New Parliament, New Leaders?
- Thread starter Edward Campbell
- Start date
- Reaction score
- 5,692
- Points
- 1,060
I'd love to see Bob Rae win also. That would be the straw that finally breaks the lieberal lock on Ontario. He hasn't faded from memory enough here for people to forget how he ran Bantario into the ground. I dare say Harper would end up with a strong majority running off against this fiscally incompetent boob. I can hear the rally cry now:
"Ontario isn't special! Rae days for the whole country!"
"Ontario isn't special! Rae days for the whole country!"
- Reaction score
- 6,299
- Points
- 1,360
recceguy said:
Whoa there RG,......haven't you noticed that even OPSEU seems to have forgotten that Mr. Rae did something even that 'big bad Union hating' Mike Harris didn't do?
They have totally forgotten [and want us to forget] that the NDP is the only Ontario party to completly violate a Collective Agreement before it expired.
- Reaction score
- 35
- Points
- 560
And now some more about candidate # 3:
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/11/20/don-martin-the-advantage-of-being-a-lousy-premier.aspx
And also the candidate for more openness:
http://stevejanke.com/archives/278465.php
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/11/20/don-martin-the-advantage-of-being-a-lousy-premier.aspx
And also the candidate for more openness:
http://stevejanke.com/archives/278465.php
- Reaction score
- 5,548
- Points
- 1,260
Here, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from today’s Globe and Mail web site, is some background on Dion’s resignation which was announced earlier today:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081208.wPOLliberals1208/BNStory/National/home
If I understand what I’ve been told by some pretty senior Liberals – and, as I’ve demonstrated over the past week, I’m quite able to ignore salient facts – the new leader can, according to the LPC constitution (which is available on the Liberal Party’s web site) be only an interim leader until a National Convention is held and a leader is confirmed by the membership.
As has been pointed out elsewhere this is an inflexible system, ill suited to a Westminster style parliamentary democracy which demands flexibility of thought and action.
I read reports that the Conservatives had very slick, professional anti-Iggy and anti-Rae advertizing campaigns at the ready two years ago, during the Liberal leadership campaign, but they were caught flatfooted by Dion’s election and the famous shrug/”You think it’s easy to set priorities?” ads were hasty, albeit very effective, responses to a surprise. We can expect, I think, a massive barrage of attack ads showing the next leader, likely Iggy(?), to be quite detestable to all Canadians but especially to the pinko Liberal base in Toronto – the aim being to drive those voters into the arms of the NDP, thus allowing Conservatives to ‘come up the middle’ in a few Toronto and Vancouver ridings and in more and more 905 ridings. They are also likely to attack the right wing of the Liberal Party by reminding them that Iggy doesn’t really appear to have much in the way of a firm philosophical base – he’s hardly a McKenna and certainly not a Manley.
Iggy is, however, very popular in Québec – that will mean that Harper will need to give, Give GIVE to Québec to buy their votes.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081208.wPOLliberals1208/BNStory/National/home
If I understand what I’ve been told by some pretty senior Liberals – and, as I’ve demonstrated over the past week, I’m quite able to ignore salient facts – the new leader can, according to the LPC constitution (which is available on the Liberal Party’s web site) be only an interim leader until a National Convention is held and a leader is confirmed by the membership.
As has been pointed out elsewhere this is an inflexible system, ill suited to a Westminster style parliamentary democracy which demands flexibility of thought and action.
I read reports that the Conservatives had very slick, professional anti-Iggy and anti-Rae advertizing campaigns at the ready two years ago, during the Liberal leadership campaign, but they were caught flatfooted by Dion’s election and the famous shrug/”You think it’s easy to set priorities?” ads were hasty, albeit very effective, responses to a surprise. We can expect, I think, a massive barrage of attack ads showing the next leader, likely Iggy(?), to be quite detestable to all Canadians but especially to the pinko Liberal base in Toronto – the aim being to drive those voters into the arms of the NDP, thus allowing Conservatives to ‘come up the middle’ in a few Toronto and Vancouver ridings and in more and more 905 ridings. They are also likely to attack the right wing of the Liberal Party by reminding them that Iggy doesn’t really appear to have much in the way of a firm philosophical base – he’s hardly a McKenna and certainly not a Manley.
