Rick Mercer’s Rant covers a major point. Harper tried to cripple the opposition without a majority, because he thought enough spineless Liberals would support it. If our coalition falls apart, he will do it again. Remember, he didn’t just ignore the recession we are in, he used it as an opportunity to cripple the opposition for years to come.
Thankfully, the opposition parties realized this and stood united to stop it and stop Harper, by forming a coalition and working together.
Yesterday, Harper find another route around democracy by taking away your voice and proroguing parliament. He didn’t just give two months off to the MPs, he took away your representatives’ chance to have any say in how your government works. For the next two months he and his surrogates are going to do all they can to convince the concern trolls and the worrywarts that the coalition will hurt the Liberals. Not because it will hurt the Liberals, but precisely because it will do the exact opposite. He prorogued parliament without the confidence of the house because he knows the coalition will hurt him.
So don’t be a concern troll and don’t turn this into an internal political fight between Dion, Rae, or fucking Iggy. If the Liberals blow this because they are too busy trying to figure out who should stand on the top of the heap next, then they should’ve supported removing party funding and bankrupting themselves. It would have saved everyone a lot of time and money.
If it wasn’t obvious before to the Liberals (of all stripes) that Harper is more than willing to do anything to destroy them regardless of the effects it will have permanently on our democracy, it should be obvious now. The concern trolls talking about breaking up the coalition for fear of bad press are going to accomplish the exact opposite of what they claim to want. Their spineless, weak-willed, fear-mongering spirit will guarantee that Harper will win his much-coveted majority and push through all of the partisan legislation that he wants, and that whoever is the leader of the Liberals will get a nice long stay as a tiny opposition party.
Liberals, please don’t waste this opportunity. Harper is on the run precisely because of the coalition. Don’t break it up for petty party politics.
Choose your fights wisely — Fighting each other is exactly what Harper wants and needs us to do right now. He knows that and he’s hoping for that. If we break up, he wins and we lose.
If we stand together, we win.
1h
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So then the Liberals really need to follow the suggestion over at Far and Wide – 308 emergency riding association meetings that select the new leader, NOW, from the three people running. Not an interim leader, but the leader.
They then need to fund raise like mad. Get people on the ground and raise money. Get the team in place. They should never let themselves get into a situation where the Conservatives hold their purse strings again.
They need to forget about a convention in May or change it to a policy convention, rather than a leadership convention. They need to take the money they would spend on a leadership campaign and put it into paying down the party debt.
They need to walk into the House on the 26th of January with a new permanent leader and a bank account full of cash, with more rolling in each day.
Only then will the coalition stay together and the Liberals be able to face down Harper.
Anything else says they’ve given up and will leave Canada under Conservative rule for the forseeable future.
Comment by Mike — December 5, 2008 @ 12:17 pm