The Liberal Party of Canada Doesn’t Know It’s Dead

A party seriously considering hiring a boy as its policy chief – is a party no more. RIP Sir Laurier, hopefully you’ll be able to stop rolling soon.

Globe: Meet the 20-year-old aiming to be the next Liberal policy chief

Michael Ignatieff’s Vision of Canada: Dreary, Vacuous Mythology

Thanks to National Newswatch for linking to this unintentionally hysterical end-of-year sympathy-cry for the hapless Leader of the Opposition, Michael Ignatieff, courtesy of the shameless Susan Delacourt of The Toronto Star.

First, the lede:

…doesn’t he just want to give up, go back to his charmed life as an international academic and writer?

“Never,” Ignatieff says. “I’m here. I’m staying. I’m not going anywhere.”

If there’s one thing we’ve learned about Iggy in 2009, it’s that his tough talk is a complete sham. Why even pretend you’re an alpha-male, Iggy? Fact is, the only thing in your control is where you live (Toronto or Cambridge). He could be turfed out the back door just like his predecessor, Steffi, as soon as tomorrow for all we know. That much is up to the Liberal power brokers – not Iggy.

Next, Susan on how his ambitious turnaround plans will start:

As soon as the Liberal leader returns from an extended Christmas holiday – destination kept secret – he is headed out on the road, to connect with university students and rooms full of what he calls the “unconverted.”

Everyone can relate to those leaders who, when times get tough, go on extended vacations. And when Liberals need to convert the unconverted, of course they go straight to where a Liberal can hardly be found – the university campus! More on that:

“We’re going to universities. It’s important to preach to the unconverted. Some of what I have to do is rally the base, raise money. But the stuff I enjoy the most is going into rooms that aren’t full of Liberals – university crowds, university students are the future of Canadian politics and we have to get to them.”

A parody writer couldn’t have done a better job inventing the character, “Delusional lefty politician”.

As usual in the mainstream press, the important and valuable insight can be gleaned by reading the story bottom-up. The final paragraph contains Iggy’s depressing vision of Canada. Does he speak of freedom? Opportunity? Prosperity? Northern toughness? Achievement? How about even the basic Liberal boilerplate of Human Rights, Equality and Multiculturalism? Well, high-minded dreamers, here’s Canada in the mind of the man who wants to be your Prime Minister:

“I think it’s a small-l liberal country and I don’t want that to sound arrogant,” Ignatieff says. “I think that the country is small-l liberal in that it believes passionately in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It believes in publicly funded health care. It believes that Canadians should not be abandoned when they lose their jobs, they need help and training. It believes that anybody who has good grades to get through school should get all the education our society can provide. This stuff hasn’t moved very much.”

“It believes passionately in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms” – I don’t think so. Ninety-nine-point-nine percent of Canadians could not recite a single line from the charter, and at least 50% wouldn’t even be able to tell you a single concept contained therein. Many Canadians are told that they believe passionately in the Charter; but most have no clue what that even means.

“It believes in publicly funded health care” – that’s number two on our list, how we pay our doctors? Makes us sound like a country of soulless bean-counters, not human beings.

“It believes that Canadians should not be abandoned when they lose their jobs” – amazingly, dear leader can’t even come up with a third point of vision, and reverts instinctively to petty partisanship, as if helping the unemployed is somehow an issue of controversy.

“It believes that anybody who has good grades to get through school should get all the education our society can provide” – he’s a professor, an author, a journalist, and a political leader; and yet, he can’t even compose a coherent sentence on the topic of education as a national value. Cue the parody writer again: Idiotic academic who can’t even master the art of bullshit.

The dreariness of this man! Enjoy that vacation, dear sir. For a non-entity, it can neither hurt nor help.

Michael Ignatieff: Another Disastrous Liberal Mistake

As long as Stephen Harper refuses to expand his PR image beyond “competent” and “safe”, he will fail to attain his much-desired majority government. If he can put forth a coherent, positive, aspirational vision for the country – whether it be with a hard conservative edge or not – he will get it. And now may be his opportunity, as he has once again combined strategic mastery with a bit of luck to buy himself at least another year as Prime Minister in a minority parliament, with an opposition in absolute disarray.

The latest work of strategic mastery? The 2009 budget, presented yesterday, unloved by everyone today. How can a document that has been panned across the ideological spectrum be considered a strategic masterpiece? 1) It pays lip service only to the irresistible force of the Keynesian “stimulus” nonsense fad dominating the world right now, projecting an inflated budget deficit that will never actually take place thanks to a neat poison pill (a provision that releases infrastructure funds only when matched dollar-for-dollar by provinces or municipalities – dollars that simply don’t exist) that will ensure most of the infrastructure billions announced will never be spent. This allowed Harper to gain Liberal support and earn NDP/Bloc wrath – wrath directed mostly at his true rivals, the Liberals, once again fracturing the left into little pieces; and 2) It avoids the “third rail” that conservative politicians must never touch – tax increases – and actually offers, in difficult times, small but tangible tax savings for most.