Iggy is, however, very popular in Québec – that will mean that Harper will need to give, Give GIVE to Québec to buy their votes.
- Reaction score
- 7,952
- Points
- 1,160
C'est toujours le meme chose. Il y a toujours les causes a donner a Quebec. Il n'y a pas de quoi.
I just heard on CTV news an interesting footnote to this affair.
Some of Bob Rae's "friends and advisors" are surprised at how bitter he is. He apparently felt that he was destined to be a Liberal PM and upset that this is being taken from him. Makes you wonder if that is just hubris, or a reflection of his deep-seated rivalry with Ignatieff, or did his brother John tip him for the job?
This article from Rosemary Speirs of the "Red Star" in October (I found this article via a link from a link from a link and I'm blowed if I can remember the chain now. My apologies to the people that did the real work finding this article).
Source
Bob's coalition all along?
Bob and Jack and Gilles and Socialist International.
And no, I don't wear a tinfoil hat
Edit: Credit where it's due
- Reaction score
- 5,692
- Points
- 1,060
Kirkhill said:Bob's coalition all along?
Bob and Jack and Gilles and Socialist International.
And no, I don't wear a tinfoil hat
Nope. I could see these two NDP hacks sleeping together and planning this, probably before the last election results were counted.
- Reaction score
- 5,548
- Points
- 1,260
Here is some ‘breaking news,’ reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from today’s Globe and Mail web site:
Rae bows out of Liberal race
CAMPBELL CLARK and BRIAN LAGHI
Globe and Mail Update
December 9, 2008 at 10:27 AM EST
OTTAWA — Former Ontario premier Bob Rae is bowing out of the Liberal leadership, leaving Michael Ignatieff to take hold of the party's reins before Parliament resumes in the new year.
CTV News and The Canadian Press reported Tuesday morning that Mr. Rae told confidantes during a teleconference call that he is withdrawing from the race. A press conference is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET.
It now rests with the party executive to find a way to install Mr. Ignatieff that meets with the approval of the majority of Liberal party members.
On Monday night, the party forestalled efforts to immediately install Mr. Ignatieff as leader, setting up a wider consultation of party officials over the next week after protests from Mr. Rae.
With Stéphane Dion announcing he will step down as Liberal Leader before Parliament resumes, Mr. Rae and his supporters had sought to block a move to have MPs choose a successor at a meeting Wednesday, instead hoping to delay it until next month and give party members a say.
Late Monday, the party's national executive chose a middle option for selecting an interim leader by Dec. 17 — allowing the party's riding association presidents, club presidents, and defeated candidates to weigh in, in addition to Liberal MPs and senators.
It was a compromise between the leadership camps, but it fell short of the broad vote of party members that Mr. Rae had called for. The party executive's decision is intended to delay MPs from voting on a leader until next week, although the caucus is not bound to put off their own vote.
The third candidate in the Liberal leadership race, New Brunswick MP Dominic LeBlanc, pulled out Monday to support Mr. Ignatieff, arguing that circumstances require Liberals to rally behind the "consensus" choice as leader — tacitly pressuring Mr. Rae to follow suit.
"The ideal scenario for me is that the Liberal caucus is united behind Michael Ignatieff as the leader," Mr. LeBlanc said.
While the Liberal Party's constitution technically requires that the choice now is for an interim leader, not a permanent one, it is clear that whoever is chosen will almost certainly keep the job, with a scheduled leadership convention in May probably serving only to ratify it formally.
But Mr. Rae insisted that party members must have a say in the choice, and whoever was chosen by caucus would have an unfair advantage.
"I just happen to have a view that says it's better to have the party as a whole involved in finding a solution than it is to having a solution imposed from above," he said.
"No other democratic party would do it this way, and I think we have to think very carefully about finding the right process."
MPs who support Mr. Rae trooped out in front of television cameras to argue that message, knowing that if the caucus moves to decide the matter in its meeting tomorrow, Mr. Ignatieff will almost certainly emerge as leader.
"If we pick somebody now, it will have the effect almost of being a coronation," Liberal MP Hedy Fry told the CBC.
That, in effect, was what Mr. Ignatieff's team was preparing — a move to have the caucus of Liberal MPs and senators vote to select him tomorrow, and then have the choice ratified by the national executive.
