The Libs should just call a damned election

[HEyHEY]

As entertaining as it is to see the NDP flex some muscle and send the libs scurrying, when it gets to the point where your government can be muscled to that extent... call the fucking election.Though personally I like our current arrangement.

(Elxn-Leaders)
It now looks as if Paul Martin may consider putting off corporate tax cuts to secure N-D-P support for the federal budget.
A senior Liberal adviser says suggestions the Liberals are inflexible on tax measures is wrong.
Earlier today, it seemed the prime minister was dismissing N-D-P Leader Jack Layton's demand that 4.6 (b) billion dollars in corporate tax cuts be scrapped in exchange for his party's help in passing the federal budget.
Martin has until tomorrow morning to make a decision. (16)

[jedr]

1. We tried that ...aye!

They put in the fix!

[pretzel4gore]

2. they'll break the country up.....

with bushinc in trouble, a canada breakup would solve lots of bush's problems (not least stealing the national wealth while harper etc make soothing noises through bushmush media)...that's not to say harper and the 'reform ' party would win, but 'winning' aint what it used to be!
in 20 years, i think people still alive then will dimly remember canada the way some today dimly remember the old Soviet Union...martin and the liberal government can't even protect themselves from relentless attacks (as thieves and criminals) on rightwing radio (which means all radio); yet they somehow are supposed to protect canada?

[Wat_Tyler]

3. To be fair, the Liberals have entirely brought this upon themselves.

Of course the rest of your post is pretty hyperbolic. How would (even if they were interested) the BFEE steal the Canadian election? How do you steal an election based on paper ballots? Martin and co cannot protect themselves not because of some giant anti-liberal conspiracy, they can't protect themselves because they're basically crap.
I'm not too bothered. The latest poll has the Cons at 32%, Libs at 27% and the resurgent NDP at 21%. Harper won't be doing much damage on those figures.
Canada will survive. If the Liberals collapse further, the NDP will pick up the slack.

[pretzel4gore]

9. it's one of those things where no one can ever say

'mygod, didya see what them nazi bastards did!' yes, it is hyperbole to discuss worse case scenerio, but.....who could have ever imagined the goings on in the USA? And believe me, SARS was much worse in california then it was in toronto...there's much more BSE in US beef herds then in ours, yet canadian media generally followed the bushevik US media in stampeding the herd into believing that somehow canada just aint careful enough, or smart enogh, or something...that power blackout in aug/03 was openly blamed on canada, by pols like mayor blomberg and hillary clinton(?) not to mention entire US ratwing media (when it was almost certainly a planned domestic terror operation...christ, i've worked on old rustbuckets that blacked out and power from emerg generators came on within seconds!)....also notice how the cowardly media hasn't even mentioned the fact such a massive power failure could only happen with lotsa expensive planning (and bushinc needed a distraction, if anyone can recall) a blackout like that, like 911 itself, is technically impossible ...26 canadians were murdered on sept 11th, yet our gov hasn't even dared to suggest that there was more to it and that the official story is nonsense....taking all these schemes into account then consider how the American people accepted bush's election win despite the fact most of them KNOW they opposed bush- canadians will accept a media driven harper surprise win too....and quebec will leave if the reform party seizes power.
>i agree it's the liberals fault...1st off, they aren't liberals at all. But! Notice how the thing unfolded: the auditor general (shiela fraser, cia agent) brought to public attention by extraordinary (name another aud. general from canadian history) tv appearances interviews etc, like she was feeding the bushmush media and giving them stuff to fill news with; martin thus called the inquiry, the inquiry guy said chretien belongs in jail so chretien complained (news only reported the complaint)...fraser was there whenever the interest (and no one except busheviks are really interested) waned, publicising something that got the news whores excited...blah blah blah...i do think you're right about the numbers though, only, but as i tell those who say hyperbole damages our cause that our cause is doomed unless the true facts that it's the media which are making the overthrowing of lawful government in our countries easy as taking candy from a freeper

[tuvor]

4. I'm gonna sound really stupid, but...

...didn't we have a reasonably good grasp of the sponsorship "scandal" before the last election? I mean I'm pissed off, but not exactly taken aback, and more than likely I'll be voting Liberal next time.

And how much did it actually cost the taxpayers? I'd like to put it in perspecive with the gun registry mess, over which we didn't freak out like we seem to be right now.

[achtung_circus]

5. MacLeans magazine arrived yesterday.

I got home too late todo more than glance at it but I seem to recall noting this particular fuck up has cost ME 3 dollars. That's approx 100 million divided bt 32 million Canadians.

$3 buys me 2 extra large double doubles at Timmies.

[Telly Savalas]

7. However split among the 1,000 richest Canadians...

it's $100,000 a head, and of course these are the only people Harper cares about so that's where the outrage is coming from.

[Telly Savalas]

6. I haven't been following the Gomery soap opera too closely...

but I think you're right. It was clear that there was corruption last June, and since Paul Martin was the finance minister it's not unreasonable to assume that he knew something about it. I think the big difference this time around is that the Alliance think-tanks have spent months of research doing focus group studies which have concluded that they replace the catch phrase "accountability" with "moral authority". They're now certain that if they say "the Liberals have no moral authority to lead" 5 million times that it will translate into a gain of 30 or 40 seats in the House.

The poll numbers may be grim for the Grits right now, but during a campaign Canadians will be reminded that there's more to the Reform Party platform than "we promise we won't give money to our buddies in Quebecois ad firms" and this will cause Harper's support to plummet. I think the NDP and Bloc may stand to make gains in a snap election, but wouldn't be surprised if the Alliance lost seats. (And I'd laugh my ass off if it happened.)

I'm irked by the sponsorship affair, but this is greatly over shadowed by my anger at the Liberal's unwillingness to follow through on the progressive agenda they've been promising the last few elections and the fact that my Liberal do-nothing backbencher MP can't be bothered to raise a peep about how Toronto's infrastructure is crumbling while our tax dollars are being shipped elsewhere (much less the fact that she's been in the House for nearly 8 years, but still can't seem to find a goddamn home in the riding she represents.) So I'll be volunteering for the NDP, although Alliance support is so weak in this riding that the candidate didn't bother to show up to most of all-candidates meetings, so we don't have to worry about splitting the non-neanderthal vote.

[iverglas]

8. I thought our US cousins should get a chance

to follow the fun goings on, so I stuck a post up in latest breaking news for while we wait for Martin's decision. I'm away from TV and relying on web sites -- no news yet I gather?

If he goes for it, it would be nice if the Bloc would just sit on its hands and abstain, in the true spirit of not giving a shit about what the rest of us do. Would it be reasonable to think that Martin would not strike the deal unless he had assurance that the Bloc would not be voting no confidence?

I truly do think Jack's been brilliant. We (that's both we NDPers and we Canadians) ain't gonna win no matter what happens, if an election is called, so let's have peace with honour. ;)

[Mother Jones]

10. Well said!

Jack has been a shining star in this whole mess to me.

Why would we fork out millions (more) for an election and another minority govt? Doesn't make sense to me.


I think this deal was well done. Keeping the cuts for small business, taking the $$ from the surplus and getting parliament back to work.

Perhaps most impressive to me is, Jack getting some centre stage attention. Hopefully this will pave the way for the NDP to be the next official opposition.

[Ken Burch]

11. Here's to that!

BTW, will Jack's wife be an NDP candidate in the next election?

[Telly Savalas]

12. I haven't heard anything about the Trinity-Spadina riding association...

picking anyone new, so presumably she's still the candidate. She only lost by 800 votes last time, so she's got a good chance of winning.