The beginning of the end of the coalition

The coalition is dead. Long live Iggy! If the Coalition of the Chilling that was formed by the Liberals and NDP and propped up by the Bloc is not yet dead it is certainly on life support. The reality of the coming together of all of the opposition parties happened in unique circumstances that ended last Wednesday when Stéphane Dion stepped down and Michael Ignatieff was acclaimed as the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.

---

The coalition benefited the New Democratic Party. Until the number of Canadians who vote for the socialists greatly exceeds those people who believe that Elvis is still alive, the NDP will never be in a position to gain power on their own. The coalition was the only way that Jack Layton was ever going to become the Honourable Jack Layton, PC and give him the opportunity to trade in his bicycle for a limo and driver. As for the Bloc, the coalition was a boon to that party too. As everyone knows, the Bloc Quebecois have seats in the federal Parliament for one reason and one reason only; to take Quebec out of confederation. But everything indicates that not enough Quebeckers are interested in leaving Canada these days. Damn those pesky polls! And with the present economic situation, Quebeckers are far more worried about losing their jobs and not being able to make their mortgage payments than in what country they are citizens of. Gilles Duceppe gives the appearance that if Quebec cannot separate, he might as well have fun in Canada’s capital. And fun he seems to be having. Every time the coalition proposed something that he liked, he would say how much it benefited Quebeckers which would get Stephen Harper going on and on about “the separatists” which in the end didn’t do him any good in the province of Quebec. But was the coalition beneficial to the Liberals; the party that was at least previously known as the Natural Governing Party. It was certainly good for Stéphane Dion. Here’s a guy who took the reins of Liberal power from Paul Martin who was a weak prime minister. Martin spent so much time getting the top job that he hardly gave a thought to what he would do when he got there. He hummed and hawed and gained the reputation of a ditherer until he lost power to Harper and resigned. Just when the Liberals thought it couldn’t get any worse, Stéphane Dion ended up as leader and worse it got. Unlike Martin, Dion was stubborn. He refused to give up on his beloved Green Shift after the economy started to tank and even those who were in favour of his proposal thought that this was not the time to implement it. And after receiving the worst showing of any Liberal leader in history in last October’s election, he stubbornly refused to quit until it became apparent that if he didn’t jump, he would be pushed. Even then he refused to immediately give up the in favour an interim leader as Paul Martin did. The forming of the coalition resulted in the possibility of a man who on his way out, having sunk lower than any of his predecessors suddenly being within a governor-general’s decision of obtaining power. These were the unique circumstances; but they are gone now. If the coalition was to hold and certain decisions are made by the opposition and Michäelle Jean, Ignatieff could wind up being the Prime Minister of Canada by the end of January. But he would be remembered as the Liberal leader who could only gain power with the help of the socialists and the separatists. Surely that isn’t even worth leaving the Harvard yard for. As long as the government can come up with a budget that Ignatieff can live with, he will be content to remain in opposition rather than have Jack Layton constantly telling him what to do. Ignatieff will undoubtedly count upon the fact that the Liberals will be able to increase their fundraising with him at the helm. And then, within a few months, when the time is right, he can try to bring the government down. If that rationale isn’t sufficiently persuasive, a new Canwest News and Global National poll revealed that only 27% of respondents want the coalition to remain opposed to 65% of those who wanted Ignatieff to work out a compromise with Harper. Barring Harper being totally unreasonable, the coalition is for all practical purposes – dead

---