So, the Tories managed to pass Bill C-50, the new immigration law bill, yesterday. Nobody outside of the Tories thinks this is a good bill; it doesn’t really do what it aims to do (increase skilled worker immigration to Canada), and it directly impedes reunion of immigrant families, which nobody thinks is a good idea outside of diehard nativists.
Canada’s immigration laws have problems, of course – the most notorious being the fact that wait times for immigration review are horrendous. Of course, the Immigration and Refugee Board is 35 percent unstaffed, and they directly attribute the largest part of wait times to that fact in their report on the matter, and you’d think that if the Tories were serious about improving immigration they’d appoint new people to the Board.
But this isn’t about improving immigration; it’s the same as everything the Tories do, which is to rubberstamp their vision of what Canada should be through legislation, be it “family-friendly” filmmaking backdoored into Bill C-10 or reopening the legal status of the fetus with Bill C-484. Now, if Canadians had actually voted the Tories into a majority government, I would be angry, but I’d have less cause to gripe; if Canadians desperately wanted the Tory way, that’s how democracies work.
But these bills aren’t passing because the Tories have a majority government. Because the Tories have a minority government. These bills are passing because the Liberal Party is abstaining on every single goddamned vote that has the potential to be even slightly contentious. This is because Stephane Dion is in charge of the party, and Stephane Dion is playing chickenshit politics. Every contentious vote becomes the same question: “can Stephane Dion win an election?”
And the answer given is always “no,” even though Dion – probably the least liked Liberal party leader of the last, oh, fifty years or so – at the helm of the Liberal party puts the Grits only three points behind the Tories in countrywide polling right now. It’s a death spiral, because every time Stephane Dion refuses to fight the Tories on a contentious vote, the public becomes increasingly more convinced that he can’t lead the country. Which is fair, because if you don’t think you can take on a dink like Stephen Harper, what the hell business do you have trying to run a nation?
At this point I think the Liberals have to pull the emergency play: boot Dion, put in an interim party leader that would scare the shit out of Tories trying to call an election while the Liberals are getting organized (Gerard Kennedy or Ken Dryden are good candidates in this regard), and then have their convention and immediately challenge the Tories, who honestly aren’t that popular at all any more in Quebec and whose support elsewhere in Canada outside of Alberta is mostly soft and due to Dion’s immense wimpiness as a party leader. (I’m already hearing from friends within the low levels of the Liberal party infrastructure that this plan is gaining popularity rapidly in the ranks; the MPs want to fight the Tories on these stupid bills and Dion won’t let them.)
Because right now it’s just Dion getting the bad press; soon, though, it’ll be the Liberals’ fault for letting Dion walk them down the path to electoral suicide, and then it’s real trouble.
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Dion is an empty uniform. I almost never see him in the paper or on TV, and when I do the first thing I think is “who’s this dork? Oh right! The guy who wants to run the country”. We call Harper an uncharismatic robot. He’s got the personality of a potted plant, and his party is populated with dolts and crazies. Dion is such a lousy leader that he makes Dr. Roboto look like a reasonable choice.
Agreed!
Goddamn. The Liberals have put themselves in the absurd position of pointing fingers and shouting about bad Conservative policies… that they allow to be voted into law. For god’s sake, have a backbone! Liberals, the country might have more faith in you if you, you know, stand for something! Or do something! Do anything, actually!
I’m not a huge fan of either Kennedy or Dryden, but they both have the shining advantage of not being Dion! Hell, I’d take Rae over Dion! And I’m from Ontario!
Gee, this Dion guy sounds exactly like the entire Democratic Party.
Well, that’s two thirds of North America. I’m going to go look up liberal politics in Mexico to see if their liberals complete this trifecta of failure.
Money and popular support like winners. If you can’t win your legislation through, if you can’t win your pork into the budget bill, if you can’t win your moral crusade then people are reluctant to back you. Unfortunately, politicians seem to think that if you don’t play, you can’t not win. Voters tend to disagree.
Take a look at the US Congress. We win a sizable majority in the House and continue to sweep up seats in special elections in some of the reddest districts of the reddest states in the nation. Liberal policies have national popular support. The GOP brand has been completely trashed. We’re set to win the Presidency in 2008. And our party leadership falls over itself trying to win middle ground with some of the most fringe right-wing radicals in the opposition.
It’s fucking retarded. The Democratic Party continues to be paralyzed by fear of the conservative radio jockey.