In an e-mail to supporters yesterday, Mr. Ignatieff gave no signal that he was supporting a role for rank-and-file members before that choice, arguing that if he was chosen by the caucus and executive, his leadership would be "confirmed" at the party's May convention.
But many Liberals argue that the party's members must be given some kind of say now — led by Mr. Rae's supporters, but including some MPs who support Mr. Ignatieff. Mr. Rae has garnered the support of MP Gerard Kennedy, the fourth-place finisher from the 2006 leadership race, whose convention-floor backing helped propel Mr. Dion to victory.
The party's executive held a conference call last night to discuss precisely how, and when, the new leader will be chosen.
Mr. Rae's suggestion that the party speed up the leadership race through an electronic vote in January was rejected by members of the executive as a violation of the party's constitution, which requires that a leader be chosen at a convention by elected delegates.
The party's constitution does allow the executive to choose an interim leader, in consultation with the caucus, but finding a way to give party members a say, too, was part of the conference-call discussion.
One of the options to be considered by the national executive was a proposal to speed up the election of leadership-convention delegates, now slated for March 6 to 8, so they are chosen by January. That would effectively substitute as the first-ballot result of the convention, but it could be difficult to organize so quickly.
Other ideas include having the party's 308 riding presidents canvass members and vote on their behalf, possibly along with defeated candidates from the last election.
Mr. Ignatieff's advisers said Monday night they would accept a form of grassroots consultation, such as the vote by riding presidents and defeated candidates.
What is now clear is that the Liberal Party that a week ago planned to have Mr. Dion take office today in a coalition with the NDP is now set to replace him before the next survival test of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government in late January, with the coalition plan uncertain.
Mr. Dion, who faced mounting pressure to step down after a bungled video address to the country last Wednesday, issued a statement saying Mr. Harper's move to prorogue Parliament created a logical time for Liberals to review the way forward.
"There is a sense in the party, and certainly in the caucus, that given these new circumstances the new leader needs to be in place before the House resumes. I agree," the statement said.
Meanwhile, supporters of Mr. Ignatieff began wrestling with the thorny process of what to do about the coalition with the NDP and whether it should be maintained. One key Ignatieff backer said Mr. Ignatieff should use the coalition idea as a weapon to keep the Tories from engaging in bullying tactics.
"The coalition if necessary, but not necessarily the coalition," said the backer.
Several New Democrats pointed out yesterday that Mr. Ignatieff signed his name to the document supporting the coalition.
"I think it's something that will be difficult for anybody in the Liberal Party to want to climb down from," said New Democratic MP Charlie Angus.
NDP Leader Jack Layton issued a statement Monday saying he is looking forward to working with the next leader of the "Liberal-New Democrat coalition" on proposals for the economy.
Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe, who had agreed to support a Liberal-NDP coalition for 18 months, praised Mr. Dion's willingness to put aside his own personal interests to allow the Liberals to choose a new leader, and said that change won't affect Bloc support for a coalition.
With a report from Bill Curry
This is, probably, good news for Harper and the Tories. Rae is a much, much better parliamentarian that Iggy. It is likely, also, that the long (40 years and counting) war between the Trudeau/Chretien/Rae faction and the Pearson/Turner/Martin/Ignatieff crew will continue, unabated, within the Liberal Party of Canada – keeping it, always, less that properly unified and, consequently, less able to fight and win elections.
Iggy’s dithering on the coalition should give Harper a few more days, even weeks before he engineers a defeat and goes to the polls again – this time, hopefully (for me as a partisan Conservative), able to win a majority, albeit one with very limited Québec representation.
--------------------
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081209.wPOLliberals1209/BNStory/politics/homeRae bows out of Liberal race
CAMPBELL CLARK and BRIAN LAGHI
Globe and Mail Update
December 9, 2008 at 10:27 AM EST
OTTAWA — Former Ontario premier Bob Rae is bowing out of the Liberal leadership, leaving Michael Ignatieff to take hold of the party's reins before Parliament resumes in the new year.
CTV News and The Canadian Press reported Tuesday morning that Mr. Rae told confidantes during a teleconference call that he is withdrawing from the race. A press conference is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET.
