The Liberals are feeling frisky. Last week, a "close adviser" of Michael Ignatieff told Le Devoir the chances were greater than 90 per cent that the Liberals would force an election this fall....There is, however, a big obstacle in the way: Mr. Ignatieff can't force an election by himself. He needs the votes of the New Democrats and the Bloc Québécois to defeat the Conservatives on a vote of no-confidence. In other words, he has to reactivate the coalition with the socialists and separatists against which Canadians reacted so strongly last fall.
Mr. Withers, my Australian born and raised Social Studies teacher way back in Grade 5 taught me something this American born and educated Political Science professor can't seem to grasp. Losing the confidence of the house means the Conservative government falls. It does not mean the Coalition is automatically called upon. As a matter of fact, it is more likely that the GG would accede to an election request, given the length the previous Parliament had sat by that time.
Once more, the PoliSci department and it's Calgary School embarrasses the University of Calgary and justifies the U of C reputation as a second tier institution.
But it is almost the weekend and the weather is very spring-like here. And the Flames played well last night and might even have a chance. So I will give Flanagan the benefit of the doubt and accuse him of being disingenuous rather than just dim.
We are due for another of the bi-weekly efforts to activate the "Base" and keep the donations flowing in. Given that this op-ed was posted at midnight, it still quasi-qualifies as a Thursday piece. This is the only way I can ascribe a coherent purpose to this article. By railing against the imminent fall of the Conservative government, Flanagan deflects the GRR (Gun Registry Rage) the base directed at the Cons two weeks ago. As all good evangelicals know, sometimes you need to distract the flock to keep them mollified and the collection plates full. Perhaps this was Flanagan's purpose. Keep the herd together so they are receptive to the anti-tax message due in 2 weeks. Who knows? Maybe it will be pushed forward to next Thursday.
But if the schedule holds, I will use the off-week to outline the parallels between the Conservative Party and Televangelists.
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It's interesting that Tommy now feels simply voting on the same side as somebody else automatically means you've entered into a coalition with them.
By that logic, there's already a coalition government, because the Liberals and the Conservatives have voted together on things. And because the Libs have on other occasions sided with the NDP and the Bloc, that means that we have a four-party coalition government right now! No opposition at all!
You've got to feel for the man. He's supposed to be a Conservative propagandist operating under academic cover, and they're giving him so little good material to work with.
"He's supposed to be a Conservative propagandist operating under academic cover, and they're giving him so little good material to work with."
A good carpenter doesn't blames his tools. Even though they are real tools.
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