Reading, a lost art in Canadian politics (en francais)

Paul Wells with one of the shortest, yet probably one of the most insightful blogs of the week. Many may not of even noticed it due to his recent blog hiatus.

No surprises in the budget?

As always, nobody's reading the discussion paper. The surprises are always in the discussion paper. A radical revision of recent history and a sweeping plan for the future. It's all in there. And if you follow Stephen Harper's paper trail --as I've been doing, O Lord, for three months— -- you see he always drops king-sized hints about where he's headed.

I almost feel sorry for the current crop of Liberal leadership candidates focusing their energy on critiquing Harper regarding the evironment and the Kelowna accord. Almost.

Anyone who read Wells' post-election piece on Harper will realize he's one of the few journalists to look beyond the conventional stereotypes of Stephen Harper. He's taken the time to get a sense of who Stephen Harper is. A McLeans subscription would be a worthwhile investment for the next year. While most of the press gallery has been spilling barrels of ink on where Stephen Harper should be holding his press conferences or who gets to ask what, where, when, Wells has been doing what good journalists do best. Digging.