It now rests with the party executive to find a way to install Mr. Ignatieff that meets with the approval of the majority of Liberal party members.
On Monday night, the party forestalled efforts to immediately install Mr. Ignatieff as leader, setting up a wider consultation of party officials over the next week after protests from Mr. Rae.
With Stéphane Dion announcing he will step down as Liberal Leader before Parliament resumes, Mr. Rae and his supporters had sought to block a move to have MPs choose a successor at a meeting Wednesday, instead hoping to delay it until next month and give party members a say.
Late Monday, the party's national executive chose a middle option for selecting an interim leader by Dec. 17 — allowing the party's riding association presidents, club presidents, and defeated candidates to weigh in, in addition to Liberal MPs and senators.
It was a compromise between the leadership camps, but it fell short of the broad vote of party members that Mr. Rae had called for. The party executive's decision is intended to delay MPs from voting on a leader until next week, although the caucus is not bound to put off their own vote.
The third candidate in the Liberal leadership race, New Brunswick MP Dominic LeBlanc, pulled out Monday to support Mr. Ignatieff, arguing that circumstances require Liberals to rally behind the "consensus" choice as leader — tacitly pressuring Mr. Rae to follow suit.
"The ideal scenario for me is that the Liberal caucus is united behind Michael Ignatieff as the leader," Mr. LeBlanc said.
While the Liberal Party's constitution technically requires that the choice now is for an interim leader, not a permanent one, it is clear that whoever is chosen will almost certainly keep the job, with a scheduled leadership convention in May probably serving only to ratify it formally.
But Mr. Rae insisted that party members must have a say in the choice, and whoever was chosen by caucus would have an unfair advantage.
"I just happen to have a view that says it's better to have the party as a whole involved in finding a solution than it is to having a solution imposed from above," he said.
"No other democratic party would do it this way, and I think we have to think very carefully about finding the right process."
MPs who support Mr. Rae trooped out in front of television cameras to argue that message, knowing that if the caucus moves to decide the matter in its meeting tomorrow, Mr. Ignatieff will almost certainly emerge as leader.
"If we pick somebody now, it will have the effect almost of being a coronation," Liberal MP Hedy Fry told the CBC.
That, in effect, was what Mr. Ignatieff's team was preparing — a move to have the caucus of Liberal MPs and senators vote to select him tomorrow, and then have the choice ratified by the national executive.
In an e-mail to supporters yesterday, Mr. Ignatieff gave no signal that he was supporting a role for rank-and-file members before that choice, arguing that if he was chosen by the caucus and executive, his leadership would be "confirmed" at the party's May convention.
But many Liberals argue that the party's members must be given some kind of say now — led by Mr. Rae's supporters, but including some MPs who support Mr. Ignatieff. Mr. Rae has garnered the support of MP Gerard Kennedy, the fourth-place finisher from the 2006 leadership race, whose convention-floor backing helped propel Mr. Dion to victory.
The party's executive held a conference call last night to discuss precisely how, and when, the new leader will be chosen.
Mr. Rae's suggestion that the party speed up the leadership race through an electronic vote in January was rejected by members of the executive as a violation of the party's constitution, which requires that a leader be chosen at a convention by elected delegates.
The party's constitution does allow the executive to choose an interim leader, in consultation with the caucus, but finding a way to give party members a say, too, was part of the conference-call discussion.
One of the options to be considered by the national executive was a proposal to speed up the election of leadership-convention delegates, now slated for March 6 to 8, so they are chosen by January. That would effectively substitute as the first-ballot result of the convention, but it could be difficult to organize so quickly.
Other ideas include having the party's 308 riding presidents canvass members and vote on their behalf, possibly along with defeated candidates from the last election.
Mr. Ignatieff's advisers said Monday night they would accept a form of grassroots consultation, such as the vote by riding presidents and defeated candidates.
What is now clear is that the Liberal Party that a week ago planned to have Mr. Dion take office today in a coalition with the NDP is now set to replace him before the next survival test of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government in late January, with the coalition plan uncertain.
Mr. Dion, who faced mounting pressure to step down after a bungled video address to the country last Wednesday, issued a statement saying Mr. Harper's move to prorogue Parliament created a logical time for Liberals to review the way forward.
