The defining issue

A quick thought...

Should the defining issue of the Green Party be the unconditional support of a coalition with a party that wishes to destroy Canada?

What about how the leader of the party has greatly centralized power?

Should the party be concerned with a naked - and futile - grab on power, destroying itself in the process?

Do you think the Liberals, NDP or Conservatives have any credibility in dealing with, say, the loss of 2 trillion tonnes of arctic ice? If you do, then it probably does not matter what the Greens do or not do, and would prefer if the party just fades away.

If you think otherwise...and believe that the established parties are incapable of protecting the environment, then should we, the Green Party, be going through this madness? Or, should we contest all 308 ridings with strong Green candidates, win 12 or more seats, and just get the job done?

Like I said...just a quick thought...

Support for a Party by its Leader

If Ignatieff continues to work in the coalition model, then David Orchard's proposal is one worth considering. Say 15 seats and a commitment to PR in exchange for not running in 293 ridings. The awful truth of any election as early as February 2009 is that we will have no money, no ability to get loans and would be hugely lucky to benefit from a one-time (I repeat: one-time) offer to run without NDP or Libs or Bloc in our key ridings...

If the Liberals do choose Ignatieff and he pulls them out of the coalition, then all we can do is hope there is no election for awhile....

Another hope is that the knives are really out for Harper within his own party and they will force him out. Another Conservative leader will not be the same threat as Stephen Harper.

This proposal, penned by the Leader of the Green Party of Canada to members of our Federal Council (and, by extension, to the membership) would be such a risky move that it would make Brian Mulroney's infamous "roll of the dice" vis-a-vis Meech Lake look like a sound decision.

The best case scenario is that the Green Party won all 15 seats, and has a small Parliamentary caucus, but the party has no funds. Because it's a one-time deal (according to her, so who's to say??) we would have to fight the following election in every riding. But, with no previous funding, it would be neigh impossible.

The worst case scenario is that the Green Party lost all 15 seats, and still as no public funding. Say goodnight, Gracie!

What a Great Line

"Films made in the Tora Bora studios of al-Qaeda Pictures have better production values"

- Lorne Gunter

Of course, he is referring to Stephane Dion's pre-recorded rebuttal to the Prime Minister from Wednesday.

A week is normally a lifetime in politics. In this past week, a cat would use up most of his or her 9 lives. In the case of Dion, his political life will be coming to a quick, merciful end either tomorrow or Wednesday.

Will Michael Ignatieff give bloggers more to chime in on, compared to Dion? Probably, if only to try and keep Harper in the hot seat until after the budget, and claim some morale victory through token concessions.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth May is nowhere to be seen. With her chances of a Senate seat dashed for good, she is off in Poland spending money the Greens do not have. Perhaps it's for the best to keep her out of the picture...

3 Strikes...You're Out!

From Bourque.com:

For the love of bob, when will the threadbare Liberal Party wake up and
smell the Bourque Newswatch Special Blend percolating on the front burner ?

First, the Party bootstraps itself to the unlilkely leadership of Stephane Dion, untested in virtually every political way, except for his ability to surf on the coat-tails of Jean Chretien's Clarity Act.

A political party, stunned into passiveness, proceeds to abdicate its duties to the Crown as Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition by essentially boycotting every important decision on the legislative agenda. They agitate by verbal vitriol, then skip the actual vote, hoping nobody outside the Parliamentary bubble will notice.

Second, the man who would be green (he hosts a montreal shmoozer and proclaims himself the saviour of the planet) does a secret deal with Green Party leader Liz May and gives birth to the Green Shift, a tax on everything that moves under the guise that it alone will temper global warming and patch up the ozone hole, so hated across the land it essentially condemns the Party and its hapless leader to its worst showing at the polls ever. The fella doesn't even have the good grace to apologize, resign on election night, and disappear from the public conscience.

Third, seemingly out of nowhere, a last gasp spitball coalition with arch-rival Jack Layton and his merry band of NDPers, backed by the devil itself, a party who's sole existence is premised on the destruction of Canada.

