Watching the French debate last night, I was struck when Conservative Leader Stephen Harper referred to his party's platform.     The problem is,  the Conservatives are the only party in this election that have not released a party platform.   If they do have one, they haven't bothered to share it with Canadian voters.   If they do release a platform, it might be a bit thin.   On the campaign trail, Stephen Harper has been making campaign promises.  But they are modest proposals, nothing like their promises in the last election, such as cutting the GST or reducing health-care wait times.   Just to check my theory, I thought I'd ask some Tory supporters at a rally in Surrey, BC last week to tell me which of Harper's promises they liked the most.  As it turned out, they had great difficulty naming even one.  The best one supporter could say was that he really liked the $100/month day care promise.  I had to gently remind him that that was an election promise from the last campaign.   Now, the Tories may be a bit thin on campaign promises, but it's a deliberate strategy.   With the other parties promising bold new programs, worth billions of dollars, at a time when the economy is facing tough times,  the Tories don't mind being seen as the cautious ones.    It may be one of the few times....when promising to do very little could win you a lot of votes.     

Posted by: Jacques Bourbeau