Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Zero Sum Game?

The Liberals and NDP seem to be doing themselves some long-term damage in the west, where there is justifiable anger that their local boy is being deposed by easterners.

The Conservatives are totally screwing their chances in future elections in Quebec by calling the entire province "the devil" and railing that the votes of Quebec MPs should somehow not be counted.

So in one sense it's a wash.

In another sense it's disastrous for Canada, as it ramps up the polarization of our people an enormous amount. Would that we had someone on the horizon who could work to heal the rifts and bring us together as one people. ...Oh yeah, I think that person is Bob Rae.

###

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree with you fully. Bob Rae is going to make an excellent Prime Minister. He is the only one that has the experience and leadership in working in a coalition government. He brought down Joe Clark's government in 1979. He even formed a coalition with David Peterson in 1985. Time and time again, he has proven to be a great STATESMAN. Even now he is proving his leadership and experience working with Mr. Dion in the current coalition situation. Bob has always put the Canadian people first and Canadian values. Sir Wilfred Laurier said, "The Liberal Party of Canada is about Canada, first, second, and always."
Bob understands that and that is why he will be the next leader.
GO BOB GO!!!

MississaugaPeter said...

Being neutral, I have noticed, and ask:

Why is that the Rae folks (another - What Do I Know Grit) are the only leadership camp that are still aggressively, publicly, advertising their candidate?

As Liberals we need to unite, and remain united, to insure democracy wins and the reign of Harper ends.

After that is done, leadership candidates and their supporters are more than welcome and are encouraged to go wild.

Tootrusting said...

Harper is playing a very dangerous game with Canada by attacking the idea of the BLOC having influence in parliament at a time when polls show over 70% of Quebecor's want in on the coalition, this is playing right into the separatists hands. They want in and now Canada doesn't want them, their elected representatives aren't good enough, at least that's the way they will play it.
He is playing to his base and at the risk of Canada.

Yappa said...

Hi Mississauga Peter -

Calling this post an aggressive advertisement for Rae is a bit strong. I didn't even plan the last sentence - originally I was going to blame the polarization of Canada on some Machiavellian plot of Harper, and then realized I was getting a bit carried away and couldn't do that, so came up with what I thought was a sort of cutesy-predictible ending.

I've been paying a lot of attention to Liblogs lately and I hadn't noticed much campaign traffic at all. I just checked out what do I know grit and he wrote a recent post in support of Dion, plus one that mentioned that Rae filed his papaers. Hardly aggressive or advertising.

Anyway, on a nonpartisan note, I wonder what's going to happen with cabinet posts. The press is full of Harper-originated lies, so I'm never sure what to believe. But I heard that Rae and Leblanc want to be in the coalition cabinet while Ignatieff does not. I hope they'll accommodate Rae and Leblanc. That may essentially concede the race to Ignatieff, but from reports it sounds like he's nearly nailed it anyway. This route might mean that we don't need a coronation for Ignatieff a la Martin, but we don't need a brutal defeat on the floor either.