The new building added more than 90,000 square feet of academic space to campus, including 30 classrooms and labs and numerous student support services.

Sustainability highlights of the new building include:

A more than 36 percent reduction in typical energy use due to LED lighting and efficient heating and cooling systems, bringing an estimated annual savings of $30,000

Equipment and plumbing fixtures designed to save more than 650,000 gallons of water per year -- the equivalent of 16,000 filled bathtubs

A stormwater plan that reduces the quantity and improves the quality of runoff

An emphasis on using local and recycled materials during construction

Establishment of a green cleaning policy and program

Tri-C also diverted 89 percent of construction waste from landfills through sorting and recycling during the 18-month project. Tri-C collaborated with Moody Nolan architects and Donleys construction on the building.

The new building at Westshore joins a growing list of Tri-C sites awarded LEED certification. Green buildings and grounds serve as key components of the colleges efforts to reduce its environmental impact.

The Bay Village Branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library is among the libraries offering patrons the use of a Zoom Room for hosting virtual events. (Carol Kovach/special to cleveland.com)

Zoom Rooms: The Bay Village Branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library is among the branches offering customers access to a Zoom Room that they can book for meetings, webinars and conferences.

The Zoom Rooms can accommodate up to 300 participants and can be reserved for up to two hours at a time. Zoom Rooms are available during regular hours of operation.

For assistance using the Zoom Rooms, call your local branch. After successfully booking a Zoom Room, library patrons will receive a confirmation email, along with a dedicated link for the meeting to share with participants.

Preventing crime: Westlake Porter Public Library and the Westlake Police Department are partnering to offer a program called Neighborhood Crime Prevention at 7 p.m. Feb. 16 via Zoom. Registration is required and participants will receive Zoom log-in information by email after registering.

In response to the recent string of home burglaries in Westlake, Lt. Jason Dancy of the WPD will offer information on ways to safeguard your home and property, as well as tips on spotting and helping to reduce crime in your neighborhood.

Visit westlakelibrary.org/events to register.

Black History Month Challenge: Citizens is partnering with EVERFI, a leading social impact education innovator, to present the EVERFI Black History Month Challenge during February. Its the first-of-its-kind national competition to help high school students across the country understand the Black American experience through historical perspectives.

The monthlong challenge, created by EVERFI and supported by companies nationwide, features four digital lessons and a capstone essay contest in which students share a plan for maintaining conversations about Black history year-round within their community.

Three winners will receive college scholarships totaling $20,000.

The Black History Month Challenge is designed to inspire students by telling stories about the Black experience in America, empower students through the counter-storytelling of Black perspectives across generations, elevate history as a lens to understand current events and transform students perception of the world around them.

Students will explore topics and events including Juneteenth, Affirmative Action and the protests and marches for civil rights and equality.

In the Black Business Titans lesson, students explore the history behind the racial wealth gap and how Black entrepreneurs and businesspeople are overcoming challenges every day.

In the lesson on Black Contributions to Medicine, students explore the roots of systemic racism in medical care and celebrate Black medical trailblazers historically and today.

In addition to supporting the Black History Month Challenge, Citizens works with EVERFI to provide College Bound Citizens, a digital education program for high school juniors and seniors that aims to help empower students to make wise financial decisions when planning for post-secondary education.

Visit citizens.everfi-next.net/welcome/bhm to learn more about the EVERFI Black History Month Challenge.

At the library: Westlake Porter Public Library has numerous programs planned for the coming week, all of which are subject to change. Check westlakelibrary.org or follow the library on Facebook and Twitter for the latest updates.

All ages can participate in a live program, Foodies @ 11 Part Deux, live at 11 a.m. Feb. 17 on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube to test popular kitchen hacks.

Creative Writing for Adults meets at 7 p.m. Feb. 17 on Zoom. No experience is necessary, but participants must register to receive the link. A working camera and microphone are recommended.

Visit westlakelibrary.org/events for information on all programs and to register.

Information, please: Readers are invited to share information about themselves, their families and friends, organizations, church events, etc. from Bay Village, Rocky River and Westlake for the West Shore Chatter column, which I write on a freelance basis. Awards, honors, milestone birthdays or anniversaries and other items are welcome. Submit information at least 10 days before the requested publication date to carolkovach@hotmail.com.

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Liberal Arts and Technology building at Tri-C Westshore Campus honored for sustainability: West Shore Chatter - cleveland.com

A number of diverse and engaging lecture series in the College of Liberal Arts are underway this spring. Everything from history and art, to politics and social movements will be covered virtually for the University of Nevada, Reno campus and community. Many of the departments and programs are bringing in renowned guest speakers and performing artists to engage with the public, free of charge. Schedules vary from weekly, to biweekly and monthly. Review the liberal arts lecture series calendar for more information and to find a lecture that meets any interest.

