With Parliament prorogued (put on hold) until the new year, PM Stephen Harper's job is saved for the time being. And perhaps longer than that. There are already rumors and whispers that the Liberals are going to crack apart over the thing, especially considering the dubious quality of Stephane Dion's response speech yesterday.
(Nobody on his staff, apparently, had access to a broadcast-quality camera. So he ended up putting out what amounted to a YouTube video.)
I don't think this is good, but I sympathize with Canada's governor general, Michaelle Jean, who was put in an impossible situation over this. She may have made the only choice available to her, and it's the job of the opposition to make Harper wear it.
I do think, though, that the Liberals are missing something. Whether or not any individual Liberal supports the Coalition or not, they're all going to wear it on election day. Paul Martin showed that you can't distance yourself from your party's past, so I'm shocked that Michael Ignatieff is making obvious moves to distance himself from this situation. It won't help him win over angry Conservatives, and it certainly won't bolster his already-poor reputation among Canadian progressives. It's political gibberish.
(Well, fine, political gibberish from Ignatieff isn't exactly "shocking" per se.)
Oh, and speaking of gibberish, check out Bloggin' Tory Stephen Taylor over at Macleans. Their site was one of the better places for discussion of Canadian politics, since the Globe requires a ream of personal information, the Star is dull as dishwater, the CBC plays host to roaming packs of howler monkeys and the National Post's commentariat are just mad.
But, as is usually the case, a magazine has brought some bleating conservative idiot on board, and now he'll ruin everything.
Ah well, I'll just go back to complaining about Obama's cabinet picks.
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