So yeah, know that you’re not alone. Someone told someone that North America was a rock solid bastion of conservative bullshit and someone else believed it and now liberals are all jumping at their own shadows because they don’t want to lose their majority positions to a bunch of psychotic idiots who’ll just run the country into the ground. Appeasement. It didn’t work on Hitler. Just say’n.
I couldn’t agree with your frustration more! That’s why I have decided not to vote Liberal, certainly not while Dion is at the helm. Although I certainly respect Ken Dryden, I don’t think that this would help in the end. Dion was elected to be the voice for the liberal party progressive grassroots. The fact that he has surrounded himself with the same old boys proves to me that the Liberal Party of Canada is NOT a grassroots or progressive party. I have been impressed with the NDP Caucus and Layton. They have consistently stood by their principles and have fought the conservative agenda. They voted against C50, they have opposed Bill C10, they are fighting for net neutrality and they have been great on copyright/fair use issues. Jack’s private members bill C377 (or 337 – not sure) to fight climate change requires that the Canadian government reduce green house gas emissions based on the internationally recognized 1990 base year. This legislation enshrines the following targets in law:
25 per cent absolute reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 – 80 per cent absolute reduction by 2050. The NDP are also proposing a cap and trade environment policy that would cap emissions for corporate polluters and would force them to pay if they ignore the cap. All and all, the NDP is the truly progressive opposition to Harper and crew. They will have my vote next election.
Wow, it really is the Americanization of Canadian politics. I wonder who’s paying y’alls pseudoliberals to take dives.
NCallahan: I’m going to go look up liberal politics in Mexico to see if their liberals complete this trifecta of failure.
As stated before, despite their name, the Liberals are actually centrists. Our raving leftists are the New Democratic Party, and Jack Layton – despite his faults, and brother does he have faults – is not one to play duck and cover on a regular basis.
Well, this is exactly what Kevin Rudd did, in Australia — avoid doing anything contentious or remotely left-wing so as not to scare the horses.
It didn’t matter what John Howard did, Kevin Rudd just kept saying ‘me too’. He INVADED THE NORTHERN TERRITORY and suspended the Racial Discrimination Act — think if troops marched into Nunavut to ban alcohol. He promised $34 billion in tax cuts, and Kevin Rudd, radical leftist that he was, only promised $30 billion. At a time of rising interest rates and fuel hikes. We arrested a doctor, suspended his visa and kicked him out of the country for no reason but that he was the SECOND COUSIN of one of the 2007 attempted suicide bombers (you know, the ones who screwed up royally) — and yet, ‘me too’.
Yeah, it sucked at the time, but John Howard lost. He even lost his own seat. And Kevin Rudd’s turning out to be a pretty damn good Prime Minister.
(See for a more detailed recap: http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/why-rudd-says-me-too-again-and-again/2007/08/05/1186252546386.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
Also? Al Gore.
Intelligent post. I dunno about Kennedy though, because last I heard he wasn’t fluent in French, which is in the Liberal Party, makes him a dead man walking.
I believe the current Liberal Strategy (such as it is) is “Wait until the American Election is decided, and then follow the polls”.
And yeah, the Liberal Party isn’t even Centrist IMO, the goal of the Liberal Party is to become the Party in Power. Period.
I’m debating if I should go Green again or vote for the big L just to get Harper’s hands off the reigns. They (the Liberals) certainly haven’t done anything to deserve it.
You gotta admit though, it was pure genius on Steven Harper to make pretty much every vote a confidence vote. That is what i call ballsy.
BlackMage: Yes, but Rudd endorsed the policies; that’s the whole point of a “me too” strategy. Dion is attacking the policies and then refusing to vote against them when the bills come up in Parliament, which is the lose-lose method.
MGK: “Because right now it’s just Dion getting the bad press; soon, though, it’ll be the Liberals’ fault for letting Dion walk them down the path to electoral suicide, and then it’s real trouble.”
Real trouble for us all. The thought of a Conservative majority is not a pleasant one to me.
MGK: “Dion is attacking the policies and then refusing to vote against them when the bills come up in Parliament, which is the lose-lose method.”
Ah…well, I didn’t know THAT. Well, I must agree: that’s the most gorram stupid thing I’ve ever had the misfortune to hear. The Tories have 40% of the seats and they win every vote? How does that even begin to make sense?
I’m not moving to Canada until 2011; are you sure you’re even still going to be there then?