He was trying desperately to defend the Liberal's position to support the government on this vote (by sitting out or whatever they chose to do) - to the absolute scorn and derision of the NDP.
His logic went somewhat along this line - Stephen Harper is in too solid a position right now. We don't want to have an election and hand him a majority government.
Putting aside for a moment that this gives Harper a virtual majority government, if there were indeed an election and the CPC achieved a majority, wouldn't that be the result of the will of the people?
Is Scott Reid trying to save Canadians from themselves? Do we not know what we are doing?
Thank heavens we have the LPC and Scott Reid to look out for us.
* * * *
Update: Throne speech passes, Liberals abstain from voting. Of course, it might have been a different story if the Liberals' numbers were higher...
Thursday Update:
Casey votes for throne speech.
Tories rebuked on GST - Globe.
And yet, GST cut won't trigger an election, Dion says.
Wow. What will it take, Stephane? Personally, I'm not that crazy about a further GST cut, because Dalton is likely going to use it to raise the PST, as Linda Leatherdale has already explained.
Liberals' 'whipped abstention' preserves minority by the Globe's Jane Taber:
Thursday Update:
Casey votes for throne speech.
Tories rebuked on GST - Globe.
And yet, GST cut won't trigger an election, Dion says.
Wow. What will it take, Stephane? Personally, I'm not that crazy about a further GST cut, because Dalton is likely going to use it to raise the PST, as Linda Leatherdale has already explained.
Liberals' 'whipped abstention' preserves minority by the Globe's Jane Taber:
Liberal MPs were ordered to show up in the House of Commons yesterday but remain in their seats to allow the passage of the Harper government's Throne Speech and to ensure the survival of the minority government.
It was believed to be the first "whipped abstention" in parliamentary history. It is common for party officials to "whip," or tell their caucus how to vote on an issue, but Liberal caucus whip Karen Redman went a step further yesterday by telling Liberal MPs to be present for the vote but not participate.
MPs were not told whether there would be repercussions for disobeying the order, although in the past, MPs of various parties have been denied parliamentary trips or have even been kicked out of their caucus for ignoring a whipped vote.
"I have never heard of it before," said C.E.S. Franks, a professor emeritus of political science at Queen's University, about a whipped abstention. "I think that it sets a precedent and it actually reflects the current state of the Liberal Party. They'll attend, but they'll sit on their hands."
( . . . )
Some good comments here at ASTTR.
In the Liberal caucus yesterday, Ms. Redman told her colleagues: "We've got to stick together. This is a decision that we have made."
Some good comments here at ASTTR.
13 comments:
wouldn't that be the result of the will of the people
Where did all the talk about Ontarians being "lemmings" go?
Ha! No worries. Ontario would still vote Liberal.
Joanne...you are good at this!!
Ried and Fewschuk ... what a pair!
Notice how CBC and CTV just love to give them all the air time they want?
What a pair!
If Scott Reid is the best the MSM can come up with then we've got nothing at all to worry about.
BT - Thanks. :)
Anon, Scott Reid is our secret weapon.
I'm not sure that an election, at this moment, would give Stephen Harper an absolute majority in the Commons. Indeed, while staying a minority government, he'll certainly have more seats. Moreover, I'm sure that Harper's new seats are quite likely to come from Quebec.
I'm sure that Harper's new seats are quite likely to come from Quebec.
Not quite following your whole comment, but I sure do agree with the last line. The CPC and the NDP would divvy up the spoils from the Liberal massacre. Not sure how the Bloc would fare, but I'm thinking not so good.
Anyway, welcome to my blog! Always good to hear from someone new.
The Liberals do private polls and I think they show a disaster waiting to happen. Outside the three Newfoundland seats, there may not be more than two or three other seats that the incumbent Conservatives are in any danger of loosing. And they might be more likely to be lost to the NDP. In Quebec the Bloc has 49 seats. The Conservatives will have much better local campaign teams than at any time since the Kim Campbell disaster. The byelections showed just how insecure both Liberal and Bloc seats are. Ontario is split into two parts. The GTA is ging to remain a Liberal stronghold, but a few ridings may turn orange or even blue as some previous Liberal voters slide left or right. Outside the GTA the Liberals are in trouble in many ridings. In my riding we feel we have gone from third to a close second. From the Ontario border to the west coast many ridings are blue already. There are four vacancies in the House, three out west. If they are filled before the next general election the vote totals will be a good indication of how blue western Canada will when the next election is called.
Until last election the NDP gave the Liberals a free ride whenever the Conservatives looked like they could form a government. With the weakness of the Bloc and Liberals, Layton sees the possibility of living across the street from Harper and getting a lot more air time on TV. I don't think Dion is going to enjoy the leadership debates.
Danny Williams is supposed to be a smart politician. If an election looks like a conservative majority, with a 4 yr mandate, would he really want his province to be on the outside looking in. I doubt it. He would do a flipflop and say NFLD has to be at the table, blah--, therefore, hold your nose and vote conservative.
Swift, interesting analysis. I'm not sure if Layton in Stornoway is a good thing or not.
Did you happen to catch Rex Murphy last night on the National? It's priceless. You can watch it here.
('All whipped up')
Thanks for the link, Joanne. It was even more priceless than the political commentator (I think on Mike Duffy, but I could be wrong) the other night who kept using the phrase, "Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full," to indicate what the Liberal caucus was saying to the government with its surrender, and would continue to say with each additional surrender.
"Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full,"
I saw that too!
Seriously, though, how long can this go on?
"Well, we won't vote against the government because Canadians don't want an election".
But Brian, just wait til they see their numbers go up (if that ever happens). Then suddenly Canadians will want an election!!!
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