Tuesday 29 September 2009

The Liberals Shoot Themselves in the Foot--Again: We're Not Going to Get Rid of Harper That Way

Let me repeat this: the end of Stephen Harper’s reign as Prime Minister of Canada is something that is essential.

Nevertheless, I was reluctant to cheer for an early election because I thought the Liberals were in such disarray that the Conservatives would come back with a majority. While it pained me to see the NDP vote to keep the Harper government in office, it seemed to me to be a wise thing to do, all the more because the changes to the Employment Insurance program, however small, are worth putting into effect.

But, golly gee, the Liberals are in even worse shape than I thought. They won’t be able to stop the Conservatives unless they pick up some seats in Quebec, and it sure doesn’t look like they’ve got the organization to do so what with Denis Coderre and several other top honchos resigning yesterday. Nothing like having guys in Toronto pushing aside local organizers to rile the ire of Quebeckers, even federalist Quebeckers, and it looks like that’s what’s happened. Who’s going to work on the ground for them in Quebec? Who’s speaking to whom anyway?

Martin Cauchon and Thomas Mulcair of the NDP will produce an exciting race in Outremont, I’m sure. And if I were a Liberal I might question Denis Coderre’s strategy of proposing a relatively unknown businesswoman as a candidate instead of Cauchon. But I’m not a Liberal. Realistically, it seems to me that the best one can hope for would be a minority Liberal government with the NDP holding the balance of power, and that isn’t going to happen unless the Liberals get their act together.

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