The predictable media reaction to this weekend’s thinkers conference has begun, with Greg Weston attacking the Liberals for:

a) Not “articulating an alternative other than the fact they are not Stephen Harper and the Conservatives”.

b) Holding a policy conference to find this alternative.

*CG smacks head on table*

Expect more of that over the next week – in fact, Susan Delacourt gives us a preview of what to expect, via this 1991 Toronto Star coverage of the Aylmer Conference:

Liberal well runs dry at policy conference
By William Walker TORONTO STAR

AYLMER, Que. – The Liberal plan was to bring together thinkers and policy experts for a non-partisan conference to gather up all the brightest and best ideas for the 1990s.

But many delegates left the Liberals’ weekend Aylmer conference concerned that no great new ideas had emerged.

I’ll go out on a limb and suggest the press wasn’t too kind to Lester B. Pearson either after the Kingston Conference, just two years removed from the worst shellacking in party history.

So, to ensure we’re all on the same page, let’s clear a few things up. Michael Ignatieff isn’t going to walk out to his post-conference news conference with a pair of stone tablets with the Liberals’ election platform transcribed on them. This conference is about generating ideas, some of which will make it into the party platform, some of which will be ignored.

I know it isn’t sexy stuff. I know it lacks instant gratification. Yeah, it will be a bore to cover. But it’s important. Perhaps, dare I say it, more important than airport temper tantrums or mischievous opposition day motions.

I for one, would dearly love to see the Liberals clearly articulate their long term vision for the country, and to explain just what they stand for. This conference is an important part of that process.