Monday, December 08, 2008

New Alignments?

Here's what I would like to see unfold.

First, Bob Rae and his left-wing Liberal supporters, angry at getting cut out of their party's leadership sweepstakes, join forces with the NDP and Bloc Quebecois to form a new "Progressive Coalition Party".

Then, the Michael Ignatieff-led Liberals, fearful of becoming a splinter party, decide to join the Conservative Party.

We would then have a two party system, which would certainly make setting up debate formats during elections a lot easier.

11 comments:

Fitter said...

Right on! A two party system would make us look like a real country instead of a banana repupblic.

Jeff in Calgary said...

Interesting thought, but rather doubtfull. Bob and his crew are the splinter fringe of the Liberals, possible acctualy NDP opratives put into the Liberal party to attempt a coup.

Bec said...

Not a chance for my sensibilities.

Can you imagine the power grab, with the ego's in the current group of Liberals? UGGGLY!

Babylonian777 said...

We shouldn't let ourselves get watered down. I would rather work with them, but not have them join.

Anonymous said...

I think that it's a good idea too. Vetting their voting performance and where they stood on issues would be a help in making the decision to admit or not.

In such a case, what would we do with the good men and women that are Conservatives and did not get elected, because a Liberal did?

Pat

L said...

I think we still need three:
1)left wingys
2)fake conservatives who swing a bit lefty sometimes(Liberals)
3)the real party: CPC

We can NEVER afford the left!!!

Anonymous said...

Close, but not quite there.

When a party breaks up one faction will create a new name for itself to demonstrate that they are indeed a new party and not a faction of the old one. While the remainder of the old party will grudgingly cling to its entitlement to be the one and only true grand old institution.

Rae and his gaggle of far left MP's will join with Layton and the NDP to form something which may or may not be called the Liberal Democrats, they may take most if not all of the QYL with them as this faction will be the ones openly calling for a coalition with the Bloc as junior partners. Iggy will retain whats left under the liberal name.

The real show of course is if this happens both parties are going to be doing everything they can to get Prince Justin to join their caucus to show they are the legitimate heirs to the so-called liberal tradition.

Roy Eappen said...

Geryy, that is pretty much what Stephen Harper has done. There is a left right alignment now. The coalition will winnow out anyone with a bit of economic sense.

Anonymous said...

If the conservative party gets any more progressive it's going to split up again.

Anonymous said...

Bob Rae the King of Queers is the real father of Three Stooges Rebellion

Capital Xtra
Where Queers Conspire


http://www.xtra.ca/blog/ottawa/
Bringing sexy back to the Parliamentary Press Gallery, Dale Smith gives you what you need to know about what's going on in politics.

Thursday, November 27, 2008
Where have all the gay MPs gone?
Last evening, I was invited to a Wonderful Wednesday being hosted by the fledgling Fierté Liberal Pride network (whom you'll be hearing more about in the near future). And it while a fun time was had by all, none of the gay MPs showed up.
That's not to say that there wasn't a good turnout. Early in the evening, a bunch of MPs showed up, including Carolyn Bennett, Siobhan Coady, Anita Neville, and Mike Savage. Rounding out the first wave were Senator Art Eggleton, and former MPs Don Boudria and Sheila Copps. Hedy Fry's assistant made her apologies, saying that Hedy had House Duty and was thus in the Commons and unable to attend. But where were Scott Brison, Mario Silva or Rob Oliphant? I couldn't a clear answer to those questions.
Bob Rae turned up, and while talking to me, has promised Xtra a full-frontal centrefold spread - to complement his now infamous Rick Mercer exploit. I didn't even have to ask - he volunteered! Rae talked about how much he's learned from his Toronto Centre constituents, and on a more serious note, he's looking forward to sitting down with me in the near future to talk about GLBT issues in the context of his bid for party leadership. I'm going to hold him to that promise.
When the president of Fierté Liberal Pride, Bryn Hendricks, took the microphone to thank everyone for showing up, he spoke about the importance for Liberals to reclaim the GLBT vote, pointing out that in the 2004 election, lesbians disproportionately voted NDP. When he passed the microphone to Sheila Copps (whose birthday it happens to be today, so here's a shout out to you), she spoke about how the Liberals not highlighting their accomplishments when it comes to GLBT issues, they're not doing themselves any favours. Copps was also instrumental in helping Hendricks get the organisation off its feet, and they are now looking to set up chapters in every riding across the country.
While most of the MPs took off early for other engagements (a full social calendar has been compressed into four weeks, and there is a fall economic update tomorrow that rumour has it could spell doom for the Liberal party), a few turned up later in the evening, including Martha Hall Findlay and Gerard Kennedy. But if there was one image that stuck with me as I left, it was that the characterisation of a "velvet mafia" operating on the Hill with all those gay and lesbian staffers can't be too far from the truth.
(Oh, and Suite 34, the venue for the evening's festivities - a big thumbs down for running out of red wine. Seriously? You may have had hot boys behind the bar, but your shocking lapse in judgement when it comes to stocking your bar leaves much to be desired).

===========================
Must read:
http://www.xtra.ca/public/Ottawa/Can_we_trip_Harper-5752.aspx
Can we trip Harper?
ANALYSIS / Tactics available to gays in the next Parliament
Marcus McCann / National / Tuesday, October 28, 2008….
http://www.xtra.ca/public/Toronto/Election_forum_shows_anger_fear-5594.aspx
Election forum shows anger, fear
ELECTION 2008 / No clear strategy emerges for stopping Harper
Krishna Rau, video report by Micheal Pihach / Toronto / Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Anonymous said...

Just In. Bob Rae pulls out