Today Gilles Duceppe has telegraphed his intentions. I think he and Mr. Layton dislike Mr. Ignatieff a wee bit more than Mr. Harper right now.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Why Does the Liberal Party THINK They Can Take Harper Down Whenever They Please?
That's the question I asked of Michael Ignatieff and others over the past few days. What kind of arrogance does one have to have to assume either the NDP or the Bloc would support a non-confidence motion whenever the Liberals decide to go to the polls?
Today Gilles Duceppe has telegraphed his intentions. I think he and Mr. Layton dislike Mr. Ignatieff a wee bit more than Mr. Harper right now.
Today Gilles Duceppe has telegraphed his intentions. I think he and Mr. Layton dislike Mr. Ignatieff a wee bit more than Mr. Harper right now.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
10 comments:
There is also the fact the Liberals don't have the money to go to the polls are are not likely to plug anytime soon.
Some of us gave warnings last year.
We have a classic game theory parliament. The Conservatives and Liberals want the big majority prize. The three opposition parties want the Conservatives to be out of office. However, they want the blue team out on each one's own terms. When the Liberals decide to pull the plug, they may not get the agreement of either the Bloc or NDP.
Currently, Harper and Ignatieff are safe for this year. Even if the Liberals start actively opposing the government, either the Bloc or NDP will prop it up. This gives Ignatieff more time to raise money for the Liberals. As for Harper, when he starts getting tired of this charade, he can start trying to impose more Conservative policies to the point where all opposition parties will either agree to pull the plug on Parlament or Harper can go the the Governor General and state that Parliament is no longer functional again. An election will need to be called. The pro-Conservative policies will help shore up his loyal support in time for the next election.
I would love to see the tornado Layton would have to spin in order to justify propping up the government after all his ridiculous rhetoric over the past week. It would be comical to watch.
If the NDP does in fact prop up the government, it would appear that there would be a NEW new coalition between the NDP and the Tories. Oh, I'm giddy with anticipation!
James: Regardless of how much frustration there may be with the Libs, I'd think the NDP has taken a consistent enough stance in opposing Harper (and spent enough time branding itself as the real opposition on that basis) that it won't keep the Cons in power on a confidence vote.
But the Bloc does figure to be a different story. They've propped Harper up on confidence votes before, and I'd have to figure that Harper will have a whatever-Quebec-wants backup plan ready to be unveiled anytime he sees a danger of the Libs provoking an inconvenient election.
This is the same situation the Liberals have always been in. Layton had his attacks, not a leader, shrugging picture of Dion, plastered all over the NDP website in 2007 and now he has attack ads on Ignatieff. Layton hating Liberals more than Harper is nothing new and he said as much to Stephen Taylor a couple years ago. Same old. The NDP will never want to go to an election when Harper is down and Liberals are up. Any Liberal leader that assumes otherwise, will be in trouble.
I have to agree with the Jurist that there is no way the NDP would choose to prop up Harper after having established such a strong record of opposing him.
The Bloc, on the other hand, would surely move to support Harper if it was desperately needed--if the polls turned, Ignatieff was really eating their lunch in Quebec--but that's certainly nowhere near the case now.
The far greater rpoblem for the Liberals it that--ridiculous claims of "probation" aside--Ignatieff has put himself in the same position as Stephane DIon: stuck with no other option but to prop Harper up or force an election he can't afford to fight.
I also find that this is a funny idea.
I must say it is a little like asking for Stephen Harper to call Ignatieff out like he did to Stephane Dion: do something completely intolerable, expect to get away with it and dare Ignatieff to stop him and call him on his weakness if he doesn't pull the trigger.
I hope Jack and Jill (err... sorry, I mean Jack and Gilles) can be counted upon to live up to the absolutism of their rhetoric and seize the opportunity to topple the Conservatives if the time comes. To do otherwise would be to put the shoe on the other foot.
I don't think there's any question James that the BQ and NDP won't be looking to do Iggy any favours any time soon, including if he wins a minority government in the next election. In that case I think Ignateiff's prospects might be better under a "unite the right" banner.
God knows I'm already having a hell of a time telling Iggy from a Republican.
Post a Comment