Garth

So, anybody else noticed how singular Garth Turner is?

I've given Canadian Liberal bloggers a lot of heat of late. There's no real "netroots" up there; to the extent that any liberal (or progressive) blogs, they've been echoing talking points. Certainly whatzisname does as well, albeit different ones.

(Mostly his rage at Canadian libel laws having been made less expansive than their British counterparts, but I digress.)

There's little discussion of policy, and little discussion of politics, even, except for the horserace stuff.

But then there's Garth. Not only is he willing to get into hot water over what he believes in, but he's done a really good series of late on the problems with the Canadian economy. Normally I would never, ever expect a backbencher to make these sorts of comments; you don't become a Minister by sticking your neck out, and often don't win elections either, especially in such a policy-allergic party like the Liberals.

And then there's fascinating pieces like this one talking about Canada's House of Parliament; how it was rebuilt after a devastating fire, how it desperately needs refurbishing and renovation, about how it's filled with Asbestos (!) and about how much the building means to him.

He's loyal to Dion, that much is clear--they say there's no greater patriot than an immigrant--but he's still willing to speak his mind and write an interesting piece to go along with it. He's sometimes (maybe even often?) wrong, but at least you get the sense that he's not bullshitting you about it. As much as I can disagree with him, he's one of the better bloggers the Liberals have.

(Honest and outspoken. Heh. No wonder Harper tossed him out.)

If Canadian Liberals want a model to build their blogging careers on, might I suggest that they stop looking to whatzisname (who, again, told a bunch of people that, Obama aside, the Internet is unimportant) for answers, and start looking in Garth's direction.