Michael Ignatieff is Playing the Waiting Game
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff Will Support the Federal Budget With Conditions
As we’re all probably aware of by now, (since NOTHING else has really happened in Canadian politics for the past month…yawn) Michael Ignatieff has decided to support the Conservative budget that was unveiled 2 days ago. But not without an interesting twist:
The Liberal party will only support the minority Conservative government’s federal budget if Prime Minister Stephen Harper agrees to an amendment calling for a “clear marker” of regular updates to Parliament on the impact of economic stimulus projects, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said Wednesday.
By supporting the budget, Michael Ignatieff is passing on an opportunity to take down the Conservative government and in doing so, trigger an election or enter into a coalition with the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois. Many Liberals are obviously not happy. The last thing they wanted was for their leader to abandon the coalition. But it’s all part of Ignatieff’s long-term agenda to seize power.
So what’s really behind Ignatieff’s demand that Harper provide regular updates to Parliament? An interesting Liberal strategy – I call it the Waiting Game.
What Ignatieff is really doing for his Liberal Party is buying precious time. As each of Harper’s updates about the stimulus package is released, the Liberals will have an opportunity to declare non-confidence in the Conservative government. This will allow Ignatieff to seize the opportunity to form a Liberal-NDP-Bloc coalition or possibly force an election in which he will attempt to improve the party’s dismal results in the previous federal election. It’s no secret that at the moment, the Liberals aren’t ready for an election. Recently conducted polls indicate stronger support for the Conservatives. So now clearly wasn’t the time for Ignatieff to pull the trigger.
When the first stimulus plan update by Harper is released, Ignatieff will have to determine whether the polls are looking good for the Liberals and whether they are ready to fight in an election. If not, he’ll be forced to accept the update, regardless of its content. This, however, might present a serious problem. What will he say to his fellow Liberals in his support of the update if the content is bleak? He’ll have to come up with some sort of excuse that won’t go down too well for those hardcore Liberals who care more about doing anything to remove the Conservatives from power than doing what’s in the best interest of Canadians or their own party. Ignatieff, yet again, will be stuck in the middle having to satisfy his followers as well as do what he thinks is best for the party’s future.
I don’t think the Liberal Party will be able to rebuild itself in the near future, and that means Ignatieff will be forced to come up with a series of excuses every time he’s forced to accept a stimulus plan update. And when the time is finally ripe, he’ll pounce.
Until then, Michael Ignateiff is playing the waiting game.
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Tags: Budget, coalition, Conservative Party, Liberal Party, michael ignatieff, stephen harper, stimulus plan
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January 29th, 2009 at 9:08 am
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January 29th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Press release from the Chinese Canadian Conservative Association:
Senior Ignatieff Liberal’s “cat meat” comment offends the Chinese community
Chinese Canadian Conservative Association calls on Liberal leader to fire Senior Liberal strategist Warren Kinsella
Toronto – Alex Yuan, chair of the Chinese Canadian Conservative Association called on Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff to distance himself from the comments made by senior Liberal strategist Warren Kinsella. In a recent blog posting Kinsella likened the meat found in Chinese cuisine to cat meat.
“Back in the Big Owe for a couple weeks, so what better way to kick things off than with some BBQ cat and rice at the Yang Sheng, hangout of our youth? Yay!”
Kinsella repeated the offensive comment in a video posting on his website.
“Our community is deeply concerned with Mr. Kinsella’s comments. Kinsella repeats the most vulgar and offensive stereotypes by associating the meat served by Chinese restaurants to cat meat. He has hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and disrespected the Chinese culture,” continued Yuan.
“This is not the first instance of such intolerant remarks by Mr. Kinsella therefore we call upon Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff to fire Mr. Kinsella as his senior strategist and apologize to the community.”
Mr. Kinsella was forced to apologize for another intolerant blog posting in 2007. In the 2007, he wrote a post suggesting that Progressive Conservative MPP Lisa MacLeod would rather bake cookies than run for office.
For more information please contact:
Tom Pang, CCCA Director
416-447-0446
January 29th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
[...] Michael Ignatieff is Playing the Waiting Game | Political News and … [...]
February 11th, 2009 at 2:59 am
Sure Mr. Ignatieff will strategize on how to win back the Canadian public and parliament – any smart leader plans. However, I think Mr. Ignatieff’s decision is more simply one motivated by what he thinks is good for Canada. Moreover, I think it is an indication of Mr. Ignatieff’s meek attitude towards certain confrontation. I say this because I think Mr. Ignatieff set himself up to accept the Conservative budget. He was quickly swept into the Liberal leadership (something I am happy about) and quickly realized he had no sufficient alternative to a Conservative budget. This may be a Catch 22 or it may simply be the slow realization that Canada will continue on without a strong leader.