Federal Progressive Conservative Leader Joe Clark and Reform Leader Preston Manning at a meeting in Edmonton offered their respective party faithful differing recipes for democratic empowerment and the restoration of public faith in the institution of Parliament.

Mr. Manning repeated his well-known prescription of populist instruments such as free votes, recall and referenda. On the other hand, Mr. Clark pointed to travelling parliamentary committees and deliberative polling as his options to reinvigorate Parliament as a central and respected institution.

At the same time, Mr. Clark was somewhat dismissive of recall and referenda. "Many of the old-fashioned populist instruments," he opined, "invite citizens to say NO." News flash: If only we had elected leaders who were capable of saying NO to every special interest from the poverty industry to corporate CEOs, our public finances would probably be in much better shape and the collective respectability ranking for politicians would be much better than the toilet where it now rests.

Since recall, referenda and most importantly, citizen initiatives (where voters can put questions to a binding referendum) have never been tried on a national scale, the moniker of old-fashioned, seems a little misplaced.

Granted, Clark acknowledges the need to evolve away from pure representative democracy to a more reflective democracy. He notes that "there has been a simultaneous growth in the complexity of pubic issues, and the capacity of citizens to help solve them." Mr. Clark has the right idea; he just needs to visit the Home Depot of policy options to see what else is on the shelves to add to his empowerment toolkit.

Speaking of homes, Clark and his Tory Tax Task Force (say that three times fast) have resurrected the idea to allow Canadians to deduct mortgage interest payments from their taxes. It may even provide the ticket that the Tories desperately need to climb out of the political basement come the next election.

The issue of deducting mortgage interest helped Joe Clark to victory in 1979. At the time, interest rates were in double digits and home ownership was merely a dream, not a reality for many boomers. Now that most boomers own homes (or several) some pundits are dumping on this idea as a misplaced priority.

What the pundits miss are the social and political implications of such a move. Allowing homeowners to deduct their mortgage interest frees up income for other durable purchases, which provides an economic stimulus that could mitigate any concern for the loss of tax revenues if mortgage interest is deductible.

More importantly, politics are also behind the renewed interest (pardon the pun) in the mortgage question. According to StatsCan, the average home costs $147,877. Almost 40% of homes today are bought by first time buyers and half of these first time buyers are over the age of 40. High taxes, crippling consumer debt, massive student debts and other obligations prevent many Canadians from buying homes sooner.

A policy change that would facilitate earlier home ownership amongst the 18-35 demographic group could benefit Mr. Clark. This demographic segment could be a political goldmine. Among voters 18 to 34, turnout is low and partisan affiliation is almost non-existent. A well- packaged policy platform to respond to the "what's in it for me " mindset could drive many to vote Tory.

Attractive as it may be in the short-run, mortgage interest deductibility runs counter to the long-run goal of a simpler tax system. More credits and deductions, while helpful to some and politically expeditious, do not shorten the 1,400 page behemoth known as the Income Tax Act.