Thoughtful coalition post

…not by me, but by regular reader Tim.  What do you think of what he has to say?  After what has happened in the U.K. in recent days – and after no less than Stephen Harper did the same thing a few years back – is unity the way forward?

Feel free to comment.  I’ve been thinking about this a lot, lately.

***

Warren:

You will campaign, and fail again, to form a stand-alone Liberal government.

Until progressives arrive at the same difficult but necessary decision conservatives did in the 2000s, namely that their narcissistic small differences are less important than fielding a political force capable of winning power nationally, the Tories will win by default. You won a bunch of really easy elections in the 1990s in just the same fashion, Warren. It’s not a coincidence it took the unified right exactly one full election cycle to win power once McKay broke his promise to the PC base and allowed the once-proud party of Sir John A. to be subsumed by the radical Western right.

You just can’t have one half of the ideological spectrum divided 3 ways in English Canada and four ways – if one includes the Bloc – in Québec. Our dysfunctional electoral system simply doesn’t permit it. When you also factor in the massive, permanent cash advantage the Sorries enjoy, their complete partisan control of much of the mainstream media, and their ruthless style of politics, the picture becomes even grimmer.

I’m not even necessarily calling for a merger or formal coalition, but the mentality in both camps MUST change. This is a fundamental prerequisite for any real change in this country.

The days of Liberals laughably calling the NDP ‘irrelevant’ when it wins nearly 3 million votes each election and holds seats, including relatively secure bastions where strong MPs are firmly ensconced, in every single region of the country, in Montréal and Alberta and across Ontario is an offensive joke. Similarly, the days of New Democrats farcically portraying the Liberals as reactionary criminals who’ve accomplished nothing for Canada – suggesting that they’re no different from the Tories must end.

Both are crude, counter-productive and frankly, inaccurate stereotypes. Both parties have contributed in different but immeasurably valuable ways to this country and its evolution. It’s the compassionate society that our respective heroes and heroines, be it McPhail or King, Douglas or Trudeau, Broadbent or Chretien, built together which are under sustained and increasingly effective attack by this Government each and every day.

Politics is a competitive business, and when you’re fishing in the same pool there’s sure to be conflict. I for one, though I am proud of my own party, am damn sick of sniping at other progressives over petty bullshit rather than working towards a government which can actually deliver on the tremendous and enduring promise of this nation, a goal which comes to seem less attainable every day Harper remains in office.

If there’s no mandate to even talk, there should be.

Think of it this way: both Liberals and New Democrats love to secretly envision themselves as inheriting the Canadian mantle of Obama. Thusly, Grits say: ‘clearly we’re Obama. We’ve won national power and, like the Clinton democrats delivered moderate and effective progressive government which cut spending but preserved the most important social programs people need.’

New Democrats, by contrast, think: ‘clearly I am the the Obama. We’re about real change and putting ideas on the agenda which wouldn’t otherwise be there on behalf of interests which wouldn’t otherwise have a voice. We fought the great battles for health care, women’s rights, choice and secure public pensions before it was popular. We’re outsiders who promise to shake up a patently crooked system and deliver change.’

The division between experienced establishment Democrats, represented by Hillary, and outsider insurgent Democrats, represented by Obama in the 2008 nomination fight closely mirrors the divide between Liberals and New Democrats today. They fought it out on experience. They clashed on the issues. They even got personal. At its worst, it was downright nasty.

But once grassroots progressive finally endorsed President Obama’s candidacy, by democratic means, they all focused on what matters: fielding the best possible candidate and winning the national power needed to enact a progressive agenda conducive to the interests of an embattled middle class and the restoration of America’s proud voice in the world. They’re not perfect but imagine the alternative. (read: Palin)

I recognize the differences between our systems and political cultures, but the fundamental analogy holds: if Clinton and Obama, offended as their considerable sensibilities may have been after a bitter nomination fight, had committed to working at direct cross purposes throughout the actual campaign, President Obama would be unemployed and Republicans would still control the White House. No health care reform. No controls on corporate greed. No accountability for BP (debatable anyway.) But they realized the nation’s interest transcended their narrow political interests and personal vanity.

Sorry for the interminable rant, but these questions have weighed heavily on me of late. I know progressive Canadians around the country feel the same way. I close by suggesting there’s a reason Tory hysteria reaches its highest crescendo when talk of coalitions and purposeful cooperation on behalf of the Canadian people arises: it’s because this is what they fear most, and what alone can politically destroy them.

