04.15.2015 05:28 PM

Sigh

Big sigh.

As many of you guys know, I have actually written a book on the subject of progressives coming together. Notwithstanding that, I am enough of a realist to know that it is unlikely to ever happen – either before the election, or after it.

As such, I don’t know why Trudeau ever fell for answering a hypothetical question. All he needed to say was: “That’s a hypothetical question. I won’t answer it. I will, instead, say that I am working hard to earn the support of every Canadian, and lead a progressive Liberal government that all Canadians can support.”

He didn’t do that. Instead, he gave a very, very smart Conservative leader the perfect opportunity to wave around the “hidden agenda” talking point for the next six months or so. 

Not helpful.

40 Comments

  1. Joe says:

    But Warren he said “Coalition if necessary but no way a coalition” with such dramatic flair it will fool the average voter.

    • Matt says:

      Iggy said “A coalition if necessary, but not necessarily a coalition” with conviction too.

      Didn’t help as I recall.

  2. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Warren,

    Harper is fighting the last war. Trouble is, conditions on the battlefield have changed. The Prime Minister’s theatrics only work if coalition still is an anathema. But it no longer is thanks to Cameron and Clegg.

  3. Kelly says:

    Mulcair will win a minority. Then we’ll see.

    • Gayle says:

      Only if Mulcair retains opposition status and meant it when he said he is open to a coalition.

      The reason Harper won his majority last time was because the vote started coalescing around the NDP, and blue liberals jumped ship to the conservatives. Some people want to get rid of Harper so badly they will vote NDP, but others it seems would prefer Harper. So why would Trudeau want anyone to see the NDP as non threatening by giving them seats in Cabinet? If Mulcair retains opposition status he needs to kill the liberals. Giving them cabinet seats will just keep them alive.

      I think if Harper gets a minority he keeps it, but this time neither the LPC or the NDP will be afraid to bring him down so he is going to have to compromise. my two cents anyway.

      • jeff316 says:

        “The reason Harper won his majority last time was because the vote started coalescing around the NDP, and blue liberals jumped ship to the conservatives. Some people want to get rid of Harper so badly they will vote NDP, but others it seems would prefer Harper.”

        Exactly. So much of the narrative of the last election has focused around the tired old Liberal/NDP “vote splitting” baloney, when a good hard look at the numbers will show a mass defection of Liberal voters to the Conservatives. The Conservatives didn’t win that majority on the backs of people leaving the NDP or Greens.

        • Priyesh says:

          Actually, the real culprit was Liberal turnout.

          Liberals couldn’t bring themselves to vote for Ignatieff, nor could they bring themselves to vote for the Conservatives or the NDP.

          If the NDP surged in Quebec, while the Liberals hung on in Ontario… we might have had a coalition scenario.

  4. Matt says:

    Willingness to suddenly, publicly talk about a coalition make him look like he’s shooting for second place, not the PM’s chair.

  5. gyor says:

    Trudeau should be more worried about upset swing NDP Liberal voters who may start in greater numbers to the NDP.

  6. Matt from Ottawa says:

    I think he’s on the cusp of losing Conservative / Liberal swing voters and Liberal / NDP swing voters, if he hasnt already lost them. His braintrust needs to be re-evaluated (especially a few of them in particular)

    This close to a campaign, I dont think he’s going to fair well. Gaffes aside, his flipflops are showing his lack of conviction and confidence. 2 things that are needed in a leader. Trudeau supporters need to really acknowledge this and not ignore it and throw in positivity. His supporters need to call him out on his missteps and hold him to account, and if they dont as some seem to do, he wont realize it until its too late

    • Elisabeth Lindsay says:

      Be kind to the Trudeau brain trust, Matt, they have never run a National Campaign before, and are seemingly reluctant to consult with the one`s that have.

      BIG problem.

      • DonW says:

        Huge problem, Elisabeth. You are so right. Who is running this LPC Campaign Gong Show? The LPC continues to major in self-inflicted wounds. The Con War Room must be in hysterics. All they have to do is quote JT. The attack ads write themselves. Meanwhile Mulcair is looking better and better if you are not voting Conservative.

  7. e.a.f. says:

    then perhaps the kid isn’t ready for prime time. the press has Trudeau saying it would only happen if Mulcair was out of the picture. If this is actually correct, what Trudea is saying, is Mulcair is too much of an opposition for him to deal with.

    If Trudeau actually made the comment regarding Mulcair, then Trudeau is finished in my books. Like how stupid does he think the NDP are? Get rid of Mulcair so they could join the Liberals???? Better to join Elizabeth May and the Greens.

    • Matt says:

      I think he’s just arrogant enough to think it is his birth right to be PM and expects everyone to step aside and allow him to take what’s his.

      • jeff316 says:

        I think the problem is arrogance – not necessarily about his divine right to lead, but about how the public will react to whatever comes out of his mouth.

        Trudeau’s flubs often occur when the crafted answer doesn’t get the reaction he and his team expected. And then they have no plan B.

        The answer re: Mulcair was the polished one – don’t deny a coalition to turn off those voters, don’t commit to it because it’s not in Trudeau’s best interests, paint someone else as the stumbling block, and sow doubts in the public’s mind about that person’s willingness, reasonability, and political fitness.

        I bet they thought this was a slum-dunk. I think Trudeau and his team were caught off-guard when that response came off as petulant and immature. And then they didn’t know what to say next.

  8. Priyesh says:

    I’m getting more frustrated with the Liberal campaign every day. It seems like his advisors are doing the same dumb triangulation that tanked the party under Ignatieff.