I am very excited that so many of our departments and programs in the College of Liberal Arts have developed a series of lectures, events or programs providing year-long opportunities for our campus and local communities, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts Debra Moddelmog said. The variation of events give online audiences a chance to learn more about subjects of critical importance to our time, such as health in the time of a pandemic, activism and social justice, the Jewish experience in America, building legacies of equity and more.

Whether the series is in the form of a lecture, a panel discussion or a musical performance (e.g., the brilliant a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock), we are clearly dedicated as a college to improving understanding and opening up dialogue about our complex world.

New this year, the MFA program within the Department of Art presents the "Artist Lecture Series." Six guest artists have been invited to speak to virtual audiences throughout the spring 2021 semester. The series kicks off on Feb. 16 at 6 p.m. with Siobhan Arnold a mixed media artist from San Diego, California, who works with photography, textiles, sculpture and installation. Her work addresses the intersections of history/memory, gender and representation. Her most current work explores cross-cultural mythologies, archetypes, fairy tales and folklore from a contemporary perspective.

The Core Humanities program at the University is in its third season of "Thought on Tap" a public engagement series that brings together diverse faculty, staff, students and community members for important conversations around timely topics.

Each year is based on a different theme. The theme for 2021 is "Building legacies of " The series kicks off this spring on Feb. 11 at 5:30 p.m., with Building Legacies of Equity in Education.

In addition, the Core Humanities program also started a brand new Core Humanities Lecture Series which brings together scholars from across the country to share their research and expertise with students as well as members of the broader community. Each event focuses on a single theme, which connects to a specific Core Humanities course. In Spring 2021, there will be four events, which cover topics ranging from the role of women in the Middle Ages to laughter in contemporary films. The second event will be held Feb. 25 at 5:30 p.m., titled Medieval America: Feudalism and Liberalism in Nineteenth-Century U.S. Culture.

History in the Present is a monthly webinar series hosted by the Department of History that historicizes current events, shares cutting-edge research and aims to promote dialogue on issues of interest between the University and the broader community.

These are going to be really cool, Hugh Shapiro, associate professor of history, said. As historians, we work across disciplines and collaborate with a broad range of people outside of the University.

In addition to history faculty, museum curators, NGO leaders and experts on the environment and human rights will also be presenting in this webinar series. The second event will be held March 3 at noon, titled The Ongoing Ethical Debate on Looted Nazi and Holocaust-Era Books in the United States.

Second Tuesdays with Political Science, is gearing up for another lively semester of lectures. The series features guest panelists each month who will provide perspective on the momentous political and social events of the current environment. The first event this spring will be Feb. 9 at 4 p.m., titled Criminal Governance in the COVID-19 Era.

The School of the Arts is celebrating 60 years of the Performing Arts Series. Three exceptionally talented performing artists will join audiences live, virtually for one-of-a-kind, made just for the audience, performances. Each performance is ticketed and will allow for unlimited on-demand viewing for 14 days after the shows debut. Tickets are $15 for individual performances or $40 for a three-pack to attend all three of this springs events. Student tickets are free.The spring season kicks off with Goitse an award-winning, roof-raising Irish ensemble on Feb. 25 at 6 p.m. A cappella ensemble, Sweet Honey in the Rock , rooted in African American history and culture, will perform live on March 25 at 6 p.m. The season will finish with jazz singer Michael Mayo on April 22 at 6 p.m. For more information, visit the Performing Arts Series.Finally, the Department of Sociology is hosting a weekly series geared towards students. Socializing with Sociologists features a new host each week to discuss current events, help students tackle tough applications, work on mental health and sometimes just to have fun playing games. The series takes place every Monday at 5:30 p.m., which kicked off on Feb. 1 and will go through May 3.

The College of Liberal Arts lecture series calendar lists dates and times of scheduled events. All events are virtual and presented in Pacific Time. Many events are free and open to the public and some require advanced registration. Be sure to register for event links ahead of the scheduled event or lecture.

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College of Liberal Arts lecture series bring topics of diversity, politics, society and more - Nevada Today

The interrogation of Zara Mohammed on BBCs Womans Hour demonstrates the persistence of low media literacy regarding Islam and Muslim women at best, and an incitement of Islamophobia at worst.

