THE MORE THINGS CHANGE ...

While Martin Is Signalling A Fresh Start In Cabinet, The New Regime
Shows Signs Of Chretien-Era Lethargy

Insistent as ever, reality is nipping at Paul Martin's heels as a new
year begins and a new administration, using its own marvellously
elliptical language, tries to move from transitional to
transformational.

Having managed to stay mostly out of sight and mind over the holidays,
the second iteration of the Liberal government elected in 2000 is back
at work this week facing not one but two long to-do lists. The first
is heavy with things that must be finished before Martin asks voters
for his own mandate; the second is loaded with all that lint-like
stuff that clings unwanted to those in power.

Through this week and at a cabinet retreat on Friday, Martin and
Associates will largely focus on what's ahead - a February throne
speech, a budget, clearing a legislative backlog, and, of course, the
much anticipated spring election.

But they should also take an introspective look at more mundane
problems that serve as urgent reminders that bailing the ship of state
is every bit as important as setting its course.

Truth is that while Martin is busy signalling change by freshening
cabinet, freezing spending and scrapping some of Jean Chretien's
parting projects, seawater is splashing over the transom. Suddenly, a
government that desperately wants to be seen as different is shin-deep
in issues that suggest that what is new could soon seem old again.

Linking then and now is the fudge factor. Just as Chretien never made
a decision he could delay, Martin is showing early signs of finding
cover in the vague periphery of issues he prefers not to confront.

Martin supports the constitutional right of same-sex couples to marry
but hopes a modified reference to the Supreme Court will at least
demonstrate willingness to consider the more politically palatable
solution of civil unions.

Martin wants to decriminalize recreational use of small amounts of
marijuana but, with one eye on Washington and the other on the
law-and-order vote, is promising to get tougher with those who match
supply to demand.

Martin stands squarely behind the sanctity of the Canadian passport
but an earlier commitment to dive to the mucky bottom of the Maher
Arar affair is fading amid wholly unconvincing mumblings about
national security.

That creeping sense of protective indecision is being pushed along by
another holdover from the Chretien years: a government that's hard to
find when most needed.

Where, for example, was Judy Sgro, the new immigration minister when
headlines screamed about landed immigrants marooned abroad without new
identity cards?

The answer is: holidaying in the Caribbean where she was badly placed
to make the government case that the numbers are small, the remedies
reasonable given pressing security concerns, and that Ottawa spent
nearly $2 million advertising the now required Maple Leaf card.

Of course Sgro, had she been here, would also have faced awkward
questions about why a Martin government that delighted in reversing
other Chretien decisions had not reversed the palpably foolish one to
impose new travel regulations during the peripatetic holiday season.

Nor did Agriculture Minister Bob Speller's handling of the latest mad
cow controversy inspire confidence that everything possible is being
done to protect Canadian interests or, for that matter, shake the
lethargy that made the previous government so slow to respond to SARS,
the power failure, threats to the beef industry or to coast-to-coast
natural disasters.

All of this could be easily forgiven if Martin, borrowing from slick
Bill Clinton, hadn't made such a show of feeling the nation's pain
while Chretien seemed so indifferent. Without that, and the frenetic
efforts to telegraph change, an administration that blew town for a
vacation before it was fully ready to govern would have suffered only
slight damage.

Even so, what's now done is easily repaired.

All that's needed from this Prime Minister is some reassurance that
along with promising change, the Liberals are willing to take charge.

That requires taking positions without asterisks and reminding
ministers that along with the perquisites of high office comes the
responsibility of being willing, able and, yes, available to make
timely decisions.

As always, there is also something else.

After years of careful Chretien management, Martin wants to be judged
on inspirational leadership, the ability to build consensus around
grand goals that stretch the nation toward dreams.

Fair enough, but governing skews toward crisis management, the
confident handling of the unexpected, and even great statesmen must
row as well as steer.

That's the reality carried in the hurly-burly of current events and
that's the reality now nibbling at a prime minister and at a
government that still must prove they are ready to serve.