If not becoming a weekly habit, it has certainly become a biweekly one. On Monday, the federal Liberals tabled a motion of non confidence in order to bring down the Harper government. Seems we just had one of those that didn’t do the trick. As the only great philosopher who ever caught a perfect game in the World Series might say, it seems like déjà vu all over again.
In a repeat of what happened a couple of weeks ago, Jack Layton and the NDP will vote against the motion ensuring that the Conservative government survives. Only two political parties really want an election – the Liberals and the Conservatives. The Liberals want to have one because their leader, Michael Ignatieff wants one. That’s the only reason that the Liberals could possibly have for wanting an election now when the party is behind in the polls and appears to be falling apart starting in Quebec. Perhaps Iggy doesn’t like living in Stornoway and wants move to either 24 Sussex Drive or back to Harvard.
Harper wants an election although he cannot be seen to want another election; the fourth in about five years. The Tories have a comfortable lead over the disintegrating Liberals and a campaign now will allow Harper to take the high ground; that he is prevented from governing in perilous economic times and Canada is forced to spend millions of dollars that the country doesn’t have on an unwanted election campaign. There is always a chance that Canadians will be fed up enough to give the Conservatives a majority if an election is foisted upon them by Michael Ignatieff.
So come on, Jack – let’s have an election. You’re the one that is holding things up. What’s the worst thing that can happen? Okay the NDP could really tank and you’ll be out of a job. But hey; it’s not as though you will be the only party leader out looking for new employment. Gilles Duceppe is about ready to pack it in. And if Stephen Harper fails to win a majority of seats in the next election look for him to depart, one way or the other. And then there’s Iggy. There’s practically no way that the universe will unfold the way the Liberals think it should with a Liberal majority in Parliament. Iggy will be back in Boston before Jack can say “sustainable development”.
Okay Jack, there are lots other things you can do other than be leader of the NDP. You’ve already passed your finest moment when it looked like you were going to become a cabinet minister in Stéphane Dion’s coalition government that never was. You could always run for mayor of Toronto; we hear that a position on the far left has just opened up. And it’s not as though you have no experience with Toronto Kiddy Kouncil. While David Miller has only dreamed about turning the entire city into one giant bicycle lane you could actually get it done. You could be on centre stage the council chamber instead of stuck in a corner of the House of Commons.
And Jack, you could really help save the planet if you were mayor of Toronto. We have learned during Mayor David Miller’s two terms that travelling the world to make it greener is actually part of the Toronto mayor’s job. Wouldn’t that be fun? You might even end up travelling to Boston where you could drop by Harvard and say hello to Iggy.
Of course you would be able to bring Olivia back to Toronto with you and next year she could run for her old seat. The lefties still love her and she can count on the support of those on the right seeing as how she appears downright centrist compared to Councillor Adam Vaughan. She could run against Vaughan on the platform that at least she was never a journalist and pretended to be objective.
So come on Jack! Put Canadians out of their misery of having to constantly hear about how the government is constantly going to fall. Let’s have an election and get on with it.
If not becoming a weekly habit, it has certainly become a biweekly one. On Monday, the federal Liberals tabled a motion of non confidence in order to bring down the Harper government. Seems we just had one of those that didn’t do the trick. As the only great philosopher who ever caught a perfect game in the World Series might say, it seems like déjà vu all over again.