BBC Radio 4s Womans Hour is immediately recognisable as one of the most forthrightly feminist programmes on air. Its why you would expect, as the youngest person and first ever woman to be elected head of the Muslim Council of Britain, Zara Mohammed would have been a natural and welcomed guest.

And maybe, for the most part, she was. That is until, their Twitter account uploaded a clip showing Emma Barnett persistently questioning an incredulous Zara on the number of female imams in Britain.

Not content with the answers given, the host embarked on an antagonistic tirade about how Islam was lagging behind in womens leadership. There are women priests and rabbis, she claimed, surely there must be female imams?

Youd be forgiven for thinking this was a deeply held conviction for Barnett, such was the strength of feeling behind the line of questioning. Youd also be forgiven for not realising this was in fact the same presenter who was described as a feminist who believes in equality for women, but, as an orthodox Jew, shes uncomfortable with female rabbis.

She went on, belittling previous Muslim Council leaders for daring to request that faith be recorded on the national census. If Muslims could be part of a focused campaign to get faith recognised in a once-a-decade questionnaire, why couldnt they keep meticulous records on the thousands of mosques and their imams, mainly volunteers, up and down the UK?

Cue a collective sigh. Even when a woman is leading the largest cross-section of British Muslim society, representing hundreds of mosques, we cant escape the allegation that were not doing enough to promote the leadership of women. You may well be the most accomplished, scholarly and talented Muslim woman in Britain, but if theres a scarf on your head youre probably still oppressed.

It seems to be white liberal feminisms unending quest to prove once and for all that Islam is an inferior and oppressive religion. The formula for enacting the trope is simple. First, you view Islam through a lens of your own choosing in this case, you dont know exactly what an imam is or how Muslim prayer works, but it cant be too different from Christianity and Judaism, and there arent any female imams so it must be a problem. Youve added 2 to 2, and made 500. Second, you belligerently demand unsuspecting followers to churn out explanation upon justification after apology for what youve decided to believe about them.

The worst part? Some dont even realise theyre doing it.

The issue remains that there isnt a like-for-like comparison that you can use for clerical or religious figures in Islam, Christianity and Judaism. An imam doesnt hold the religious authority that priests or rabbis do. In this decentralised system, imams will normally be people who can recite and lead prayer. Where there are positions of knowledge and scholarship in Islam, they are equally accessible to both Muslim men and women.

Indeed, Sheikh Akram Nadwi is a scholar who has compiled volume upon volume of examples of where Muslim women acquired knowledge and transmitted it, to say nothing about their contributions in fields like recitation, translation and the creation of legal rulings.

Many women and religious minorities whose contributions arent well known or given space have sought to reclaim that space within mosques and reassert these rich traditions of female scholarship. What a shame then, that it is these women who are questioned and treated as collaborators in their own oppression.

In this environment, leading questions wont be taken in good faith. Its this that has incensed Muslim women in particular, who refuse to complete the mental gymnastics it takes to accept lines of questioning (designed to trip us up) with simpering generosity.

No matter how many articles, research papers or headlines are written about Islam, media literacy on the faith remains despondently low and presenters understand very little. Its one of the reasons why the Muslim Council of Britain set up theCentre for Media Monitoring.

Had Barnett attempted even the slightest bit of research or been minded to give Zara a fair hearing on the issue of womens leadership, she would have found out that the majority of MCBs projects have, in the last four years, been led by women.

Perhaps she would have been surprised to note that aconference of entirely women speakers was hosted forInternational Womens Day two years ago, or that it was followed by anationwide survey onwomens access to mosques.

Maybe, in her zeal to admonish a Muslim woman about the lack of female leadership in mosques, she might have forgotten that MCBs continually successfulWomen in Mosques Development Programme has promoted exactly that since 2018. But how would she remember, when programmes like Womans Hour wont give the representatives of these projects the time of day to begin with?

So, no, there may not be female imams in mainstream mosques, but theres nothing to stop you going into one and finding a woman leading other women in prayer, holding Quran classes or teaching a new generation of scholars. You could definitely argue that there isnt enough being done to accommodate women, but this is a challenge that many Muslim women have taken head on.

Frankly, the last thing we need is people who dont understand our situation to bulldoze over all the hard work being done to focus on a non-existent problem like female imams.

Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions, viewpoints and editorial policies of TRT World.

We welcome all pitches and submissions to TRT World Opinion please send them via email, to opinion.editorial@trtworld.com

Source: TRT World

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On the continued arrogance of white liberal feminism - TRT World

Its entirely possible that the last person I ever shook hands with was Steven Del Duca.