"There is a sense in the party, and certainly in the caucus, that given these new circumstances the new leader needs to be in place before the House resumes. I agree," the statement said.
Meanwhile, supporters of Mr. Ignatieff began wrestling with the thorny process of what to do about the coalition with the NDP and whether it should be maintained. One key Ignatieff backer said Mr. Ignatieff should use the coalition idea as a weapon to keep the Tories from engaging in bullying tactics.
"The coalition if necessary, but not necessarily the coalition," said the backer.
Several New Democrats pointed out yesterday that Mr. Ignatieff signed his name to the document supporting the coalition.
"I think it's something that will be difficult for anybody in the Liberal Party to want to climb down from," said New Democratic MP Charlie Angus.
NDP Leader Jack Layton issued a statement Monday saying he is looking forward to working with the next leader of the "Liberal-New Democrat coalition" on proposals for the economy.
Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe, who had agreed to support a Liberal-NDP coalition for 18 months, praised Mr. Dion's willingness to put aside his own personal interests to allow the Liberals to choose a new leader, and said that change won't affect Bloc support for a coalition.
With a report from Bill Curry
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This is, probably, good news for Harper and the Tories. Rae is a much, much better parliamentarian that Iggy. It is likely, also, that the long (40 years and counting) war between the Trudeau/Chretien/Rae faction and the Pearson/Turner/Martin/Ignatieff crew will continue, unabated, within the Liberal Party of Canada – keeping it, always, less that properly unified and, consequently, less able to fight and win elections.
Iggy’s dithering on the coalition should give Harper a few more days, even weeks before he engineers a defeat and goes to the polls again – this time, hopefully (for me as a partisan Conservative), able to win a majority, albeit one with very limited Québec representation.
- Reaction score
- 26,450
- Points
- 1,090
Bad news for the Liberal party. A leadership race, coupled with policy renewal was their best bet to define themselves - and drum up media attention and interest. A coronation won't get the chatteringclasses engaged, nor will it permit buy-in from the different groups under their "big tent". The Bob Rae supporters will move to their ideological confreres in the NDP to get away from the "American tainted" Ignatieff; and the Blue Grits wilhave to decide whether to stay in opposition or move to the Tories and try to deflect them somewhat left.
So the question: Will Ignatieff be the Kim Campbell of the Grits, plumbing new depths, or the Jean Charest, making slight progress but still leaving behind only a rump of a party to be taken over in a merger?
So the question: Will Ignatieff be the Kim Campbell of the Grits, plumbing new depths, or the Jean Charest, making slight progress but still leaving behind only a rump of a party to be taken over in a merger?
- Reaction score
- 5,548
- Points
- 1,260
dapaterson said:
My hope is: neither.
For reasons I hope I need not repeat I (a card carry Tory) think we need a good solid 'government in waiting' provided by a centrist party - a niche the NDP or a Liberal/NDP Alliance is intellectually unable to fill.
Ignatieff will face a (broadly but not not too deeply) centre left/left of centre party base which he will have to reconcile to his (fairly broad and deep) centre right/right of centre 'world view.' That's going to be a lot of work - work that Harper is unlikely to allow him the luxury of time to complete before the next general election. But he needs to drag the Liberals back from the loony left wing precipice, back to the political high ground of the centre and he needs to do it before Harper's Conservatives solidify their hold over too much of it.
I hope he loses a bit to the NDP; and he can afford to give up a few ridings and a few tens of thousands of the 'party faithful' in order to position himself to pick off the Conservative's left wing - which is uncomfortable with Harper et al.
I maintain there is room 'under the arch' (see below) for both the Conservatives and Liberals to compete for the centre - by offering good, solid, centrist defence, economic, foreign, fiscal, health, industry, social and trade policies.
- Reaction score
- 26,450
- Points
- 1,090
I agree with the need for two centrist party, one leaning right, one leaning left. But the rapid nature of this handover means the Liberal tent is going to empty out some more, causing further pain and agony.
