Canada should be having an election this spring. There should be a new government. Yet it is looking more likely it won't happen. The polls released today show the Harper Conservatives pulling ahead even more. The Liberals are falling. The Liberals have been on the downward slide since Paul Martin became Prime Minister.
You see the problem has been that the Liberals don't know who the hell they are anymore. They moved right with Martin at the helm. Remember Martin believing he could pass a budget with huge corporate tax cuts. The NDP said no. The same NDP have said no to huge corporate tax cuts under Harper.
The Liberal Party of Canada wants corporate support. The support they lost to Harper some time ago. So the Liberals have in fact voted for every Harper budget in five years. It hasn't helped. Corporate Canada has left the Liberals. Then we have Canadians. They don't seem inspired to donate to the Liberals either.
For five years and three leaders, the Liberals are marginally better off today than they were when Dion was leader. I mean we are talking a couple percentage points. What does the leader of the Liberal party do? He attacks the NDP. The Liberals tried to go after the Layton, hoping to gain traction on the left side. It hasn't worked.
So here we go again. The polls are in the tank for Iggy and company, and they have drawn a line or two in the sand over fighter jets and corporate tax cuts. Then there is Afghanistan. They apparently agree with Harper. On the wrong side of another issue with the Canadian public.
A good blogger out there, a liberal, told me they were annoyed that the NDP would run Peggy Nash against Kennedy in Toronto. They said, "why run a strong progressive against another." Run Peggy elsewhere the blogger said. I asked where and would the Liberals be so kind as to withdraw a strong candidate or MP in return for Peggy leaving to give Kennedy an easy ride to Ottawa. The Liberal blogger shrugged. I knew it, its all a sham.
If Harper wins the next election, it won't be due to the Bloc or NDP or even Green taking what few votes are available out there from Liberals, it will be because the Liberals are no longer a coherent force.
1 comment:
The Liberals had better hope that they run a coherent campaign that both focuses on key issues that resonate with a target audience, and that they attach Harper on his perceived strengths.
NDP leader Jack Layton needs ensure that he does not get shut out of the spotlight between Harper and Ignatieff. He, too, needs to focus on key issues. Don't try to be everything for everybody. Otherwise you are nothing, and attract nobody. Play the democratic card. Tell voters how Harper's autocratic control has negatively affected families. Offer one or two democratic reform solutions that will help Canadian families.
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