Archive for the ‘Liberal/NDP Coalition’ Category
Michael – I Think They Blew Their Last Shot.
Jim Flaherty’s idea of economic stimulus is nothing more than repackaged ideological junk. He has repeatedly waffled with his boss on even running a deficit. Flaherty’s latest bad move is suggesting that he will provide tax cuts as consumer stimulus. This after being completely wrong about whether the Government of Canada would run a deficit and then promising any deficit he would run would not be structural. Tax cuts are permanent. The GST cuts, are a permanent ten billion dollars gone from the annual budget. That was done so these clowns could score a few points in the polls by saving me two cents every morning on my coffee. Congrats Steve, but look at the cost.
I’m not an economist, but when Conservatives govern I sure feel like I could be. They lower the bar so far past common sense virtually any Canadian with a few pads of legal paper, a few pencils and a good calculator could do a better job at managing Canada’s economy. My view is, in a time when one is trying to provide temporary stimulus without creating a structural deficit, you don’t cut taxes you issue cheques. If Flaherty sent every taxpayer some spending money it would go a lot further than promising that in the 2009 tax year (March 2010) there will a nicer return for them. Also – you need an income to pay income tax, and when Canadians lose their jobs, I’m sure they’d rather cash in hand than a good return fourteen months from now.
We as Canadians know that these guys hate the Federal government. This cabinet is filled with angry people who dislike government and central Canada. I couldn’t imagine waking up every day and putting on the charade they have to daily. Perhaps if we had a real government made up of responsible Canadians who were seeking to really do something meaningful, instead of finding new and exciting ways to destroy the future of our federation and it’s institutions, we’d actually get somewhere. If the underlying principle here is to create stimulus, send me a cheque. If you want to further weaken the federal government’s spending power and try the Republican strategy of bankrupting the government as an excuse to kill social programs… keep cutting taxes.
It’s clear which of these two options Flaherty is most interested in. We know Harper hates the federal government, it’s institutions and our national identity, so look forward to a further structural weakening of the Federal government through a weakening of it’s revenue stream. It will cause a structural deficit that can be solved by political suicide raising taxes, or cutting social program spending. If these guys stay in power long they will keep cutting back the revenue stream as an excuse to cut back social spending. That is the game.
I hope the Liberal front bench with it’s sound economic background and understanding of Canada’s economic system from both a banking perspective and a public policy perspective stands up and refuses to allow passage of any economic plan that will not do what it is intended to do and merely allow these guys to further damage our system. Canadians want action on the economy and are sick of the partisan gamesmanship in the House. The other parties have a right to form a government and if the best they are presented with is an ideologically based, economically ignorant budget they ought to defeat the Government and get on with the job at hand.
2 Comments »Gut Feeling: Harper’s Government Will Live, Coalition Will not
Harper is not somebody I am a fan of. I don’t believe he accepts the view that democracy is a fundamentally good thing. I believe he is far too vengeful and has too dark a personality to be Prime Minister, but the guy is quite the political engineer.
In publicly extending the olive branch to Michael Ignatieff and suggesting that he is open to hearing from ‘the other big party’ on the budget, he further complicates Ignatieff’s decision. Say yes to the meeting – you don’t have to worry about ridiulous attack ads right away, giving you time to play nice and brand yourself. The cost of course is trying to present the Liberals as an alternative to the Conservatives, while proping them up. If Harper is smart, he would take whatever advice Ignatieff gives, to ensure passage of his budget and a death to the coalition idea. That would not only protect Harper, but also put him in a position where he can slap around the Liberals on future confidence votes. It would also drive a big wedge between the NDP, Bloc and Liberals, changing the dynamic of the next election as the NDP and Bloc would then be able to make it clear that they are the only ones who will stand up to Harper. Thats our vote they wll eat.
If Ignatieff says no to the meeting, the attack ads begin, he takes a brusing from the CPC and we go ahead and vote down the Government. We either end up in an election we have no money for, or a coalition government that at least now is unpopular with Canadians. The single largest positive in my mind is that an agreement to govern tgether could and should result in an agreement to minimize friendly fire, both at the riding level and national level.