As for the luck? That happened in December, when the Liberal Party inexplicably decided to cancel its leadership race, and install “The Czar”, Michael Ignatieff, as its instant, permanent replacement for the hapless Stephane Dion. “Hey, he’s brilliant, he’s dashing, he’s worldly, he’s respected – he’s our Obama”, the pinheads in the party must have been saying. But what arrogant Liberals have failed to learn is: a coronation hands its recipient a poisoned chalice. The public at large will always be suspicious of a leader who did not earn his position. Paul Martin, Kim Campbell, and John Turner all learned this in the most humiliating way: each was utterly rejected by voters after being handed the Prime Ministership on a silver platter. I guarantee, the vast majority of non-political-junkie Canadians who watched the news tonight had the same opinion of this performance: who the hell is this guy, and who does he think he is, putting the government on “probation”?:

Iggy is everything the Liberals should have avoided: an arrogant-sounding, elitist, Toronto-centric, prickly, inexperienced, cold, humourless, hard-edged, bitter-looking opportunist, whose every public word makes him sound like an actor pretending to be a politician. While Stephane Dion had even worse flaws, at least he seemed genuine. As I have contended for two years now, there’s only one Liberal leadership candidate who was in the running that the Conservatives were scared of facing off against, and that was the very dangerous, very destructive Bob Rae. Further, there’s only one Liberal who could have peeled away the Conservative base and led them back to government quickly, and that would have been John Manley. But, as luck would have it, the Libs, panicked by their ill-conceived runaway-freight-train coalition experiment and their precarious financial position, took the worst possible choice in the worst possible manner.

Bad choices come with bad costs. Now, we’ll see if Harper can seize the opportunity, and move from being a competent caretaker to an inspirational leader.

Coup Floppers: Prorogued Parliament means Death to Coalition

Parliament now suspended until January 26, with budget presented January 27. Some Liberals are already bailing out of the stinking ship. Some Liberals will be called into Flaherty’s and Harper’s offices for budget consultations, and will slink away from the coalition. Other Liberals will read their e-mail over the holidays, and drop out of the coalition. Iggy will drop his support for the widely rejected coup plot, in his quest to repair his reputation in time for the leadership convention and to separate himself from Bob Rae. The confidence vote will be close. If the government falls on Jan. 27, the Liberals will wear this disaster like a hairnet at a photo op. Conservative majority. Endgame.

And Jack will continue being Jack.

Coup leader Stephane Dion sends video from his bunker (late)

Unfortunately for Stephane Dion and his coalition of the swilling, sheer incompetence prevented him from getting his grade-school-quality rebuttal tape to the networks on time for a full airing this evening, after the networks cleared time until 7:30 EST for the free publicity. Good news! I’ve got it for you here! As a conservative and a Conservative, I want to make sure as many people as possible see the work of the man who wants to be PM (please note: a book named “HOT AIR” appears above Steffi’s right shoulder on the bookshelf. It was in clear focus and easily spotted when the video appeared on its original broadcast, but appears to have been blacked out when posted online).

UPDATE: If you can’t get the YouTube clip to play, you can get the video from this direct CBC link here: http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/8752/news/features/opposition-reacts-081203.wmv

Here’s the amazing, hilarious story behind this video fiasco, from CTV:

Liberals apologize for late delivery of Dion video

Updated Wed. Dec. 3 2008 10:48 PM ET

Josh Visser, CTV.ca News

The Liberals have apologized for Liberal Leader Stephane Dion’s taped televised address, after it was delivered to Canadian networks almost an hour past deadline and in near-cellphone quality.

“I apologize for what happened tonight. I apologize for the poor quality and the lateness. I am livid and am doing an investigation as to how this happened,” Johanne Senecal, Dion’s Chief of Staff, said to CTV News tonight.

Dion was supposed to deliver the networks a pre-taped statement to the nation Wednesday between 6: 15 p.m. and 6:30 ET. It was to air after Prime Minister Stephen Harper addressed the country at 7 p.m. ET about the political crisis on Parliament Hill.

CTV, along with other major Canadian networks, pre-empted regularly scheduled programming to deliver the addresses. Harper went to air shortly after 7 p.m. but networks were left scrambling to fill airspace when Dion’s tape was nowhere to be found.

Alphée Moreau, a senior Liberal communication staffer, explained how the series of technical mistakes on their part resulted in an embarrassing snafu.