Try as they may to defend it, the so-called "Three Stooges" coalition, a flaccid force, led by His Ineptness himself, succeeds at nothing more than capturing the wrath of just about every sane federalist from sea to sea to sea.

Worse, in a festive seasonal gesture, the ghost of separatists past, Jacques Parizeau himself, rises from his political grave to cackle a 'Job well done, lad', noting that Dion's acquiescence to the Bloc's veto power virtually ensures that "Quebec sovereingty is once again the order of the day".

Then, last night, an embarrassing display of miscommunication during Dion's rebuttal to the PM's admittedly lost opportunity to explain himself to an incredulous nation for plunging everyone into such a political nightmare mere weeks after winning the election. Yet Dion fails to rise to the occasion, he barely shows up for that matter.

And the rest is history: prologue-turned-prorogue.

Now, to the task at hand.

The immediate and unconditional cutting of whatever umbilical cord that continues to tie this abject failure of a leader to the Liberal Party.

Who among you, hopeful Liberal leadership pretenders, will stand up and call this failure out. The logical choice would seem to be Michael Ignatieff, likely anxious to show even a modicum of leadership in these turbulent times, but perhaps it would be too bald an act of ambition on his part. So, with Bob Rae too shellshocked to see that the sideshow is over in all but name, the task should likely fall to that media banana Dominic Leblanc on behalf of us all.

Dom, baby, cue Scott Reid, start flapping the gums, and mouth whatever Scott can sound-bite for you, Your moment has arrived. The party, and the nation, awaits.

Of note: The Tories are doing very well in the most recent polls. Canadians do NOT want the coalition.

I wonder if Elizabeth May's unconditional support of the coalition was such a good idea after all...hmmm...

I Stand Corrected

Not 2 hours ago, I mused on how the coalition may not happen.

I apparently stand corrected:

The NDP and Liberals have reached a deal to topple the minority Conservative government and take power themselves in a coalition, CBC News has learned.

A deal has been negotiated between NDP Leader Jack Layton and Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion that would see them form a coalition government for two and a half years, the CBC's Keith Boag reported, citing sources.

The NDP would be invited into cabinet and get 25 per cent of seats, Boag said, adding that the party wouldn't get the position of the finance chair or the deputy prime minister's post.

Let's assume that this will happen, likely around December 8th. Can Harper stop it?

Yup. He can prorogue Parliament:

I’m at the Parliamentary Press Gallery dinner right now and a quiet rumour among a small number of the gathered people here is that Prime Minister Stephen
Harper may prorogue Parliament until the new year.

This would provide some breathing room for the government and let Canadians consider a Bloc-supported NDP-Liberal coalition while they eat their Christmas dinners and/or get together for their holiday parties.

The opposition will cry foul, but it’s within the Prime Minister’s power. The effect on Ottawa would be to pour some cold water on the heated political atmosphere on the Hill.

However, I should say, the optics of it wouldn’t be ideal to say the least. What do you think the risk/reward potential of this move would be?

Doing so would delay the non-confedence vote. But, it would enrage the opposition, and ensure that they go full steam ahead, whenever that vote finally occured.

The "Subprime Minister"

I just love that monkier from Garth Turner for Stephen Harper:

Since staring death in the chops – the kind of political oblivion Mr. Harper visited upon me, heaped upon Stephane Dion, dumped on Bill Casey and anyone else who dared question or oppose him – our subprime minister has been showing just the kind of guy he really is. Apparently, he’s willing to say, or do anything to retain power.

Many Liberals smell blood in their wounded adversary, and think now is the time to go for the kill. An email just sent from their HQ, under Martha Hall-Findley's signature, would seem to indicate that:

Time for Action

Stephen Harper has panicked.

Unable or unwilling to take real action to address Canada’s economic crisis, he has insisted on continuing to play partisan games. It has now caught up with him.

On Friday, faced with the possibility that the opposition parties (who together represent nearly two thirds of Canadians) could vote non-confidence in his ideological and negligent economic update, Mr. Harper resorted to procedural tricks to delay any vote for a week.

