Harper Wins By Not Losing
A new Teflon man has emerged in Canadian politics, Stephen Harper not because he performed overly well in this debate, but because he did not fall flat, has come out of the debate as the clear winner. Strange how that works, Mr Martin who had the most riding on this debate, was the most passionate, he tried his best to bring his a-game, he even threw out a new policy initiative, the abolishment of the Notwithstanding Clause, but to no avail, the Liberals are like Nortel, sell, sell, sell.... They are a spent force.
Jack Layton, while I hate to say it but he came off overly rehearsed, he stuck to his talking points ad noisome, working families, corruption, there is a third option... All noble causes, but his delivery was off, the passion wasn't there. He did zing Harper twice, once with the tax cut issue where he stated that yes a GST cut would save Canadians 4 billion, but buy raising income taxes back up to 15% Canadians would then owe the government 5 billion....Zing... And then on childcare in Quebec where he pointed out to Harper that Quebec already has a government funded childcare program. I think he stumbled a bit when the moderator zinged him with the whole of the 3 federalist leaders, I don't believe I have heard you use the statement if I was Prime Minister.....To which I think Jack wavered a bit, and spit out something like their is a third option and if enough Canadians vote NDP then I might become Prime Minister. I would have like him to sound more assertive on that question, more Prime Ministerial in fact.
Duceppe well he was Duceppe, I think he performed relatively well, but like I have said all along, he has the easiest job in Ottawa, and with all the scandals within the Liberal party especially in Quebec, I think he had lots of "Options" to attack Mr Martin.
So there you have it, Teflon Stevie seems to have maintained the big MO, and now we as Canadians have 13 days to figure out how to rip him and the Conservatives apart, or suffer the consequences of change for change sake.
A new Teflon man has emerged in Canadian politics, Stephen Harper not because he performed overly well in this debate, but because he did not fall flat, has come out of the debate as the clear winner. Strange how that works, Mr Martin who had the most riding on this debate, was the most passionate, he tried his best to bring his a-game, he even threw out a new policy initiative, the abolishment of the Notwithstanding Clause, but to no avail, the Liberals are like Nortel, sell, sell, sell.... They are a spent force.
Jack Layton, while I hate to say it but he came off overly rehearsed, he stuck to his talking points ad noisome, working families, corruption, there is a third option... All noble causes, but his delivery was off, the passion wasn't there. He did zing Harper twice, once with the tax cut issue where he stated that yes a GST cut would save Canadians 4 billion, but buy raising income taxes back up to 15% Canadians would then owe the government 5 billion....Zing... And then on childcare in Quebec where he pointed out to Harper that Quebec already has a government funded childcare program. I think he stumbled a bit when the moderator zinged him with the whole of the 3 federalist leaders, I don't believe I have heard you use the statement if I was Prime Minister.....To which I think Jack wavered a bit, and spit out something like their is a third option and if enough Canadians vote NDP then I might become Prime Minister. I would have like him to sound more assertive on that question, more Prime Ministerial in fact.
Duceppe well he was Duceppe, I think he performed relatively well, but like I have said all along, he has the easiest job in Ottawa, and with all the scandals within the Liberal party especially in Quebec, I think he had lots of "Options" to attack Mr Martin.
So there you have it, Teflon Stevie seems to have maintained the big MO, and now we as Canadians have 13 days to figure out how to rip him and the Conservatives apart, or suffer the consequences of change for change sake.
posted by Joseph at 11:29 p.m.
4 Comments:
I was glad Layton didn't outright say he could become PM because the fact of the matter is he can't, not with 15%-20% of the vote.
The NDP aren't about forming government; they're about influencing government. We saw that in the last parliament with the budget they were able to get passed.
The problem with the NDP being happy with "influencing" government and never forming government is that it leaves little room for them to become more than a third party.
Many Canadians will not vote for a party that has no chance of forming government, believing it to be merely a protest vote. In a minority situation a third party has some influence on government, but throughout Canadian history minority governments are short-lived and rare.
NDP emerging as the only left wing party in Canada I would hope them to be more then the third party that they are. Otherwise our governments will always be influence by central and right wing ideologies...
rjl why play the game if you don't want to win. I am sick of the NDP inferotity complex, the NDP have to package themselves as a government in waiting, a leftwing party without the baggage of the Liberals, one with a vision seperate from the Liberals, and more progressive then the Conservatives. If not why run, if the NDP simply want to influence government, why not disband, join the Liberal party, and live forever in the Liberal backbench.
The NDP shouldn't join the Liberals because they aren't the Liberals. The two parties are completely different.
I'm not saying that the NDP can't form a government at some point, but at this stage it's not in the cards for them, so it would be foolish to act like it is.
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