Ignatieff is being handed a sword by the Lady of the Lake, as it were - and as everyone knows, supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical acquatic ceremony.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAaWvVFERVA
Ignatieff is being handed a sword by the Lady of the Lake, as it were - and as everyone knows, supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical acquatic ceremony.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAaWvVFERVA
- Reaction score
- 35
- Points
- 560
The CPC will ensure "The Count" wears this one as well. (Actually, I was hoping for Bob Rae to win the Poisoned Chalice, since "Rae Days for Everyone!" would have been the best election slogan ever):
http://jaycurrie.info-syn.com/hooped/
Like Edward, I would prefer the "Government in Waiting"to be composed of serious individuals who have something more than "grabbing the keys to the treasury" as a plan for governing. Rebuilding the Liberal Party or founding a new "Liberal-Democratic" party from scratch will be the challenge of a lifetime, and perhaps the only person who can do it is the Stephen Harper from an alternative universe (the one where Spock has a beard), or at least someone with the vision, tenacity and drive to do so. (Most people know my political philosophy, so unless you are interested in the founding of the Libertarian-Democratic party, I am out of the running ;D)
http://jaycurrie.info-syn.com/hooped/
Like Edward, I would prefer the "Government in Waiting"to be composed of serious individuals who have something more than "grabbing the keys to the treasury" as a plan for governing. Rebuilding the Liberal Party or founding a new "Liberal-Democratic" party from scratch will be the challenge of a lifetime, and perhaps the only person who can do it is the Stephen Harper from an alternative universe (the one where Spock has a beard), or at least someone with the vision, tenacity and drive to do so. (Most people know my political philosophy, so unless you are interested in the founding of the Libertarian-Democratic party, I am out of the running ;D)
I think Ignatiaf, of all the Liberals, is actually closer to Harper than Treadeau'esk (you know what I mean damn it!!). I think he's actually going to make a politically correct effort to work with Harper re: the economy, just so that that Harper doesn't do to him what was done to Dion....
Is he the best man for the times.....there's not much to choose from, so he's got it by default....
Is he the best man for the times.....there's not much to choose from, so he's got it by default....
- Reaction score
- 146
- Points
- 710
A lovely, biting post by Terry Glavin:
The Rise Of Mephistopheles
http://transmontanus.blogspot.com/2008/12/rise-of-mephistopheles.html
Mark
Ottawa
The Rise Of Mephistopheles
http://transmontanus.blogspot.com/2008/12/rise-of-mephistopheles.html
Mark
Ottawa
- Reaction score
- 5,548
- Points
- 1,260
According to this report, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from today’s Globe and Mail web site, it’s a done deal:
Ignatieff takes Liberal reins
Toronto MP named interim leader; fate of coalition with NDP unclear; news conference scheduled for 3 p.m. ET
Globe and Mail Update
December 10, 2008 at 12:00 PM EST
The Liberal Party named Michael Ignatieff as interim leader Wednesday, but it remains unclear whether it will go forward with a plan to topple the Conservative government with the help of the New Democratic Party and the Bloc Québécois.
Mr. Ignatieff has scheduled a news conference for 3 p.m. ET.
A day earlier, Stephen Harper reached out to the incoming Liberal leader and asked for co-operation on the economy, as the Grits sealed a quick leadership change that would strengthen their hand for a possible election, but leave the door open to compromise.
Mr. Ignatieff enters the post with a mission to rebuild his party's readiness for an election as his priority, while keeping the option of a coalition with the NDP in his back pocket as a means to extract budget concessions in January.
His quick ascension to the leadership was hastened Tuesday when his last rival, Bob Rae, decided that new party rules for choosing an interim leader left him with no hope of winning. He gracefully urged his supporters to rally to Mr. Ignatieff, who as the only candidate left will be acclaimed leader.
Mr. Ignatieff did not speak to reporters, as his advisers scrambled to prepare for a sooner-than-expected takeover of the Opposition leader's office and looked ahead to staffing jobs, uniting the Liberal Party, and preparing for a possible showdown with Mr. Harper in January.
"In difficult economic times, and with a parliamentary crisis at hand, the Liberal Party has responded quickly to changing circumstances to offer stability and leadership to Canadians. Our leadership contest has had to change as well," Mr. Ignatieff said in a statement, praising Mr. Rae and New Brunswick MP Dominic LeBlanc, who withdrew from the leadership race on Monday.
Mr. Harper, while unwilling to express regret for the recent political chaos, greeted his new opponent with an offer to be a "willing partner" on the economy.
