Yesterday Michael Ignatieff announced that the Liberal party would no longer “support” the Conservative government. The vagueness of his speech – would they not vote in favor? would they vote against? – was clarified by a number of Liberal MPs including deputy-leader Bob Rae who left no doubt when they stepped up to the podium. The Liberals will vote to bring the government down.
According to a CTV News article, in a speech Tuesday to the Liberal caucus, Ignatieff said Harper’s time as prime minister, “is over.”
The real question is whether or not Ignatieff can convince Canadians that he is acting in the country’s best interests.
First, Liberals must contend with the fact that Michael Ignatieff was installed as party leader after an internal putsch against Stephane Dion. The Conservatives, NDP and Bloc can all argue their leaders were democratically elected, not appointed by a cabal of party elites.
Next, Liberals must contend with the fact that Michael Ignatieff has spent most of his adult life outside of Canada. Hand in hand with his extended absence is the number of shock inducing sound bites his opponents have dug up – from suggesting that the Canadian flag appears like a beer label, to his assertion that he can always go back to teaching at Harvard if Canadian’s don’t make him Prime Minister.
Then there is his age. At 62 Ignatieff is getting long in the tooth. A number of Liberals have suggested that if Ignatieff wants to be PM he is running out of time. And that may well be part of the reason he’s so desperate to bring down the government after a summer of being Mr. Invisible.
To compound the Liberal’s problems their timing might be off. High profile Liberals have spent the past two days telling anyone who will listen that they will not support the Conservative government, under any circumstances and a number of Liberals have suggested that the October opposition day would be a perfect time to move non-confidence.
But it appears that the Conservatives may put a money bill on the table as soon as the house resumes sitting. In fact, it appears the Conservatives are planning on tabling a ways-and-means motion which will include the popular Home Renovation Tax Credit which hasn’t made it into law yet.
It seems, then, that the first test of the Liberal’s resolve to bring down the government will be to kill the implementation of a tax credit millions of Canadians are counting on to help defray the cost of renovations they have already finished.
All this might lead Canadians to believe Liberal fortunes were bleak – a party adrift without a clear policy and languishing in the polls, headed by an appointed leader who has returned to Canada after a 30-year absence, and forcing the country into a second election in under a year – and they’d be right.
In fact, it gets worse.
Even Liberals think Ignatieff is committing political suicide.
Don Martin, writing in the National Post, quotes a Liberal insider as saying:
Wanna hear my analogy to this mess? The car is ready and moving forward. Unfortunately there’s a cliff straight ahead. But the real problem is that the driver is accelerating because he thinks he can jump the canyon.
Indeed. On the one hand Canadians have Stephen Harper and the CPC. They have managed to weather the financial crisis, have implemented a good number of their election promises, and have been doing a good job at running the country. On the other hand they have Michael Ignatieff and the Liberal Party. They continue to exude the arrogant notion that they are Canada’s “natural ruling party” all the while being unapologetic about plunging the country into a second $300-million election in less than year.
Ignatieff may find he’s actually playing a game of Russian Roulette, and it’s a game he appears to be destined to lose.
- Rafael.
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