The timeline (all times ET):

• 6:15-6:30 – The Liberals miss their promised deadline to deliver Dion’s statement to the television networks.
• 6:40 – Liberals arrive with a single tape at the press gallery in Ottawa. They were supposed to deliver two tapes: one in French, one in English. They arrived with a single tape in DVD-minicam format, which is not broadcast quality.
• Shortly after 6:40 – The Liberals decide to run back to their offices — a block away — because the French portion of the tape needs another edit.
• 7:05 – Liberal staffers are still in their offices as the networks go to air with the Harper address.
• 7:07 – Harper’s statement finishes and network anchors are forced to kill time as they wait for Dion’s address.
• 7:10 to 7:15 – Liberal staffers arrive back at the press gallery on Wellington Street with a DVD-minicam player that they had taken from their own offices, along with the associated cables. There is still only one tape, not two. A press gallery official tells the Liberals that the gallery is not the feed point and an argument ensues. The Liberals ask why they weren’t told that earlier. The feed point is next door at the CBC building, which is the long-established feed play point for all network pools. The Liberals are informed that they need to be walked into the building by authorized staff.
• 7:20 – English network anchors are still live on television, wondering where the tape is. CTV has still had no communications from the Liberals about Dion’s address.
• Approximately 7:15 – CBC receives the tape and begins dubbing into French and English versions. This takes about 10 minutes.
• 7:28 – CTV decides to go off-air and back to regular scheduled programming at 7:30. CTV has still not seen a feed of the tape.
• 7:28 – CBC incorrectly punches out the finished feed only to their network.
• 7:30 – CTV signs off broadcast at scheduled time.

“We missed our deadline,” Moreau said. “The shot was not all that professional. It was soft-focused.”

CTV received angry emails within minutes of signing off. Some viewers thought CTV was ignoring the Liberal leader, while others thought Dion was purposely snubbing the network.

Dion’s coalition partners were both angry and embarrassed by the Liberal address.The NDP said Wednesday’s fiasco undermined the credibility of the coalition, CTV’s Robert Fife reported.

“I’m told that (Bloc Quebecois Leader) Gilles Duceppe ran into Mr. Dion in the elevator and asked ‘What the hell happened?’ and Mr. Dion said, ‘We’re not used to being in opposition,” Fife said.

Jean Lapierre, broadcast journalist and former Liberal MP, mocked the party’s video address.

“This was the cheapest video. I don’t know if the Liberal party has financial problems, but they didn’t have to go to a high school kid to get their video made,” he said on CTV’s Mike Duffy Live. “You ask people to forget about their normal TV show tonight. We did that on TVA. We had a million people waiting for a show call ‘Le Poulet’ — ‘The Chicken.’ We didn’t even get the egg!”

The blogsphere was quick to pounce on Dion’s bumbling performance.

“Stephane Dion was late for the show, looked kind of red faced, and seemed to be getting a couple of bucks for the bankrupt Liberal Party for the product placement of a book entitled, and I kid you not, “Hot Air,” wrote the Alberta Ardvark blog Wednesday.

The Libs still don’t get it: Andre Arthur on Quebecers’ hate for Stephane Dion

The Coalition-pushers at the CBC were hoping Quebec Independent MP Andre Arthur – the former talk radio iconoclast from the provincial capital – would help promote the myth that the Separatist-Opportunist-Socialist coalition (as coined by Monte Solberg) will be popular in Quebec (and thus, in the pathetic Europhilic arse-licking world of the urban left, an obviously good thing). Arthur wouldn’t bite at any of Don Newman’s promptings, and instead told him what Quebecers really think of the Coalition’s PM-wannabe, Stephane Dion (hint: they’d rather see him on a shrimp boat in Louisiana). Watch and enjoy!

Did anyone vote for this? Separatist-Opportunist-Socialist Coalition wants to run Canada

Is this a dream, or a nightmare? Just weeks after a Federal Election that returned a strengthened Conservative Minority Parliament to Canada, the three losing parties have joined together in an attempt to govern the country. To cut through the bull, here is what is happening, in a nutshell: the lefties in all three parties, inspired by the Barack and Bailout mania sweeping through the USA, want to join the party here North of the border. When Harper refused to join the Keynsian/New Deal redux to disaster, the socialists freaked.

Now, it’s up to them to convince ordinary Canadians – who, I would guess, are about 75% against this nonsense – that they are a legitimate government. Constitutional, maybe. Legitimate to the voters? Good luck with that one.

More soon.

UPDATE: Are you buying the “economic crisis in Canada” rhetoric of the three pinheads? Buried (purposely) by the media today: Canada’s GDP Rises in Q3. That means: no recession, folks. And, from first-hand experience as the proprietor of a consumer-discretionary-goods retail business – Canada is in much better shape, relatively speaking, than the US right now.

Liberal Party of Canada: When it comes to the public trough, there’s no compromise!