    “Some people hate a coalition. Some people want a coalition. Here’s a consultant-driven idea that’s designed to please both sides, and will instead frustrate the pro-coalition people, and scare the anti-coalition people.”

    See also: bill 51, pipelines

    • Brammer says:

      Trudeau’s quick support for C-51 sticks in my craw. It reminds me of Bob Rae shrugging his shoulders and saying “we’re okay with that” (Afghan war extension).

      A coalition with Mulcair as leader is looking more attractive.

    • chuckercanuck says:

      My favorite part of Mommy Trudeau’s comments are:

      1) He should be PM because he’s a natural leader. Proof: he led all his younger siblings in the games they played.

      2) She hates, hates, hates tearing people down but she describes the merger of the PCs and Canadian Alliance with derision.

      Also, the latest major insult of a political leader came from….. Boy Trudeau re: Mulcair. Did Mommy Trudeau call Boy Trudeau up and say, “its bullying to say you’d work with the NDP but only if they got rid of Mulcair”?

  9. King Prick says:

    Politics is shite. We all can agree on that. What’s worse than that though is the fact that only the worst of our society seem to wind up as parliamentarians. The shameless. The egoists. The idiots. The assholes. These are all that we have to vote for. Trudeau said something else that was stupid. What’s it prove? It proves that he’s not a man that makes good choices for himself. Now, I ask: why would he be a solid candidate to make a good choice for an entire country let alone for an MP?

    I’ll tell you why, it’s because he’s filled with ego and asshole. Same with Harper, Mulcair and May. Shameless, all of them. Publicity hounds and nothing more.

    This is part of the reason that I for one, encourage everyone to run for political office. If we can’t change our minds about who to vote for, we’ll never change anything.

    The problem with politics and politicians is that they’ll do all they can to try and scare away the average working Joe from submitting his name or having to face him in a debate. Politicians by and large are cowards. Don’t believe me then ask yourself why they hide behind talking points. Did Jean Marchand, Gerard Pelltier, Pierre Trudeau, Marc Lalonde hide behind talking points like Harper’s milquetoast Conservatives or today’s milquetoast Liberals. Not a chance. They had a voice and intellect and vision. Even Rene Levesque did more for Canada than our current spate of hapless morons from coast to coast. (Sorry Warren but Justin doesn’t have it. Intellect, I mean. He’s got nice hair but I don’t even think he could sell shampoo.)

    Politics could be good again but in order to change it, we have to change how we feel about running. I maintain that it’s more important to have a say then to cast a ballot. Casting a ballot every four years is just a nice way of big business and poor government to fool us into believing that you actually matter when they really don’t give a shit about you, me, the disenfranchised, the economy, the infrastructure or the image of our nation.

    Politics is about power and winning, it’s no longer about “doing good” or “doing what’s best.” So, until we start paying our deposits to sit on the same stage and debate the issues with cattle like the Joe Oliver’s, the Eve Adams, or any other sitting politician, we’re doomed.

    Over the past years and particularly under Stephen Harper, it’s become quite clear that the only reason any MP has a job in Ottawa is that they are 100% unemployable anyplace else. It’s time to call them out on their shit talking points and in my mind, the price of admission is well worth it. A 1000 dollar deposit to hold them to account and pepper them with questions, is worth pennies per hour. You may not win an election but it sure can’t hurt to stand up and say your piece and that’s what’s great about our system of government. You CAN have a say. They just don’t want you to believe it.

    There isn’t a person reading this on warrenkinsella.com who couldn’t do a better job than what Trudeau is doing now. Oh, how I long for Stephane Dion.

    • KenzoS says:

      This is perhaps one of the best comments I’ve ever read on a comments board. Which given the low bar may come off as a backhanded compliment…but, still.

    • sezme says:

      Funny, I was just thinking how 90% of the LPC’s current problems started when they didn’t have the moral courage to support Stephan Dion, a man with actual humility and intelligence, a man who was bullied mercilessly by the CPC and then by his own party, but a man who would have made a great PM.

      Justin Trudeau? Pffft. Lightweight!

      • aggo says:

        The Liberals’ problems started long before Dion became leader.

        • sezme says:

          There were undeniably problems when Martin and his people undermined Chretien, but Martin left when he lost and Dion could have been the Party’s healer. When he was turfed it demonstrated to the nation that Martin/Chretien wasn’t about two people, it was about a party that refused to come together and that it had stopped believing in steak, just sizzle.

          I don’t think Justin Trudeau is a bad guy, but like Iggy before him, he doesn’t understand that his role and his maximum ability in politics is to be an empty suit.

          And that’s just about enough metaphors mixed for one day.

  10. doconnor says:

    Also all questions to politicians are hypothetical. Not answering because it is hypothetical is a BS reason often used to supposedly prevent BS attacks from the other side.

    Fortunately he answered and we now know a Liberal vote is a Conservative vote because he is saying he will support the Conservatives in a minority government (om much more likely, he will break his promise).

    • King Prick says:

      I’ll never understand why Liberals have such a hard time reconciling with the fact that today’s Liberal Party is Joe Clarke’s Progressive Conservative Party. They’re just better at lying and being full of shit.

  11. Mark says:

    Trudeau lost me six months ago, and this former staunch Liberal might be spoiling his ballot.

  12. debs says:

    I still like Mulcair, I think the libs should kick out trudeau and ask him to run both ndp and libs and just call it the get rid of harper party

  13. Bill says:

    Trudeau is young, inexperienced, gaffe prone, etc…

    Then I look at Harper.

    I’ll be voting Trudeau, warts and all.

  14. socks clinton says:

    Progressives working together? They fight more amongst themselves then they do with the evil Right.

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