Liberal leadership candidate Michael Ignatieff is playing his trump card against his chief rival Bob Rae.
And that card of course, is Rae's disastrous record as Ontario Premier: "Bob remains," said Ignatieff, "enduringly weak in Ontario."
What's more he charged Rae would move the Liberal Party to the left. "That's fishing in the wrong pond. That's the wrong strategy," says Ignatieff.
Now isn't this the same Ignatieff who also proudly desecribes himself as a "left of centre liberal?"
So it looks like the Liberal Party is going to choose as its next leader either a left-winger or a really left-winger.
That's not much of an offering to Canadian voters.
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Your analysis of Bob Rae's policies and beliefs is wrong,
He is on the centre-left of the Canadian political spectrum, and fits well within the wide Liberal Party mainstream values.
The Cat suggests you read some of his speeches at his website, to verify this.
To suggest he is far left is just IggyNonsense.
I also agree with the Cat here, although I disagree that the centre-left is the best place to be. I believe the radical centre is the best spot to be so the Liberals can draw equally from the NDP and Tories. Rae is definitely on the left of the Liberal Party, but not outside of its mainstream nor is he too left wing for a large segment of Canadians. My only concern is it gives Harper more breathing room than someone in the centre would.
Look gentlemen; it seems to me that not only are ALL the candidates for the Liberal leadership left of center but so are ALL political parties in Canada, relative to the American political scene. You have the NDP who are essentially a lost extreme leftwing element of the Liberals; and the Liberals who are the not so extreme leftwing element of the NDP; then you have the Bloq who are radical leftwing statists and finally you have the Conservative party, who despite a temporary shedding of their "red" tory faction, who would I think be considered when one examines the platform as farther left than the Democrats in the US.
I think the NDP and the Liberals should be honest enough to realize that really, they have the same old and wornout 1960s Trudeau-pian vision for Canada; and simply amagamate into one party thereby "uniting" the left .
What do you think?
Anonymous - I would argue that it is the United States as opposed to Canada being further away from the centre. If you take all Western democracies, the NDP is on the left but not far left, while the Liberals are pretty middle of the road (Left wing by American standards, but right wing by European standards) and the Conservatives are right wing but not far right. The Bloc Quebecois are really more than anything a separtist party and although they lean to the left they draw voters from across the spectrum. Most BQ voters are separtists as opposed to leftist or rightist.
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