It was late on Saturday afternoon, March 7, 2020, and Del Duca had just won the Ontario Liberal leadership in convincing fashion, on the first ballot. I was anchoring TVOs gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Mississauga event, which we jokingly called The Corona Convention, because we were beginning to hear warnings about this new virus, which would come to dominate our lives.

Del Duca made his way to our broadcasting position and sat down for our interview.

I have only been fist-bumping all our guests until now, but let me make an exception for the new Liberal leader, I told him as I extended my hand and shook his. Immediately thereafter, I reached for some hand sanitizer and deposited a dollop in each of our hands.

Yes, it was a strange ending to one of Del Ducas best-ever days in politics but just the beginning of an unprecedentedly daunting year for new leader. The Ontario Liberals had been decimated in the June 2018 election, surviving with only seven seats (and Del Ducas seat in Vaughan wasnt one of them). They were dead broke and didnt even have official-party status in the legislature, meaning that all that extra money to hire staff and do more rigorous research wasnt available to them.

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As the realities of the pandemic became apparent, Del Duca came to realize hed need to raise more money and find more candidates than any of his 32 predecessors as Liberal leader, going all the way back to Archibald McKellar in 1867. And because of promises hed made as a candidate, fulfilling that mission was going to be even more challenging.

The election campaign is only 14 months away, Del Duca told me last week on a Zoom call. Ive served in cabinet before, so I can tell you, I know how quickly the time will go.

Del Duca promised to open up the party even more by ensuring that half his candidates for the 2022 election would be women, and further, that 30 would be under age 30. The party has started nominating candidates already but has almost 100 still to find. (There are 124 ridings to fill; Del Duca says hell contest his former seat in Vaughan, which is currently held by cabinet minister Michael Tibollo.) At this point, more than half his candidates are women; only three are under 30, and Del Duca admitted that keeping that commitment to the partys youth wing may be a bridge too far.

Its been a struggle to convince young people that partisan politics is the right vocation, he said. But many are kicking the tires on us.

In fact, Del Duca said, 400 people have requested candidate-application forms, which suggests the Liberal brand still has more than a bit of a pulse out there.

The hardest part of the job, of course, is to try to do all the things a leader has to do in the lead-up to an election and all of it from a living room. Del Duca joked that his wife has given up asking him to hang up his suit jackets, many of which are hanging on chairs in the familys dining room, the place where Del Duca does all his Zoom hits.

He takes former premier Dalton McGuintys well-worn admonition to heart Never too high, never too low. Just relentless and reminds himself that both McGuinty and David Peterson started on the opposition side of the house before becoming premier in 2003 and 1985, respectively. (They didnt, however, have the Everest-sized mountain to climb that the current leader is facing. Both McGuinty and Peterson led decent-sized official-opposition caucuses and had their own seats in the house. The 47-year-old Del Duca has neither.)

But hes trying to find the silver lining in that. Not being an MPP means he never has to worry about house duty, leaving him free to pursue candidates and money, the latter of which will be even tougher to find now that the current government has done away with the per-vote subsidy parties used to enjoy receiving.

Del Duca has farmed out the policy-development process to two of his leadership rivals: former cabinet colleague and Don Valley East MPP Michael Coteau (who came second) and London North Centre candidate Kate Graham (who, at just age 35, came third and captured a lot of attention for her thoughtful and energetic campaign).

Theyve been tasked with coming up with ideas that align with my values and those of Ontario Liberals, Del Duca said. Theyll make sure the platform is authentically me and will deliver a message thats compelling and relatable. The public wants to feel not just think that we get them.

The leader has also been fortunate inasmuch as several party veterans have emerged to lend a helping hand. For example, pollster and strategist Don Guy, who helped McGuinty and British Columbia premier Christy Clark win elections, now volunteers to assist Del Duca.

There will come a time, he said, when even if people are somewhat satisfied with the status quo, theyll want to see the alternatives. So Im working on myself and my own personal performance so theyve got a better choice.

Whenever Del Duca speaks about his hopes for Ontario, he always, and I mean always, talks about women and men. He never says men and women. I wondered why.

How we speak about issues matters, he explained. Ive been blessed to be surrounded by strong women my whole life. Both my grandmothers, from Italy and Scotland, have been through a lot in life. My mother has had many different careers. My wife is an immigrant whos got three university degrees and runs her own business. And weve got two daughters, and I want to make sure that nothing holds them back.

Its also true that the Liberals have no hope of getting back into government unless they improve their popularity with female voters. The Tories have a huge advantage in male voters. And Andrea Horwaths New Democrats, after recently shuffling their critic roles, now have women in the top six jobs in opposition: from the leader to the critics for all the top shadow portfolios.