"The government is willing to make changes to accommodate the opposition," Mr. Harper said in a rare television interview with CBC anchorman Peter Mansbridge.
"I think the big national parties should be working together to fix the economy, and we're more than willing to do that, and I hope the next Liberal leader, the first thing he'll do is be willing to sit down with me to have that discussion."
Mr. Harper said his Conservative government will return to Parliament in late January with a budget that will contain the significant economic-stimulus package demanded by the opposition.
But he rejected the notion that he stoked the crisis by placing partisan measures in his economic statement, arguing the opposition parties always planned to defeat him. Mr. Harper, whose minority government was re-elected just eight weeks ago, prorogued Parliament last week to prevent a Liberal-NDP coalition, backed by the Bloc, from defeating him in a no-confidence vote over his Nov. 27 economic statement.
And his campaign team was more bellicose.
Conservative campaign manager Doug Finley sent an e-mail to supporters attacking the Liberal-NDP coalition as undemocratic, and warning they now want to install a prime minister, Mr. Ignatieff, who "might not even be elected by members of the Liberal Party (or any other party.)"
Mr. Ignatieff has been reticent about the coalition drive to defeat Mr. Harper's Tories in a confidence vote. And his words - "a coalition if necessary but not necessarily a coalition" - were repeated over and over by Liberals yesterday.
"It's a club in the bag," said Liberal whip Rodger Cuzner. "If the Prime Minister hasn't learned from the economic update, you reach for Big Bertha."
However, the Liberals' rapid move to replace outgoing leader Stéphane Dion - who just a week ago was preparing to lead a coalition government - was mainly driven by fear they might face an election in January, or soon after.
The NDPand Bloc Québécois, meanwhile, did their best to overcome doubts about whether the coalition with the Liberals will hang together through January to defeat Mr. Harper. "We're not going to give him a second chance," said NDP deputy leader Thomas Mulcair.
Mr. Rae said he feels that Mr. Harper has already irrevocably lost the confidence of opposition parties through excessive partisanship and divisiveness and a lack of economic action.
"I think that those are two good enough reasons to say, 'Time's up, chum,' " he said.
At 60, Mr. Rae acknowledged that his quest to lead the Liberal Party is now over for good. He gracefully heaped praise on Mr. Ignatieff, his former university roommate, and declared him the party's legitimate leader.
Mr. Rae had hoped to delay a rush to select an interim leader by calling for an electronic vote of party members in January. But he said when the party executive called for 800 party officials and defeated candidates to decide the leadership in a week, he knew he could not win.
"I know how to count," he said.
"And I look at things, and I say, 'This doesn't make sense.' "
With reports from Campbell Clark, Gloria Galloway and Bill Curry
So the deed is done: Dion joins Edward Blake in the (small) pantheon of Liberal leaders who did not become PM. Rae is reduced to the status of footnote and Iggy must restore Liberal fortunes – not, in my opinion, a quick, easy task.
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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081210.wPOLliberals1210/BNStory/politics/homeIgnatieff takes Liberal reins
Toronto MP named interim leader; fate of coalition with NDP unclear; news conference scheduled for 3 p.m. ET
Globe and Mail Update
December 10, 2008 at 12:00 PM EST
The Liberal Party named Michael Ignatieff as interim leader Wednesday, but it remains unclear whether it will go forward with a plan to topple the Conservative government with the help of the New Democratic Party and the Bloc Québécois.
Mr. Ignatieff has scheduled a news conference for 3 p.m. ET.
A day earlier, Stephen Harper reached out to the incoming Liberal leader and asked for co-operation on the economy, as the Grits sealed a quick leadership change that would strengthen their hand for a possible election, but leave the door open to compromise.
Mr. Ignatieff enters the post with a mission to rebuild his party's readiness for an election as his priority, while keeping the option of a coalition with the NDP in his back pocket as a means to extract budget concessions in January.
His quick ascension to the leadership was hastened Tuesday when his last rival, Bob Rae, decided that new party rules for choosing an interim leader left him with no hope of winning. He gracefully urged his supporters to rally to Mr. Ignatieff, who as the only candidate left will be acclaimed leader.
