Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Stephen Harper's Desperate and Horrible Coalition Nightmare
In my last two posts I told you why I believe that Stephen Harper and his monstrous Con regime may have to be brought down by a Great Canadian Coalition.
So Justin Trudeau, Tom Mulcair, and Elizabeth May and their most rabid partisan supporters should at the very least be thinking about it.
Because you can be sure that Stephen Harper is thinking a lot about it these days. It must be keeping him awake at night.
For he surely knows that unless he wins a majority in the next election it's game over.
His party has always thrived without fretting that it doesn’t have a majority on its side..But for Mr. Harper, winning a minority government in 2015 probably isn’t winning at all. This time, opposition parties would face a lot more pressure to oust him quickly.
This will be the year when a minority PM must become a majority man. Or else.
And winning that precious majority won't be easy.
After a decade in power, voters have mostly made up their mind. Only 42 per cent of Canadians would consider voting for his Conservatives, according to a Nanos poll released last week. They are far behind in Atlantic Canada and Quebec, and far ahead in Alberta, so the battle is for a limited number of swing seats, mostly in Ontario.
Which is why he is on a wild spending spree, trying to buy votes with OUR money.
Even if that crazed binge is blowing the surplus, and bloating the deficit.
The federal Conservatives' pre-election promises targeted at families are already starting to take a toll on the country's books. The new income splitting plan and the doubling of the children's fitness tax credit helped create a $3.2 billion deficit in October, according to data released by the Finance Department on Monday. That's twice as fat a deficit than would otherwise have been the case.
At a time when our petro-state economy is tanking.
But there is one thing that must give him hope in the dark night of his soul, when all the voices in his head are screaming at the same time.
And that is that progressives will hand him another bloody majority on a plate, by splitting the vote. Again.
Liberal and NDP operatives tend to tiptoe around a potential split of the progressive vote—though without publicly acknowledging the similarities between the parties. “The Liberal Party must work hard to show a more responsible, more progressive vision for the country,” says Liberal Party communications director Kate Purchase, who says there will be “robust competition between the NDP and the Liberal Party.”
NDP national director Anne McGrath, meanwhile, says the progressive vote can’t be split. “That would imply that the Liberals are a progressive party,” she tells Maclean’s.
Even though their policies are practically indistinguishable, no matter what their stubborn partisans claim. Still they would repeat the same mistake.
This stubborn refusal to yield—in the form of a party merger, or at least a non-aggression pact in key ridings—is a source of frustration amongst many on the left, who see a possible repeat of the 2011 election. That year, the Conservatives were able to secure a majority thanks largely to a split of the centre-left vote in Ontario.
And even though the only thing that counts is defeating the foul Con regime and its depraved leader who are DESTROYING this country. Still their partisanship blinds them.
It’s a head-in-the-sand mentality. Anytime the issue of the two parties cannibalizing the vote comes up, the answer from either is, ‘We’re going to run someone in every riding and win the next majority government,’ ” says Pascal Zamprelli, a former Liberal nomination candidate who volunteers for the party. “Maybe, but it’s unrealistic to think vote-splitting doesn’t hurt.”
Which is why if the parties can't be convinced to do the right thing, or come up with any new and creative approaches.
We must take matters into our own hands.
“We’re basically saying if the parties won’t cooperate before the election, then we are going to organize voters across party lines to defeat conservative candidates,” says Lead Now executive director Jamie Biggar, adding his group has already set up teams in 15 ridings.
Build a massive movement, drag the parties kicking and screaming into the 21st Century. Inspire them to think out of the box, or out of the tired rut of the last century.
And remind them of their sacred mission:
Stephen Harper and his foul, brutish Con regime are threatening the very future of this country.
They must be defeated by whatever democratic means necessary.
And failure is not an option...
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Whenever I mention "voting" to some people, they look at me like I have 2 heads! "Why"? they say. "Only going to be the same ole sh....t"?
ReplyDeleteWhich is when I try my best to convince them that it is their right and responsibility etc. I always push for "educate yourself, pay attention to what is going on, not only in Canada, but around the world"!
Bottom line, I have ONE vote and I will cast it wisely(according to what I have learned). Just hope and pray that I'm NOT duped!
hi Kathleen....Unfortunately it is a bit of a chore to convince some Canadians to vote. But don't give up. Even if you only convince one other person to vote who otherwise wouldn't, you will have done our country a good service. I'm planning to bring at least a dozen of my friends to the polls, even if I have to herd them like cats, or threaten them with a carving knife...;)
Delete.. when you look at Stephen Harper.. and essentially all of his MPs, Senate, PMO.. you are seeing a dull reflection of a great deal of their active 'base' .. What I find very curious is how much of the older base helped turf Brian Mulroney? If this is a new and uglier base that's A-OK with electoral fraud, vote suppression, fawning support of Israel, secrecy, selling out to China, attacks on environment, species and habitat, covering up scandal, obstruction of the courts, incompetant procurement & outright deceit, denial of our Vets..
ReplyDeleteWell then, its obvious that the worst Canadian is managing to bring out the worst aspects of quite a number of Canadians. In short.. Stephen Harper is attracting a large number of political animals, activists, extremists, trolls, pundits, pollsters, PR and spin agents, donors, volunteers, campaigners and tax payer paid staffers who fail seem thrilled to be part of a political party that is also the government & vice versa.
That's a new paradigm Simon.. at least in Canada.. and the very nature of this current Harper Government and its entwined Harper Party needs to be carefully, critically examined and understood. The individuals who have bought in and sold out to this ethically bankrupt movement, as well.
hi salamander...what you say is all true, and unfortunately what happens when a government is allowed to remain in office as long as the Harper Cons have. They have the aura of power, and attract the grubby opportunists like a candle attracts bugs. But as Frank Zappa one said, kiss my aura Dora, we are STILL going to defeat them...
ReplyDelete