Give money to the Liberals (here) or NDP (here). In each year, the first $400 political donation you make gets you a refund of $300 on your taxes. So why not give $400 now and $400 in January?
I don't know if does any good, but you can join a Facebook group or sign a petition. It's really important to write your MP, newspaper, etc.
But a special thing that we Liberals have to do is think very very hard about our leadership choice in May. We made a terrible mistake last time. In this post I'm not advocating one way or the other (cover one eye if you can't avoid seeing the photo on the right - this really isn't an endorsement this time). I'm just saying: whoever you now support, put that aside for a moment and try to think objectively about who would be the most qualified, capable and effective as party leader and the next PM. We need to be more responsible and rational this time around. No more do-overs.
15 comments:
You have seen the polls right?
This mistake is over, no need to make complete fools of ourselves and piss off more people.
Ignatieff in May!
"he's willing to destroy the country to save his own skin"
Au contraire. It is the Liberals and NDP who would sacrifice their country for power. They would legimitize the Bloc Quebecois and make voters think it represents no danger to the future of our country by bringing it into a coalition arrangement. They would allow the Bloc to claim in future elections that, oh yes, we can exert political power in Ottawa. "Separatists and federalists unite, behind us!", they will claim.
And for what? A few months of political power.
Stephen Harper just scored a political hat trick:
1. He prevented long term strategic benefit to the Bloc.
2. He saved his own government.
3. He saved the Liberals from destroying their own brand.
And not even a thank you!
Harper subverting democracy??? It was Dion and Layton who tried to subvert democracy by going against the wishes of most Canadians. Just look at the polls and you'll see that you are in the minority. But then again, Liberals just don't know what to do when they're not in power. The only thing they try to do is find ways to get back into power, even if it means going against the wishes of the majority.
1. The Bloc is legitimate. They were elected by legitimate voters. Get used to it.
2. In Canada, you vote for an MP, not a PM. There is nothing subversive for the majority of MPs to form a government.
3. Proroguing parliament to avoid a non-confidence vote is a monstrous subversion of democracy.
1. The Bloc is legitimate. They were elected by legitimate voters. Get used to it.
Only in a country too afraid to say no and insult the precious, sensitive, oh and very artistic Quebecois. No, if you're not a national party you aren't in the debates. No, if you don't support Canada you don't get the benefits of Canada. It's a simple word. Look it up.
2. In Canada, you vote for an MP, not a PM. There is nothing subversive for the majority of MPs to form a government.
No, nothing subversive in that, it's the party structures that distort the original intent of riding representation that is wrong. And parties lie, ie WE won't form a coalition with the NDP
3. Proroguing parliament to avoid a non-confidence vote is a monstrous subversion of democracy.
Whoa! Didn't you just defend an unethical action because it's legal? Oh, right, I think it's unethical, you don't and it's legal, you say. Well, so was proroguing. I like it. You don't like it. It's legal so too F'n bad for you.
If the poll numbers get any worse we will be equal to the NDP.
And this is why we keep losing.
Go join the NDP and take Rae with you.
C'mon... You guys can't really be as ignorant of parliamentary rules and tradition as you're pretending. It just goes to show how a big budget and a good PR firm can shape public opinion... Harper spouts a lie and everyone starts repeating it as truth.
'You guys can't really be as ignorant of parliamentary rules and tradition ..'
Yappa, I'm going to explain this, as a commoner,
not hinged on parliamentary precedent.
The coalition broke a 'moral' rule: fair play
Canadians are nice people, really nice people.
They find it creepy that Layton and Duceppe planned the secret power seizure days after the election,
and then made up the b.s. about the economy so they could spring the trap.
It made Canadians mad that Liberals didn't listen.
How could they have said NO DION any louder.
Sheer arrogance on the Liberal's part to think they could toss that loser at the country and think we would like it, cause it was only for a few months.
When a team wins a game,
the losers can not gang up and take home the trophy.
Fair play.
Oh, and Canadians are really really sick of Duceppe and his demands....really sick of it.
In other words Yappa, the GG just committed a crime. She prorogued parliament which you say is undemocratic. I'm sorry I'm not as up on parliamentary rules and regulations as you are. I suggest you immediately call in the RCMP and have the GG arrested for such a miscarriage of justice.
Meanwhile me and my dumb friends will keep waving the blue flag and singing Kumbaya.
Hi Wilson,
Thanks for the comment. Your reasonable tone is refreshing after some of the other crap that was thrown at me today. ;-)
You make good points, but... I don't think that general ignorance is defence for ignorance.
Before the Harper PR campaign there was widespread outrage at what Harper and Flaherty did last week, and understanding of why he lost the confidence of MPs. Now the story has been reframed to be all about the coalition overturning the will of the people and cooperating with separatists - exactly Harper's talking points. I get it that lots of people are buying the PR campaign, but not that it's convincing Liberals.
Also, it's pretty ironic that Harper has pandered to Quebec enormously during his mandate trying to buy votes, and that the only subversion of democracy was Harper avoiding a scheduled no-confidence vote by forcing the G-G to prorogue parliament.
But as to your comment about Dion, I regretfully agree completely. His screwup with his taped address last night was the final straw, but the worst thing he did this week was his incoherent hissie fit in parliament. He's embarrassing the whole party and dragging us down. I wrote Doug Ferguson, my riding president and Dion himself today with some stern words about never letting that man make another decision or speak in public. Alas, they won't listen.
Anon at 11:13 -
Nice sarcasm there. My understanding is that the GG has to do what the PM asks unless she can provide a really good reason not to. The fact that Harper was with her for two hours this morning suggests that she might not have been very happy about it.
But do you understand that a precedent has now been set that has probably never been set in any other parliamentary democracy in the world, that if a PM is facing a scheduled no-confidence vote he can get out of it by proroguing parliament? When Joe Clark and Paul martin and others were brought down in no-confidence votes they could have tried this, but it is just not done.
I keep hearing about proroguing parliament to avoid a vote of non-confidence. But didn't Paul Martin do that in 2005?
Hi Wes Werkman -
No, Martin didn't prorogue parliamennt. That no-confidence vote was unique in that the government didn't fall because it lost a vote it initiated, which is the way no-confidence votes are supposed to work. The Conservatives initiated the no-confidence motion that toppled the government.
As far as I know, no parliamentary democracy has ever prorogued parliament with no justification (ie at the beginning of a term) or to escape a vote of no confidence. This situation runs counter to the whole purpose of prorogation.
I think that this break could be good for the liberals. We can use it to replace Dion and rally behind an interim leader that Canadians can support. Installing Dion as PM we would only be replacing a leader that has lost the confidence of parliament, with a leader who has never had the confidence of the people. How could we go to the polls in good conscience and ask Canadians for their vote after that? This mess has also weakened Harper's economic cred. We pick someone with a strong finance background as a steward PM and carry on with the leadership race.
He, he he !!! ;-)
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