Moving forward

Here are my thoughts.
First, this Liberal-NDP coalition was formed as a specific response to Harper's inadequate, clumsy and insulting economic statement. We wanted to try to save the Canadian economy. With no parliament now anyway, talking about defeating the government to bring in some innovative government programs to save the economy strikes me as a pretty meaningless activity right now.
Second, the electorate, me included, don't really care whether the MPs like each other or not -- we didn't elect people to be nice but to get things done. So talking about how the Conservative government has to be defeated because of the poisonous atmosphere in Parliament also strikes me as meaningless right now.
As a result, I don't think the coalition can be functional again until we see what Harper's budget has to offer at the end of January.
Then, if the Canadian economy is in worse shape by then -- as I expect it will be --
and if the Harper budget is ideological, inept and incompetent -- as I expect it will be --
and if the Liberals have a real leader by then -- that's a big IF --
and if he and the NDP and the Bloc can get it together again -- another big IF --
well, we'll see what can be done.
The benefit of all the news stories about how parliamentary democracy actually works means that by the end of January the public will be paying close attention to what the Conservatives are doing. And they will understand by then that a Canadian coalition would offer a serious, legitimate and viable alternative to continued Conservative divisiveness and ineptitude. If the Conservative budget is weak, then I believe public support for the Coalition would be strong.
And if the Conservative budget is defeated, and if the Coalition is rejected by the Governor General, and if an election is called, then the Liberals and the NDP would be fighting it together. In effect, this would create a Liberal-NDP merger and this might well be the best solution for the country anyway.
But this time, boys, keep the photo ops to just Iggy (or Rae) and Layton.

And of course, I could be wrong.

Absolutely correct

BigCityLib says:

Dump Dion, Install Iggy
. . . The party needs to be able to fight an election by the end of next month, whether there is still a coalition to belong to at that time or not.

Get it done, folks. Hold the vote by the internet or by phone.

Shorter

Shorter Globe and Mail editorial:

If we could just find a new pony to lead the federal Conservatives, then everybody would be happy again!

Great line of the day

For those Liberal MPs who are already chattering to reporters on the coalition's prospects, Boris at The Galloping Beaver has these words of wisdom:

Grits, you have a good thing going with this coalition idea. Don't piss it away by being Liberals.

Not surprising

Well, I can't say I'm surprised at this news:

The Strategic Counsel poll done for The Globe and Mail suggests a majority of Canadians preferred keeping a Conservative government over getting a new Liberal-NDP coalition with Bloc Québécois support.

Steve V thinks that Liberal supporters need to face this reality:

the coalition [is]losing the frame

and we should deal with it.
The coalition began losing the frame war when they spent three days yelling about separatism during Question Period -- ask Howard Dean how well screaming works as a public relations technique! -- instead of keeping their focus on the economy and their good economic ideas. The final straw was that awful tape fiasco. Both played precisely into the Rovian Conservative frame that it was the coalition, not the Conservatives, who were secretive, incompetent and untrustworthy.
In the EKOS poll which Steve references, the numbers indicate the public is just as concerned about the economy as the Liberals and NDP are, but only one in three were supportive of a coalition government led by Stephane Dion. EKOS concludes:

• The Conservatives are winning the initial public opinion war.
• There seems, however, to be a modest night-to-night trend that favours the oalition on all measures (i.e., vote intention, three-partner coalition).
• While too early to say, it may be that the public are digging into deep and irreconcilable differences on this issue.
• What started as a political skirmish over the economy now has the potential to produce deep wounds to national unity.
• Bottom Line: Despite initial favourable response to the Conservatives, the public are flummoxed and angry. Dispute seems to be aggravating existing national fault lines.

