Liberals look to sharpen their pre-election message as convention opens

Thousands of Liberals will gather online for the next three days for a virtual convention the party hopes will set up a sharp contrast between themselves and the opposition Conservatives.

The convention is likely to be the last one before the next federal election. Its agenda is built around themes and keynotespeakers assembledto highlight Liberal priorities and progressive policies as the party sharpens its message to voters.

"We will explain in very clear terms the difference between the two main options," said a senior Liberal official speaking on background.

That effort starts tonight with a keynote conversation between Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and former Liberal cabinet minister Ken Dryden. Freeland, sources say, is expected to give broad hints about the direction of the upcoming federal budget.

Freeland alreadyhas promised a post-pandemic stimulus package of up to $100 billion and hascommittedto making child care more accessible. Liberal insiders say they plan to use the pandemic'sfalloutto try to fix social inequities.

On Friday, the convention headliner is Mark Carney,former governorof boththe Bank of England and the Bank of Canada. Like Freeland, Carney is widelyviewed by Liberals as a possible successor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Liberals taking part in the conventionmay be looking forhints that Carney is finally readyto take the plunge into partisan politics. At any rate, Carney is ahigh-profile speaker whose presence addssignificant economic and climate credibilityto the convention agenda.

The overarching themesof the convention will be tied together in Trudeau's closing address on Saturday. Liberal sources say the speech will focus equally on the pandemic and the upcoming election.

They sayit will have a more partisan tone than the addresses the prime minister has given throughout the pandemic, and itsmain target will be Conservative LeaderErin O'Toole and his party.

Economy, climate change expected to dominate

The Liberals say they believe the Conservative convention created an opening for them to exploit. Conservative delegates to that conventionvoted down a motion recognizing climate change as real, while party organizers and executives faced down efforts by anti-abortion activiststo dominate the convention.

Trudeau is expected to contrast the Conservatives' conventionwith his party'svalues and highlight Conservative criticism of pandemic support programs that have helped millions of Canadians overthe past year.

It's all meant to convinceCanadians the Liberals are focused on the serious policy issues of the day the pandemic, the economy, climate change, the social safety net, women's rightsand systemic racism.

Liberals say they hope the convention shows a party freeof the infighting andcontroversy that beset the Conservatives' convention last month, and that threatento dominate the NDP's convention this weekend.

Priority policy resolutions up for debate and voting at the Liberal gathering include calls for a universal basic income, for enforceable national standards for long-term care homes and for agreeneconomic recovery.

Nothing on the Liberals' conventionagenda seems likely to triggerthe kind of internal squabbling theConservatives have engaged inover the place of social conservatives within the party.

And there's nothing on the Liberals'agenda that promises the kind of controversyand division that the Conservatives' vote on theclimate change resolutionor the New Democrats' pending convention debates aboutanti-Semitism, abolishingthe military andnationalizingmajor automakers created.