I really have no idea why the Grits chose this time - this one square on the calendar - to withdraw their support of the Harper government. But that is probably more about me than Iggy. Chantal Hebert, far far cleverer person that me who actually pays attention, wrote about the decision in the Toronto Star this morning:
...it is the contention of Liberal strategists that the current poll deadlock between their party and the Conservatives will not be decisively broken, or at least not in Ignatieff's favour, until the public has a chance to see the Liberal leader in campaign action. They argue the supportive role of the minority government that the parliamentary situation has forced upon him hampers Ignatieff from showing Canadians what he and his policies are really made of. The Liberals are also convinced the longer they keep the government going, the more they are enabling Harper to mature in power. That this analysis is not universally shared by Ignatieff's own troops is obvious, but not necessarily exceptional.
I think that is a very fair approach to the question of Ig. I am just not sure that it is the best thing for the nation. Perhaps I am suffering from a wee touch of the old Stockholm syndrome but have the Tories done a bad job? Would the Grits do a very different job? Is there a likelihood of a minority government that is very different from the current situations?
I worry a bit about the nation. Canada is a funny place and is called things like a compromise or "Not a real nation" but it generally works. But I get the sense with this election that there is a bit of the jerking of Ottawa around by the parties for the sole sake of the parties. In the past Ottawa has been jerked around by the provinces, Quebec nationalists and strong personalities and to a degree that is what it is there for, that is what Ottawa is. But these are not the best of times and you would think that nation should come before party. Something happened during this decade without a name to place party first here and in the US. Don't know that I like it. Don't know what that means for my next vote.
[Interesting to note: I had an idea that I had used the Stockholm syndrome line before but it was six years ago and I was talking about PEI back in the days when I was far ruder and my commentators are largely people who burned out of here in a flame of glory at one point or another.]
Comments
Ben (The Tiger) - September 2, 2009 9:19 AM
Elections are fun.
So we'll either get PM Iggy (as even if Harper wins a plurality, I just don't see him passing a Throne Speech) or PM Steve with a slim majority.
So enjoy the show.
Robert McClelland - September 2, 2009 9:23 AM
<i>but have the Tories done a bad job?</i>
Yes they have. The real question is, have they done a bad enough job for those outside the beltway to notice. On that question I'm leaning toward no.
Wayne - September 2, 2009 10:35 AM
A 5-wood that covers the flag from 205 into a wind, across a hazard...to 4 inches.
Now, that is glory.
Alan - September 2, 2009 10:39 AM
"Yes they have."
Substantiate. I don't know that you are wrong but you need to say why.
Alan - September 2, 2009 10:59 AM
WAYNE!!!
Your burst of glory was, I recall, the most civilized. Something like "I have better things to do and mainly on the golf course."
Robert McClelland - September 2, 2009 11:45 AM
Cathie From Canada has posted a handy list, Alan. I would simply point to their handling of Canada's finances. They shortsightedly blew a large surplus that would be quite useful right now and by doing so, demonstrated a naivete that I've never seen from any Canadian government.
Alan - September 2, 2009 2:02 PM
Those are good ones. How would the Grits have done differently?
Hans - September 2, 2009 2:55 PM
I heard Grit MP Wayne Easter on the radio this morning and was smitten by the onslaught of customary hackneyed if not actually rote attacks on the current government and appeals for a change. What was so shocking was the chasm between the calls for change and the "change" being offered. The Liberals seem stuck in 2003 and Harper outsmarts them at every turn. The can't seem to understand that if they want change they have to do things differently and talk about new things and new ideas and a new way of doing politics. Listening to Iggy's speech, I hear the cliches and cadences of the 1990s.
"Something happened during this decade without a name to place party first...." Agreed. Politics is different and lesser than it used to be.
Stockholm Syndrome. Possibly, or at least a variant of it. Scotchfort Syndrome maybe?
OMG!!! Wayne!!!
Alan - September 2, 2009 3:01 PM
I miss Wayne so much I fear that the one up there is an imposter, a faux Wayne, toying with my emotions.
Wayne - September 2, 2009 4:20 PM
A-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!
(in my best Vincent Price impersonation.)
Playing with a lawyers emotions? Not since my 'ol running buddy Jim Wyatt moved "away". Not that there is anything "wrong" with having to move "away", since no one would really do it voluntarily or of their own volition. (believe me now? LOL)
Actually, I have been lurking for years in the peanut gallery, to where I shall return. But, why do they call it a peanut gallery?
David Janes - September 2, 2009 9:05 PM
Surpluses are simply last year's over-taxations. One can understand a certain strong bitterness from deep leftie types that Candian's money is in the wrong hands (i.e. those not those of the correct caste) but if they feel that strongly about it, it's only a matter of proposing that taxes be increased the appropriate amount. They'll have an excellent opportunity to do that shortly in the future apparently.
Jay Currie - September 2, 2009 11:02 PM
Once Iggy heard I was supporting a potential Liberal candidate in Victoria he realized he had a real mandate to call an election. This does not happen and I can be very fickle.
Iggy and I understand each other...in both cases, it's really about "me". (Or him, to be accurate.)
Ben (The Tiger) - September 2, 2009 11:43 PM
I just really, really want to see an election.
I said last year that I'd love to see them every year.
I may just get my wish.