They will write books some day analyzing the political genius of Stephen Harper. This move was audacious, stunning, bold, and absolutely right from a small-c conservative point of view: through his Finance Minister’s economic update, he has announced the end of the outrageous system of public financing of Canada’s political parties imposed by the Chretien Liberals. Read about it in Kelly MacParland’s fine column. Quite simply: a system in which the Bloc Quebecois receives over 80% of its operating funds from the very Federal Government it wishes to dismantle, is a system that must go. Grabbing this post-election opportunity in which the official opposition is at its weakest to scrap the system is the type of hardball politics that conservatives usually end up on the butt-end of! Finally, we have hardball players on our side.

What makes this incredibly entertaining is the bluster and sabre-rattling of the opposition parties. Both NDP leader Jack Layton, and Liberal leader-in-waiting Bob Rae, have called the move “undemocratic” – an Orwellian inversion if there ever was one. All opposition parties are threatening to vote against the measure, which would trigger a snap election. Check out these quotes from Joan Bryden’s evening report:

Ignatieff: “I’m utterly unintimidated and undeterred by this stuff and the caucus is in the same mood . . . . (Harper) has misread the mood if he thinks that the Liberal caucus is going to cave on this matter. No way. No way.”

Similarly, Rae said the Tories are “deliberately creating a political crisis in order to avoid dealing with an economic crisis.” He said there’s “no public policy benefit at all” to the move to scrap public subsidies for parties.

“It’s just absolute bloody-minded meanness that’s motivating them and it can’t be allowed to stand.”

So, after two years of abstaining on every key issue put forward by the Conservatives – from war, to justice, to taxes, to economics – we now know where the line in the sand is drawn for Liberals. Deny these pigs their seat at the public trough, and it’s war!

Dignity, thy name ‘aint Lib.

Liberals in Meltdown: Stephane Dion Won’t Go Quietly

These Libs are too much. Canada’s “Natural Governing Party” is in complete meltdown after the leader who presided over two disastrous years (who ever thought, after Paul Martin, that it could get worse?) not only refused today to step down as party leader, but showed a mind-boggling lack of humility by refusing to take even a shred of personal responsibility for his party’s ugly showing in last week’s election.

If you want to torture yourself, here’s the link to his entire press conference in RealTime format. Dion blamed: a) “Conservative Propaganda” that bamboozled the Canadian public about his personality; b) stupid Canadians failing to understand the brilliance of his Green Shift; and c) bad fundraising efforts that didn’t allow the Liberals to advertise his brilliance enough. I would argue that the loss should be blamed on a) the intellectual bankruptcy of the Liberal Party of Canada, which allowed the worst possible candidate to win their 2006 leadership contest; b) the inevitable, and well-deserved, unpopularity of any scheme that puts a financial penalty on carbon emissions; and c) the well-deserved financial bankruptcy of the party, whose own election finance rules made it impossible for its one solid remaining base (Canada’s business elite) to fund it through an election.

Dion may sound like a simpleton and a rube when he speaks, but he’s not stupid. He’s staying put until someone ponies up his still-standing $100,000+ debt from the 2006 leadership race – only then will he walk away gracefully. Ripping apart his own party at the seams in the meantime doesn’t seem to matter to him (which is fine with me). According to Bourque, Michael Ignatieff’s people are already planning a coup for later this week. Bob Rae has been positioning himself as the lone serious candidate for months. Vainglorious ones like Martha Hall-Findlay, Gerrard Kennedy, Denis Coderre, and Joe Volpe are still floating their own names around. Some are pimping Frank McKenna, John Manley or – gasp – Justin Trudeau – as Liberal Messiahs capable of lifting the reds out of the dumps. It’s getting ugly – and funny!

What does it all mean? With a lame-duck Leader of the Opposition, we’ve got at least 8 months of an effective Conservative majority ahead, and at least two years of Conservative minority rule until the next Lib leader would even consider going to the polls.

And some would have you believe that Harper somehow lost the election!

Petulance Personified: Vancouver Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh on Election Night 2008

Do you think that the Good Ship Liberal slipped further into the deep this past election because they weren’t angry, obstructive, or hyper-partisan enough? If so, then you’ll agree wholeheartedly with this display of petulance (and complete lack of humility) from former NDP Premier of British Columbia, and long-time Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh, who just moments earlier found out he barely squeaked by with a narrow victory over his unknown NDP rival. “Making Parliament Work, Liberal Style”

UPDATE 10/17: Mr. Dosanjh’s rival in this race was actually a Conservative, Wai Young – and the race isn’t over yet! An automatic judicial recount has been ordered due to the tiny 33-vote margin of victory for Mr. Dosanjh. He may not even make it to Ottawa again to be an obstructionist jerk! (h/t Dr. Dawg):