Thats progress, Del Duca admitted. But in the next breath, he said that Horwath is auditioning for the job shes already got. They want to hold what theyve got rather than develop a road map for the future.

New Democrats would obviously disagree and suggest that, if people are looking for an alternative to the current government, theyre more likely to consider the party thats only 23 seats shy of a majority, rather than the one thats 55 seats back. Thats what happened more than three decades ago when Bob Rae took his NDP from third place (1985) to official opposition (1987) to government (1990).

But Del Duca has other ideas. I believe the Ontario Liberal party has been rejuvenated, he said, noting the most recent poll puts them in second place, close behind the Tories and ahead of the NDP. But I take nothing for granted. The public wants a leader they can trust. And despite his current circumstances and lack of profile, Del Duca insisted, Im getting there.

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Its never been harder to be Ontarios Liberal leader - TVO

That didnt take long.

The day after Nova Scotias Liberals made Iain Rankin their leader, and the next premier, the official Opposition Progressive Conservatives issued a news release referring to the provincial government as the Rankin-McNeil Liberals.

The intent is clear.

Rather than a revitalized Liberal government, with a fresh, new leader, the Tories want Nova Scotians to see a tired, old government, eight years in office and sporting a record thats spotty at best.

The pandemic permitting, 2021 promises to be a very political year. A federal election is a distinct possibility and, in Nova Scotia, a provincial election is a near certainty.

The Liberals enter the fifth and final year of their current mandate in June, and Nova Scotian voters have not been kind to governments that push elections beyond the traditional four years.

While the governing Liberals watch for a welcoming window for that election, the opposition PCs are working like Trojans to position themselves as the alternative thats ready to govern.

After spending 2020 sidelined by Premier Stephen McNeils refusal to call the legislature, or even allow its committees to meet from March to September, the Tories are determined not to be further eclipsed by the Liberals leadership change.

For starters, they rolled out an advertising campaign, beginning with a spot that aired locally during Sundays Super Bowl game. The ad features PC Leader Tim Houston, a somewhat perplexing tagline Its not politics, its personal but most importantly it points to four areas where the Liberals may be vulnerable and where the Tories have, or are developing, substantive proposals.

Those are health care, mental health, seniors and jobs.

The Tories goal is to be seen by Nova Scotians, not merely as the governments critic, but as a party with a clear plan to fix the problems that the Rankin-McNeil Liberals created. Rankin has been a Liberal MLA since McNeils government arrived in 2013, and a minister from 2017 until he resigned from cabinet in October to seek the leadership.

So far, the PCs have released their plans to address seniors issues and mental health, backed by fairly substantial papers by opposition standards detailing their proposals. This week theyre expected to release a primary health-care plan. A jobs plan is also in the works.

The cornerstone of the PCs mental health plan is the creation of a new department focused exclusively on addictions and mental health.

They propose to increase spending on mental health and addictions by about $100 million-a-year and extend access to professionals, like psychologists, to Nova Scotians without private health insurance or whose insurance is insufficient to meet their needs.

Drawing on various studies, the Tories point out that every dollar spent on mental health results in twice the savings down the road in avoided health-care costs.

The partys most interesting proposal related to seniors is the establishment of a new level of care called supportive care for seniors who need more than can be provided by the provinces home-care network, but who dont require the level of daily care provided in nursing homes.

The Tories are proposing a significant capital expenditure close to half-a-billion dollars to build new long-term care beds.

They point out that new beds are urgently needed now but will become even more so over the next decade when 20,000 Nova Scotians will reach the median age for seniors to enter nursing homes. The province currently has about 8,000 long-term care beds and more than 1,400 Nova Scotians are waiting for one.

Some folks may question the political wisdom of dubbing the government the Rankin-McNeil Liberals when Premier McNeil is leaving office as popular as hes ever been. Why associate the untested incoming premier with the popular outgoing premier?

The Tories are betting that the perception of a government thats grown long-of-tooth and lazy will overcome any residual goodwill for Premier McNeil.

And, they may have taken to heart the words William Shakespeare put in Julius Caesars mouth: The evil that men do lives after them. The good is oft interred with their bones.

A modern political translation might go something like: The misdeeds of politicians live on. Their successes are forgotten once theyre gone.

Journalist and writer Jim Vibert has worked as a communications adviser to five Nova Scotia governments.

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JIM VIBERT: Tories working to present ready alternative to Liberals under Rankin - TheChronicleHerald.ca