Bye Bye Blair

As the world says goodbye today to Tony Blair -- who after ten years is stepping down as British Prime Minister -- there will be much talk of his legacy.

So let me add my two cents.

In my view, Blair's most lasting legacy will be that he dragged the Labour Party, kicking and screaming, out of its nineteenth century class warfare, pseudo-Marxist funk.

Blair scrapped much of Labour's hard-core socialist agenda; he helped defang the militant union bosses; and he even adopted some of Margaret Thatcher's economic reforms.

And of course, Blair was a loyal ally to the United States in its war against terrorism.

So despite the fact that Blair is a left-winger, with an aggravating penchant for nanny-statism, he helped move the political debate in the right direction.

Canada's left wing politicians could learn a thing or two from him.