I think it is.
I've seen some blog-posts questioning our party's strategy on the budget and beyond. I read a very well-though out blog post by Adam M. on the subject. Some people have challenged his thinking - which is what we do very well in this open and "big-tent" party. Folks... I think some of you are reading Adam wrong. I think his comments about letting the public enjoy the government they elected were more of an observation on the fact that general ignorance in the populace about what got them here, and what's going to help them with jobs, just doesn't exist.
It's like this: You have a 17 year old child. They're going to a party. At this party there will most likely be alcohol and drugs. You KNOW this is not the right path for your child. But... as many parents, you also believe that your child has been raised to know the difference between right and wrong. To "ground" your child, or to keep them from going, would simply kill any sense of independence the child has, and probably cause rebellion, where they'll embrace the "druggies" because you are simply a "power-hungry" parent - and the "druggies" will no doubt highlight that to your child. I'm sure many parents out there are faced with this dilemma every day.
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Translate this to the current political situation. The Conservatives are the "druggies". The voters are your 17-year-old child, who you hope has the sense to make the right decision. We moderate and kind-minded Liberals are the doting "parents" of Confederation (and the 17 yr old).
How easy is it for us to watch the child we nurtured and love make their own decisions about such a matter? We know that having the "heavy hand" will cause that child's friends to convince them that we are doing something "wrong"... even "illegal". That we are just exercising our power.
It is a VERY tough decision, but we know what the "mega-dollar party" will do if we assume the reigns of government right now. We had a little taste of it in December. 18 months of running this government will not be enough to get us out of this recession. We would be faced with constant attacks... constant public tongue-lashings by a former government that has the money to fund the ads.
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We can replace these people when they've worn this recession a little longer. It's great that Harper is wearing his deficit sweater now too... There is a mandated election in October. By the time of the first couple of budget "updates" you can pretty much guarantee that things will have gotten worse (as they would under any government), and you can also be sure that very little funding will actually have gone out. What I'm saying is that the situation is reversible within the period of time that one would be on EI. This means that if a wrongful budgetary decision (which is SUPPOSED to stimulate business and industry) causes job loss at the point of "roll out" - which could be weeks or months from now, the victims of the Conservative follow have almost a year beyond that where existing measures like EI will help them. We know that if conditions go this way in the next few months, we'll be pulling the plug on the Cons BEFORE the slated October election. The big BUT is that we'll be forcing an election - not a coalition - and winning a clear victory. Then the NDP can choose to support us if we're a minority, or keep playing their political games.
I think we should all be focused on raising funds. Even if we're on the "coalition" or "pull the plug now" camps, we need to ensure the party has money to "defend itself" with a massive ad campaign. Failure to do so is folly no matter WHICH WAY we choose to go...
5 comments:
Um there is no mandated election in October. That legislation calls for elections every 4 years after the last election, that's all it calls for you can read it for yourself. When the writ dropped that legislation automatically got updated to make the next election mandated for October 2012 unless the government loses the confidence of the House.
The legislation is tootheless anyway (as we saw when Harper called the last election), but I don't know where you got the idea there is a mandated election in October, this government will very likely govern till the next budget in 2010 since they may not even recall the House in the fall (and what could we do to force them?) and we won't be bringing them down before summer.
Mike, perhaps I hadn't read that clearly (still operating on my "pre-election" thought processes). Still, the "updates" on the budget are the key reporting periods anyways, and we have that on OUR time schedule. I wouldn't want to be beholden to fixed election dates anyways...
We will defeat the government on a date when it has a poor grade on it's quarterly report card. A little Parliamentary discipline...
Cheers.
Whose the "we" you speak of? The Liberals do not have enough votes to defeat the government. Perhaps it will be an NDP motion of non-confidence that the Liberals support.
We can only defeat the government with the help of the BQ. They won't be helping us any time soon. IGGY can want an election whenever he wants, but the other opposition parties don't have to play with him.
They'll play. They always do. They're more interested in looking like the party that kept the government "honest". They'll play.
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