It would get the NDP off our backs where we split the vote and a Conservative wins, and us off theirs as well. Whether Canadians would go for it is another question all together. Sadly, we probably will never know.
The scary thing in all of this is that Ignatieff if he meets with Harper (which I think he must) and presents viable suggestions for the budget (which he should) Harper looks like the bigger man. He suddenly looks responsible, has someone to blame for his deficit, assurances it will pass and he will live t fight another day. The Liberal party however will have waffled in the eyes of Canadians, will look indecisive and by backing away from a coalition will be inviting a war on four fronts in the next election, instead of a war on one front.
There are drawbacks to whatever Ignatieff does. But making tough decisions is what Leadership is all about and he is soon to find that out in a very practical way. I don’t envy him at this moment, especially because he appears most comfortable leaning in a direction that will allow Harper to govern, and that will be a very tough corner to come back from later.
Some would suggest the drama is over, I’m of the opinion it is just getting started, now that Harper has an opponent and the coalition is beginning to fall apart.
4 Comments »What the Hell is Going On?
The internal gamesmanship within the Liberal Party could not be more ridiculous or inappropriate. I can appreciate that Mr. Ignatieff has had some bad experiences since returning to Canada and running to lead the Liberal Party. I would reference his first race, but by all accounts they never really stopped and it is really just a continuation. He was the front runner with caucus support last time. He didn’t win. He is the front runner with caucus support this time, so he is now trying to steal it before anything can go wrong. The Liberal Party has rules that allow people like me, who have been a member of this party considerably longer than guys like Mr. Ignatieff, to have a say in who leads us.
I know from the scathing emails I’ve received and the venom flowing from Liberals in Mr. Ignatieff’s direction that grassroots Liberals will not accept a ’smash and grab’ approach to the Party’s leadership. His actions are dividing the party, and the real grassroots, who always have to contend with ‘instant liberals’ during Leadership races will leave over this. I’m hearing that in the emails I’m being sent as a Riding President. While I appreciate receiving these notes, the Council of Presidents who is meeting tomorrow night will not even get a voice in this completely undemocratic charade.
Michael Ignatieff should not be running to be the interim Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. His people should have supported the last leader delegates elected when they rejected him, perhaps if they had, this last election would not have gone so badly. Whomever becomes our party’s next leader will have real issues to contend with. The Liberal Party is broke, the grassroots have been stomped on, and there will be internal division in whatever is left once this process is over. We need someone who can unite the party, raise money and give us a hope in hell of winning back some of the ridings we’ve bled over the last four elections.
The process needs to be fair and democratic. We need to have an opportunity to allow for all Liberals to have a say in who our next leader is. We cannot afford a divisive power grab. We cannot afford for caucus to screw over the individual members that make up this party. They will do so at their own peril. Who will hammer in your signs, raise your money or pull your vote if you disenfranchise the grassroots?
I backed Dominic LeBlanc because I thought he would be the best person to lead the Liberal Party moving forward. I was upset today when he withdrew from the race, and equally upset that Dion is going to step out of the Leadership and allow this process to happen. Bob Rae will now need to hold firm, and give members of the party the right to voice their opinions. If the Ignatieff camp push him out of the race too, I fear this may be it for the Liberal Party of Canada as we know it. It is simply too weak for anyone to drive away supporters of other leadership campaigns. From all my conversations with Ignatieff people, that is the game. It is ok for them to not support our current leader, but any difference of opinion over the future of the party is enough to see you shut out. – I won’t expand on this point just yet, but do want to register my displeasure with what the Liberal Caucus in Ottawa is undertaking this week.
Should Ignatieff take the Leadership this Wednesday, the coalition is dead on arrival. He has made it clear through his waffling (my single largest issue past and present with supporting his candidacy) that he will not support working with the NDP to form a progressive government. The Liberal Party will be back to sitting on their hands, red faced and embarrassed or into an election we can’t win because we won’t have had the time to rebuild.
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