Well, it was a busy couple of weeks for me. Lots of school work has meant I've been too busy to post anything all week (with the exception of one blog, which I promptly took down in the interests of my own sanity). I guess the truth isn't that I've been too busy, but rather, that I haven't been inspired. I blame all the group meetings and assignments for taking away my desire to read the news. I also blame Mr. McIver for not having posted any Tory rhetoric in about as long. Usually I can count on at least one of those sources to inspire me.
Anyway, I'm bored now, so I just took a quick look at the Globe and Mail where I found an interesting article about a new Grit-Green alliance. Liberal leader Stephane Dion has agreed not to run a candidate in the riding of Central Nova (currently held by Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay), where Green Party leader Elizabeth May will be running. In return, Ms May has agreed not to run a candidate in Dion's riding of Saint-Laurent-Cartierville.
My question is: What's the point? May isn't going to beat a sitting cabinet minister and Dion's seat probably isn't up for grabs (he won by nearly 20,000 votes last time around). Dion said he likes May's policy on the environment. Woo-hooo. Doesn't he like his own policy on the environment?
I'm thinking Mr. McIver might be right, maybe this Dion guy is a complete moron. One MP called him "a big albatros around the party's neck," while another was inspired to opine that the Liberal Party is now "the silly party."
Something has got to be up. I cannot conceive of any good reason for Dion to make this deal. Is May going to jump ship right after the election (if she wins, which she won't)? In that scenario, the Liberals are a conniving party intent on tricking Central Novans to vote Liberal without knowing it. I hope that's not the case. Is Dion worried about his own seat? I don't think he should be. How could one possibly lose enough popularity to erase a 20,000 vote advantage in fewer than 2 years? Did May and Dion engage in some extra-political affairs (aka Clintonian politics or shagging) and now May is extorting him? Or Dion is extorting May?
I can't agree with NDP eidolon and former leader Ed Broadbent's assertion that this is the “ultimate kind of scheming to reduce electoral choice,” but he's not exactly wrong, he's merely embellishing the significance of the deal.
I'm a Liberal, but let's just say Dion's next move better be across the Rubicon (that is, it better lead to an inevitable Liberal return to power).*
*****
* Pat, I said "an inevitable return to power," not "the inevitable return to power." I'm not suggesting the Liberals are destined to win the next election because it is some sort of Liberal right, I'm saying Dion's next move better put us in a position where we will be able to win the next election. I know how you love to talk about the Liberal Party's sence of entitlement to govern, so I thought I'd clarify that I'm not demonstrating that alledged belief.
Let me apologize for not providing a daily dose of competent, logical and rational Conservative rhetoric... I have posted a brief, probably incoherent blog about the state of politics as I feel is the case this week, so perhaps that will give you some added ammunition...
ReplyDeleteAs for the deal between your party and Ms. May not to run candidates in each other's riding, I'm really at a loss to explain it. I think it has more to do with trying to get Peter MacKay defeated (something Mr. Dion would like to add to his limited list of accolades since becoming leader) then it has to do with mutual admiration of each other's policies on the environment. It certainly raises the spectacle that Ms. May will be defeated by a juggernaut (to which she can lay claim to being defeated twice in less than two years) and Mr. Dion can say "well, we gave her a try, but it didn't work"....
The decision only furthers my belief that Mr. Dion is not quite ready for prime-time. Saying he stood up to the Bloc and PQ in Quebec is not enough to think he can go from being the foot soldier to being the commander-in-chief. I don't think he has scored very high in any of the leadership qualities announced recently in any number of polls (I think he tied with Jack Layton as being the best PM for Canada, or has less credibility on the environment than the Conservatives, whom I admit did nothing for a year!)....
I still cling to my belief that there will be an election this year... I think it will come down to the environment legislation now before Parliament. Mr. Dion and Mr. Layton (mistakenly, I might add) think this is THE issue to defeat the government. We are already starting to see the flame of climate change fissle out...
Do you really think Ms May has any hope at all of defeating Peter MacKay? Maybe I'm not giving the Green Party its due, but I still don't think they'll come away with a seat, certainly not one currently held by a cabinet minister. I don't know, I hope Dion's got a better reason than "mutual respect".
ReplyDeleteIn a Liberal news letter, Dion said it showed he was doing things differently. Cooperation instead of confrontation, putting issues ahead of partisan politics. But really, why now? Do that in Parliament, not via some meaningless agreement about running candidates.
I have to disagree with your assertion that the climate change flame is dying out. I think it may be lulling because of other interests, but it'll come back. It's here for good...I hope.
I missed this earlier: "I'm thinking Mr. McIver might be right, maybe this Dion guy is a complete moron."
ReplyDeleteWhat? I might be right? Say that again?
I think it is funny that over the past few politics shows I have watched since the deal was announced (CTV's Question Period and Mike Duffy Live, CPAC's Prime Time Politics, etc), it is only Ms. May that is trying to explain how this deal came about -- is Mr. Dion doing anything to try to sell this to Liberal Party members? I also think it's funny watching the way she tries to explain it: I disagree with the Liberals, but think Mr. Dion would make the best PM, so we need to get him elected, but not at the expense of not electing Greens.
Woah?
Good luck trying to explain how you didn't give Central Nova Liberals the option of voting for a Liberal. Your party tried the same strategy in Quebec (Martin had hand-picked a bunch of ridings that were against the wishes of the local riding association), and it ended up with Quebec-Liberals campaigning for the Tories in the '06 election. Could it happen again?
Congratulations on the lemon of a leader you guys picked. Unfortunately, this guy can't make lemonade!
I would never do this for anyone else, but here ya go:
ReplyDelete"I'm thinking Mr. McIver might be right, maybe this Dion guy is a complete moron."
I think this little debacle will prove very minor - meaningless. I don't believe, even considering MacKay's dwindling popularity (because he didn't stand up for Atlantic Canadians who got the shaft in the budget - Harper's lies made that shafting even more painful), that a Liberal would have won in Central Nova (unless things change dramatically before the next election). And I don't believe a band of a 100 or so Central Novan Liberals working for the Tories will be the straw that breaks the Liberal back.
As for Dion being a lemon...well, I have more optimism than you on this. I know you've been of the opinion that the Liberal leader is a lemon (regardless of who that leader is) since sometime in the latter part of Trudeau's reign (notwithstanding your youthful support of the Grits in high school). I still think Dion's got some promise. We'll see.