Over the longer term, I wouldn't be surprised if the Canadian public found itself nostalgic for what the coalition wanted to do. They had some terrific ideas:

We'll protect good jobs by supporting key industry sectors. The auto sector will get credit guarantees and low-interest loans, tied to producing low-emission vehicles Canadians want. Forestry companies with good business plans and a viable future will qualify for credit guarantees.
We'll create jobs straight away. Ready-to-go infrastructure projects will be fast-tracked. Retrofitting homes and building affordable housing can begin right away. Then there are jobs in renewable energy and expanded public transit.
We'll invest in families through EI reform, skills training and help for older workers moving to retirement. And we'll help seniors through pension protection, reform to mandatory RRIF withdrawals and increased Old Age Security.
We'll work closely with the new Obama administration on fighting climate change with a cap-and-trade system. And we'll work for fairer trade to make sure there are healthy markets for Canadian goods.

Compare these to the Conservative brain trust, who wanted to abandon pay equity and break the civil service unions. What century are these guys living in? Even in Harper's speech last night, he seemed to think that indirect measures like "injecting liquidity into financial markets" and reducing taxes and "undertaking due diligence on any further requests for assistance from the auto industry" would be sufficient.
The sad fact is that the Conservatives just do not know what they are doing with the economy. Harper won't have the flexibility to just steal some of the coalition's ideas -- his usual ideological filter would label these ideas as just too "socialist" -- and he doesn't have any ideas of his own, just slogans and name-calling.
Sigh.

Public Service Announcement

We interrupt this blog to make an announcement to the wingnuts with CDS (Cathie Derangement Syndrome) who have been infesting my comment threads today:

Dear Sir or Madam
You may be right at that.
Yours sincerely,
CathiefromCanada

Regular blogging may now resume.

What democracy looks like

Thousands gathered at this afternoon's Make Parliament Work rally on Parliament Hill, in spite of the Jean decision. We can't forget what democracy looks like.
These photos are from Scott:





and these ones by Marcus McCann, from Getting it Right:






Other rallies are tonight and Saturday.

The winner and the loser

I would think right about now Stephen Harper thinks he won and the Liberals lost.

Playing it safe

I wrote this post last night but didn't post it, fearing it would be bad luck or something.

If Michaëlle Jean grants Harper's request tomorrow to prorogue, it will be the "safe" thing to do.
The Blogging Tories will be high-fiving, most of the media will stroke their beards and hrumph about how she is only following the long-standing traditions of her office and she really didn't have any choice -- and us progressives will only sigh about what might have been.
As the winter of our discontent progresses, the Canadian economy will melt down and the Conservatives won't know what to do or how to stop it. The premiers will blame the prime minister and the prime minister will blame the provinces. The separatist movement in Quebec will pick up steam again. And Harper will abolish public financing of political parties in March, just before the Liberal convention.
No one will be blaming Jean for this -- except for Ed Schreyer:

Ed Schreyer said in an interview yesterday that granting a wish for the prorogation of Parliament at this point would constitute an evasion of the process of Parliament and should not be done.
“I'll put it this way and I will make this a plain-spoken sentence. Nothing should be done to aid and abet the evasion of submitting to the will of Parliament. I think one can stop there. It's about as basic as that.”
With a new Parliament having just opened, the only circumstances to justify prorogation, Mr. Schreyer said, would be a genuine emergency. “The only emergency seems to be a desire [of the Harper government] to avoid facing Parliament. That is not an emergency.”

Didn't matter, did it?
Sigh.

Jerks

Tonight I noticed this comment to the Western Standard story about Harper's speech:

"Her Excellency". Makes me want to vomit. Makes me want to pick up and move my family. Might as well call her "Your Majesty". Think she'll shake a few chicken bones to figure out what to do?

Then I saw this post, titled:

Do you tink itz izzy being da oppazishun?

And this one titled

Do you t’ink it’s easy to deliver a tape to the media?

And then there was this knee-slapper:

"Do you tink it's izzy to make a webcam?

These are the people who think their guy should run the country. Sorta makes you throw up in your mouth a little bit, doesn't it.
UPDATE: Some of the commenters to this post obviously don't get my point. The people who said these things are jerks not because of what they said but because of how they said it -- they think its funny to insult Michaelle Jean's Haitian heritage and to sneer at a French accent.
Sigh.