Mr. Ignatieff did not speak to reporters, as his advisers scrambled to prepare for a sooner-than-expected takeover of the Opposition leader's office and looked ahead to staffing jobs, uniting the Liberal Party, and preparing for a possible showdown with Mr. Harper in January.
"In difficult economic times, and with a parliamentary crisis at hand, the Liberal Party has responded quickly to changing circumstances to offer stability and leadership to Canadians. Our leadership contest has had to change as well," Mr. Ignatieff said in a statement, praising Mr. Rae and New Brunswick MP Dominic LeBlanc, who withdrew from the leadership race on Monday.
Mr. Harper, while unwilling to express regret for the recent political chaos, greeted his new opponent with an offer to be a "willing partner" on the economy.
"The government is willing to make changes to accommodate the opposition," Mr. Harper said in a rare television interview with CBC anchorman Peter Mansbridge.
"I think the big national parties should be working together to fix the economy, and we're more than willing to do that, and I hope the next Liberal leader, the first thing he'll do is be willing to sit down with me to have that discussion."
Mr. Harper said his Conservative government will return to Parliament in late January with a budget that will contain the significant economic-stimulus package demanded by the opposition.
But he rejected the notion that he stoked the crisis by placing partisan measures in his economic statement, arguing the opposition parties always planned to defeat him. Mr. Harper, whose minority government was re-elected just eight weeks ago, prorogued Parliament last week to prevent a Liberal-NDP coalition, backed by the Bloc, from defeating him in a no-confidence vote over his Nov. 27 economic statement.
And his campaign team was more bellicose.
Conservative campaign manager Doug Finley sent an e-mail to supporters attacking the Liberal-NDP coalition as undemocratic, and warning they now want to install a prime minister, Mr. Ignatieff, who "might not even be elected by members of the Liberal Party (or any other party.)"
Mr. Ignatieff has been reticent about the coalition drive to defeat Mr. Harper's Tories in a confidence vote. And his words - "a coalition if necessary but not necessarily a coalition" - were repeated over and over by Liberals yesterday.
"It's a club in the bag," said Liberal whip Rodger Cuzner. "If the Prime Minister hasn't learned from the economic update, you reach for Big Bertha."
However, the Liberals' rapid move to replace outgoing leader Stéphane Dion - who just a week ago was preparing to lead a coalition government - was mainly driven by fear they might face an election in January, or soon after.
The NDPand Bloc Québécois, meanwhile, did their best to overcome doubts about whether the coalition with the Liberals will hang together through January to defeat Mr. Harper. "We're not going to give him a second chance," said NDP deputy leader Thomas Mulcair.
Mr. Rae said he feels that Mr. Harper has already irrevocably lost the confidence of opposition parties through excessive partisanship and divisiveness and a lack of economic action.
"I think that those are two good enough reasons to say, 'Time's up, chum,' " he said.
At 60, Mr. Rae acknowledged that his quest to lead the Liberal Party is now over for good. He gracefully heaped praise on Mr. Ignatieff, his former university roommate, and declared him the party's legitimate leader.
Mr. Rae had hoped to delay a rush to select an interim leader by calling for an electronic vote of party members in January. But he said when the party executive called for 800 party officials and defeated candidates to decide the leadership in a week, he knew he could not win.
"I know how to count," he said.
"And I look at things, and I say, 'This doesn't make sense.' "
With reports from Campbell Clark, Gloria Galloway and Bill Curry
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So the deed is done: Dion joins Edward Blake in the (small) pantheon of Liberal leaders who did not become PM. Rae is reduced to the status of footnote and Iggy must restore Liberal fortunes – not, in my opinion, a quick, easy task.
- Reaction score
- 26,450
- Points
- 1,090
It's not merely a case of rebuilding - it's a case of redefining and reinvigourating the party. His ascension to the top has rankled many of the rank and file, and has had no intellectual life breathed into the party. A good leadership competition forces a party to discuss its past, present and future, and build a common front towards the future.
For the health of the party, he'd better set up some sort of policy renewal forum or fora, to force the party to clearly define itself. For the past several years the Libs have permitted others to define them.
For the health of the party, he'd better set up some sort of policy renewal forum or fora, to force the party to clearly define itself. For the past several years the Libs have permitted others to define them.
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