Monday, May 09, 2005

Desperate House

Let me just say that anyone in Canada who claims to know whether or not tomorrow's vote is valid is either:

a) Full of it
b) An individual who has spent the last decade reading up on parliamentary procedure

Which tells me that we're going into a week of both sides arguing parliamentary procedural rules (fun, fun fun!). It's safe to say there won't be an election over this but it will change the discussion for a while which will have two effects:

1. It will change the channel away from Gomery, at a time when Benoit Corbeil is going to be brutally tearing the Liberal Party to pieces.

2. It will make the Liberals look really, really desperate.


It's also going to be a bit of yoke on the face of Paul Martin. In a leadership campaign that was all about coming out in favour of sunshine, rainbows and lollipops, there was one promise Paul Martin made above all others: The Democratic Deficit.

I guess the one thing Paul forgot to mention was that addressing the democratic deficit would involve canceling opposition days and failing to recognize non-confidence motions. A strong democratic reform package might be the kind of non-scary policy Harper can bring forward during the campaign to show there's some substance behind the candidate.

6 Comments:

  • Calgary Grit, love the blog. One of the least partisan political blogs I visit. Yoke(s) go on oxen. Yolks are the middle of eggs, and do indeed have an afinity for PM PM.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:16 a.m.  

  • Anon...

    You know that old adage that goes, "Be careful when you point a finger, because the other three fingers on the pointing hand point back at yourself"? The same holds for spelling nitpickery. It's 'affinity".

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:11 a.m.  

  • Thanks Mike, I should proofread, thanks especially for the word "nitpickery" I am going to make it my word of the day.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:42 a.m.  

  • Hell, I don't know either. My vague suspicion (based on my old poli-sci days) is that it's not technically binding.

    More importantly, I think Martin is making a mistake here. I suspect the Liberals would be better off facing the Gomery music than looking like desperate losers.

    Gomery has done all the damage it can to the Liberals now--anyone who will refuse to vote Liberal because of corruption is already doing so. Looking like desperate losers gives people a DIFFERENT reason not to vote for them and so should be avoided at all costs.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:11 a.m.  

  • The problem with Harper pursuing this kind of strategy is its Karmic consequences. If the Tories bring down the government on a non-confidence vote that technically isn't, the genie will be out of the bottle. We will have votes of non-confidence every day by the Liberals should Stephen Harper become PM. This is dangerous ground we are treading here.

    By Blogger Greg, at 12:02 p.m.  

  • To be fair, Mike, hononym confusion is a different beast than typos and misspellings, and can be an honest mistake. I'm sure CG was just tired, though. :)

    As to the substantive issue, I think the Libs are getting perilously close to no-win territory. I don't see any good options for them. The Neo-Tories aren't playing much smarter, though. Mutual suicide pact, anyone?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:26 p.m.  

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