Harper reminds me of McCain

I knew there was someone Harper reminded me of and now I've got it -- Stephen Harper reminds me of John McCain.
You remember how Obama was trying to talk about what he would DO differently from McCain (health care, get out of Iraq, economic leadership) while John McCain and Sarah Palin were attacking Obama for what they said he WAS (terrorist sympathizer! socialist! celebrity!?
Well, now Harper is doing the same thing.
Canadians aren't supposed to trust Dion because he's a separatist! a traitor! both!
While Dion focused on what the Coalition would DO.
Madame Governor-General, let Parliament vote!

Its the economy, stupid

Say it loud, say it proud -- "It's the economy, stupid".
I'm afraid this basic truth is getting lost in all the rhetoric about separatists and socialists and take-overs and Governors General and proroging and all this inside baseball parliamentary play-by-play.
It's the economy, stupid.
This is why Canada needs the Coalition Government -- Harper's Conservatives were unwilling and unable to do anything t0 help the economy or save jobs. Dion and Layton have a plan and are ready to implement it.
It's the economy, stupid.
Regardless of why the Coalition formed, it doesn't matter anymore. The value of the Coalition to Canada is what it can do for the economy.
Because its the economy, stupid.
The Canadian Labour Congress has it right:

So did I

My Blahg has a post up titled "I did":

Conservatives need to stop parroting the line that nobody voted for a Liberal, NDP, Bloc coalition government during our last election. That is not true. On October 14th, 2008, I voted for a Liberal, NDP, Bloc coalition government if the Conservatives were held to another minority.

And so did I!

Good things

The Georgia Straight lists the good things that would happen when the Canadian Coalition is running the circus:

• A Liberal-NDP coalition government would stop the senseless appeal of B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ian Pitfield’s decision that allowed Vancouver’s supervised-injection site to remain open.
• Canada might get a prime minister who won’t boycott an international AIDS conference in his own country and who doesn't reject the wisdom of scientists on issues ranging from climate change to drug treatment.
• Canada would have a prime minister who recognizes the urgency of climate change and who would give responsible instructions to Canada’s negotiating team at the crucial UN climate conference that begins in Copenhagen this November.
• There would be less spending on the military and more spending on the arts, which wouldn't be treated as a "niche issue" by the government.
• Canadians could feel confident that the military mission in Afghanistan wouldn’t continue after 2011.
• A Liberal-NDP coalition government would appoint more progressive judges to the Supreme Court of Canada and to superior courts in the provinces.
• There would be a reduced chance of the Canadian government extraditing Marc Emery to the United States, where he would rot in jail for the rest of his life for selling marijuana seeds over the Internet.
• The court challenges program would be reinstated, resulting in a more level playing field for disadvantaged groups. Canada might even get a national daycare program if Harper is bounced out of office.
• A federal stem-cell advisory panel wouldn’t be stacked with opponents of embryonic stem-cell research, which would be a relief to those who suffer from Type 1 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, and other debilitating conditions.
• Stockwell Day would no longer be a senior cabinet minister, and whoever is in cabinet will no longer be muzzled and have their communications and speeches vetted by the prime minister's office.
• Canada might finally approve a UN resolution regarding indigenous rights.
• Canada would no longer be ruled by a control freak who has exerted greater political control over the RCMP, which poses a threat to Canadian civil liberties.

Wirewalking

Over at Dymaxion World, commenter Steve Muhlberger says

Boy this is fun. Like the whole country wirewalking without a net.

But pretty soon, like tomorrow, we have to reassure the country that, yes, it is is safe and, yes, the Coalition will be working to help them out and, yes, they will be listening to what Canadians want.
I was very glad to see an announcement made about an economic stimulus package that actually would help people.
And about the four wise men.
Now, announce a cross-country listening tour.
And get some ads up...