You might have thought he would have used this week to rethink his economic plan – to wake up to the reality that Canadians need more from their government than what he has offered so far. That is the kind of thoughtful leadership one hopes for in hard times.

Instead, Stephen Harper is mobilizing a massive grass-roots campaign to turn this economic crisis into a political one – to attempt to demonize the Liberals and the other opposition parties in the eyes of Canadians.

We must ensure that this campaign does not succeed. Please help. Two thirds of Canadian voters chose one of the opposition parties in the October election. If you were one of them, then now is the time to make your voice heard.

Write a letter to the editor. Phone a radio call-in program. Reach out on-line with Facebook or your favourite blogs. Get in touch with your friends and ask them to do the same. Let your fellow Canadians know that you too have lost confidence in this government. The stakes are too high for anything else.

Now is a time for action. Stephen Harper can no longer be trusted to act in Canada’s interests instead of his own. He must make way for someone who will.

Yours sincerely,

Martha Hall Findlay
Liberal Party of
Canada

Sounds great. However, one of the leadership frontrunners has other plans:

Liberal leadership candidate Michael Ignatieff is unlikely to support the coalition deal being negotiated by lame duck leader Stéphane Dion - a decision that would doom the opposition parties attempt to bring down the government next week in a vote of no-confidence in the House of Commons.

A person close to Mr. Ignatieff said that any deal with the Bloc Québécois and NDP struck by Mr. Dion would be a “poison chalice” for the next leader. He said that Mr. Ignatieff has the support of more than 50 of the 77 Liberal MPs, so the success or failure of a coalition proposition will depend on how the leadership candidate views any deal.

It's a pity. It's the first time Harper has been really on the defensive since becoming Prime Minister, and there are still some opposition members who are showing a lack of backbone. Should be of no surprise, I suppose.

The privilege to govern must be earned, not taken

True. But, has a party who gets less than 40% of the vote from under 60% of elgible voters earned the right to govern?

Apparently, the Tories do:

The Liberal Party was completely rejected by Canadians in the last election. They received their lowest share of the popular vote since Confederation.

Now the Liberals are trying to take power through the back door.

As you read this letter, the Liberals are holding secret negotiations with the socialist NDP and the separatist Bloc Québécois to overturn the wishes of Canadian voters and take power.

They want to take power and impose on Canadians a Prime Minister without a personal mandate, a Liberal-NDP Coalition not one voter has ever endorsed and have it all backstopped by the separatist Bloc Québécois who simply want to destroy the country.

We need your help to ensure that they do not succeed!

Senior Liberal insiders are trying to fool Canadians into thinking their scheme has something to do with the economy.

But it is clear the Liberals do not care about the economy. They only care about re-gaining power and re-gaining their entitlements. They've learned nothing since being turfed out of office over the sponsorship scandal.

On October 14th, Canadians passed judgment on the Liberals.

The Liberals have no mandate to lead a government.

The Liberals have no mandate to cut a deal with the NDP.

And the Liberals certainly do not have a mandate to cut a deal with the separatists who want to destroy our country.

This backroom deal is so unprecedented and so undemocratic that Canadians must have their say.

This is Canada. The privilege to govern must be earned, not taken. We cannot let this happen.

When an election occurs - and it must - the Conservative Party will have to wage the fight of its life.

We now know we are no longer competing just with the Official Opposition. We are competing against a coordinated campaign between Liberals, socialists and separatists to impose their agenda on Canadians.

I am asking you to make an emergency donation of $200 or $100 - whatever you can afford to protect Canada's future and protect Canada's democracy from being hijacked by politicians who care about nothing more than power and entitlements.

In the last election, Conservatives stood together and spoke out loud and clear about the kind of Canada they wanted.

Now we must stand together once again to ensure that the wishes of the voters are respected.

Time is of the essence. Please respond immediately.

Sincerely,


Irving Gerstein,C.M., O.Ont
Chair, Conservative Fund Canada

PS: We also need you to write letters to the editor, call Talk Radio and let the Liberals and NDP know what you think of their plan to overturn the Government without seeking the consent of Canadians.