Dion's Gone...Now What?

Now that Stéphane Dion has officially offered his resignation, a few thoughts on the current state of the Liberal nation.

• Despite the rather ignominious manner of his departure, Dion should always be remembered as a man of intellect, honesty and integrity.
• Don't rush. Although the weight of support seems to be behind Ignatieff (Dominic LeBlanc has just given a press conference in support of Iggy), the Liberals need to avoid "installing" him as leader via a backroom deal.
• Open up the leadership process to the membership. A One Member One Vote system would serve the dual purpose of offering an inclusive and transparent process, and re-connecting with grassroots supporters.
• Fire every single person working on the Liberal marketing team. Now. The Liberals have to understand that good ideas don't just sell themselves, especially not in the face of a vicious and ruthlessly well oiled CPC attack machine. While they search for a new leader and a new message, they need to hire PR types that are as shrewd as their Conservative counterparts to sell their vision to Canadians.
• Keep up the pressure on Stephen Harper. Make no mistake, King Steve isn't spending even one minute navel gazing about what he could have done differently. He is sitting somewhere, seething at the the way in which he was betrayed by the opposition parties, and he is already plotting his next move. Be prepared.
  

All For One and One For All!

Well, maybe not quite. Still, Stéphane Dion, Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe today announced their intent to bring down the Conservative government by entering into a formal coalition. Good for them. Harper's own pathological need to destroy his political opponents has cost him dearly, and he may yet end up paying the ultimate political price.

He still has a few tricks up his sleeve, and he won't hesitate to use them. Most likely he'll ask the GG to prorogue parliament, a shameless move designed only to avoid a non-confidence vote. Alternately, he could face the vote, lose it, then petition the GG to call a general election. Of course the GG is under no obligation to grant him either of his wishes, but King Steve will surely make her job as hard as possible.

Will the coalition last? No. But I wonder if a brief chance for co-governance would soften both the Liberals and the NDP to the idea of a more formal arrangement in the future. Hell, it worked for the Conservatives. How does 'The Liberal Democratic Party of Canada' sound? Weird, I know. But then, these are weird times.

P.S. My blog is undergoing a bit of a facelift. I'm going for a somewhat 'cleaner' look. My apologies for any glitches while I tinker.

It's 3am. The Phone Rings. It's Jason Kenney.

Well now that the campaign is on, the Conservatives have started continued doing what they've been doing all along - smearing the opposition with attack ads. Only today, they started early - 6am to be exact. The attempt, of course, was to "control" the media agenda by beating the other parties to the punch. Unfortunately for the CPC, the strategy backfired.

But Monday morning's unveiling of a new series of campaign ads attacking Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion received no live coverage on any of the major national television networks.

Instead, CBC Newsworld cut to the question-and-answer session after the announcement, when Conservative MPs Jason Kenney and Lawrence Cannon faced a series of tough questions.

The pair made no substantive policy announcements, choosing instead to target Mr. Dion and the main plank of his campaign platform, The Green Shift.

I find it more than a little odd that a party so rich and so adept at spin doctoring is also so catastrophically inept at organizing press conferences (anyone remember the infamous fire-escape exit after the RCMP raid?).

Meanwhile, Sweater-Vest Man was out here in Richmond, campaigning in someone's backyard. When asked by a reporter if he would stop in & out financing pending the investigation, he said something to the effect of "we will continue to follow election financing laws as they are currently interpreted and as they have been interpreted in the past". In other words "I'll keep breaking the law until someone's throws my ample ass in jail".

Finally, there's been some discussion over at Red Tory's about Dion's announcement today that, if elected, he would implement a full ban on all assault weapons. While I agree that this is hardly a susbstantive initiative one way or the other, and that Dion runs the risk of re-opening the Gun Registry debate, I would suggest that the real motive behind this announcement is to play into his ongoing attempt to frame this election as a choice between Harper's right wing agenda, and Dion's "kinder, gentler Canada". Forcing gun control onto the agenda will likely widen the urban-rural split, but will help to paint Harper as a Bush-ian extremist (as Dion has already been alluding to). Anyways, it's merely the opening salvo in what promises to be a long campaign on all sides.

Liberals Ponder Non-Confidence Motion, Will Abstain

RC Press (Ottawa) - Liberal leader Stephane Dion today announced that his party is seriously considering tabling a non-confidence motion in the House of Commons.

"This government has betrayed the trust of Canadians on a number of issues", said an angry Dion. "From the Cadman affair, to NAFTAgate, to inaction on the environment, Stephen Harper has failed to live up to his responsibilities as Prime Minister"

"It is our opinion that this government can no longer stand, so we will be meeting over the weekend to consider drafting a motion of non-confidence".

When asked if he was prepared to topple the Conservative government over the issue, Dion took a more cautious tone. "We'll have to see about that".

Later, MP Ralph Goodale reassured Canadians that they wouldn't be heading to the polls anytime soon. "We have every intention of introducing a non-confidence motion, but we have no intention of bringing down the government over it. We know that Canadians don't want to have another election at this time".

The sentiment was echoed by Deputy Leader Michael Ignatieff. "Look, we know that this government has presided over one travesty after another, and we cannot allow it to go on. Mr. Harper continues to obfuscate, evade questions, and steer this country in the wrong direction. Canadians demand better. As the official opposition, it is our duty to bring a non-confidence motion to the floor, and send the Conservatives packing."

"But an election is not the way to accomplish this. So when our motion comes up for a vote, Canadians can be confident that we will not bring down the government over this issue. We'll simply abstain. If Mr. Layton, Mr. Duceppe, and Mr. Harper want to force Canadians into an early election, it will be on their heads".

In response, Prime Minister Harper issued the following statement: "Saying they have no confidence in me amounts to a defamation of my character, and so I have decided to file a second lawsuit against the Liberal Party, Stephane Dion, Ralph Goodale, Michael Ignatieff, Paul Martin, Barack Obama, the CBC, and the estates of Pierre Elliot Trudeau and Lester B. Pearson. People need to realize that they cannot oppose me with impunity. I have referred the matter to my lawyer, so I'm afraid I can't comment further."