Baird: Liberal phantom spending

Environment Minister John Baird described the previous Liberal government's programs on climate change as "phantom" in this exchange between Baird and Liberal environment critic David McGuinty:

“At the end of this fiscal year, we will have spent more (on climate change) than the previous year,” Baird said. “None of that $5.6 billion - very little of that was ever spent. When you have a program in name and no money is spent, yeah, I call that a phantom program.”

All this Liberal hypocrisy could lead to a spring election.

But then again, Paul Wells reports that, in the aftermath of the attack ads on Liberal leader Citizen Dion, support for the Tories is up:

• National horse race numbers give the Harper Tories their strongest score since a week before the 2006 election, 38% to 31% for the Liberals, 14% for the NDP and 8% for the Bloc.

• Tory strength in Ontario too: 40% to 35% for Liberals.

• Quebec numbers are a very different story: while the Tories (24%) are only a point below their 2006 election score and have essentially erased their bad summer scores in Quebec, the Liberals are at 32%, which is three points higher than in another house's poll a week ago and that party's highest score in Quebec since the Adscam audit. The Bloc, at 31%, continues to slide. Remember when Chrétien took more popular vote and only two seats less than the Bloc in 2000? The bloc got 40% of the Quebec vote in that election. Me likey the 31%.

• Now. Do you like those Liberal numbers in Quebec? Enjoy 'em while they last. The Tories haven't run ads against Dion in French yet.