Thx, WK

UPDATE: I’m with Rae. All the way.


Coalitions, talking points, and missing opportunities to maintain a dignified silence

You know, I’ve read this thing a number of times, and looked at it from every conceivable angle, and I still can’t see why it was necessary to add that sentence in the first bullet, the one in bold.  In fact, I don’t see why it was necessary to issue the entire document. Politics 101: don’t comment on hypotheticals.

Also: Pour faire de l’histoire, il faut savoir compter.

Talking Points:
Conservative coalition fear-mongering

ISSUE

•    The Harper Conservatives are trying to change the channel from their skyrocketing G8/G20 summit costs by resurrecting a bogus coalition boogie-man.

KEY MESSAGES

•    Liberals will campaign to form a Liberal government. We aren’t interested in coalitions.

•    This accusation is rich coming from Stephen Harper, who signed a letter with Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe in 2004 offering to form a Conservative-Bloc-NDP coalition government.

•    As former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien confirmed yesterday, there are no coalition talks, no mandate for negotiation, and no negotiating taking place.

•    Something the Harper Conservatives just don’t understand is that parties in Parliament can work together – without forming a coalition.

•    The Conservatives have even attacked David McGuinty for suggesting that parties in Parliament “should be working together to put the interests of the Canadian people first.”

•    The Conservatives think that parties in Parliament should not work together, and would rather put Conservative Party interests before the interests of Canadians.



On The Mark

A couple nice young fellows from The Mark came by to interview me a few days ago.  Their interview went up yesterday, whilst I was in Ottawa for the Chretien portrait event.

They’ve brooken it up in two segments, on “wedge politics” and the Ignatieff dinner in Toronto.


Chrétien-related bits and pieces

  • Stephen Harper has “grit”? Barf me with a spoon.  Chrétien won – over and over – because the people liked him (and majority-less Harper, mostly, they don’t).  He won because people trusted him (Harper, mostly, they don’t).  He won because he knew Canadian values (Harper – on issues like invading Iraq, abortion, accountability, environment, culture, democracy,  and stuff like prorogation – doesn’t).  He won because he loved Canada, and average Canadians, too (Harper, the tired Tim Hortons pretence to the contrary, can’t even say he loves Canada).  And so on.
  • Alberta Libs have the Big Mo. They do, they do.  And my former editor Gillian – who was one of the best bosses I ever had (most were women, too) – is wrong.  With the right-wing fracturing in two, my home province’s Grits can take advantage of that, just like Chrétien did in 1993.  I’m not necessarily saying they’ll win – but I am saying (and said at their convention, last week) that they can hugely benefit from the right-wing split.
  • Liberal leadership: I think Harris’ story is overstated.  He contacted me last week, and asked me what I thought Michael Ignatieff would think about that Ekos poll.  I said:  “I don’t think it will make him very happy.”  (I state the obvious.  Guilty as charged.) I have also told whomever would listen that Opposition – for Chrétien, for McGuinty, for Harper – completely, totally sucked. All three had unhappy times on the Opposition benches, and all three were written off by the media as well as elements within their own parties.  But all three ended up doing okay, didn’t they?
  • Chrétien and Harper! As critical as I have been of Stephen Harper – and, frankly, that’s kind of predictable as long as I am obliged to sue him and his party for libel (and as predictable as it is that I’m going to win) – it is very nice of him to participate in the aforementioned hanging of Jean Chrétien.  (And I’ll go out on a limb, and bet he jokes about that!)  See you this afternoon in Ottawa.

On the way to Ottawa

I’ll be seeing some of these guys tomorrow, at the unveiling of The Bosses’ portrait. Left to right: Romeo Leblanc, Joan Lajeunesse, Randy McCauley, Marc Laframboise, Bruce Hartley and me, October 1993. Photo by Carisse, bien sur.


Interesting Tweet

I like it.

“@natnewswatch: Coalition soldiers Chretien and Broadbent reportedly holding talks… according to Chantal Hebert #cdnpoli”


Happy happy

Me and my boys are up at the cabin. The weather is just amazing. We’ve watched ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,’ which is a documentary about my middle son.

Here is a scene which is engineered to make every human smile. Have a good one!

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