Thursday, July 23, 2009

Michael Ignatieff Displays Dionesque Timing....

Well, after much speculation about Iggy's whereabouts, it appears he has finally reappeared. Rumors swirled about the missing Liberal leader, ranging from him staying at his villa in France, to being assisting O.J. Simpson find the real killers. Or perhaps he just needed some alone time to get over the death of a pop icon. Regardless, Iggy's timing today adds more credence to him being another Stephane Dion, albeit one who can actually speak english.

Ignatieff chose today to come out with criticism about PM Harper not being serious about EI reforms. The first problem with that is that Ignatieff himself huffed and puffed about forcing a summer election if the PM never capitulated to his demands , then quickly backtracked when his bluff was called. If Dion was the boy who called wolf, Ignatieff appears to be doing more sequels to that than the Halloween movies, with the EI caper being part 6 or 7.

But what makes Ignatieff's remarks today ridiculous is the fact it comes on the heels of the Bank of Canada, Conference Board of Canada, heads of RBC and BMO, among many others, reporting in the last week that Canada has turned the corner on the economic downturn, with the economy now beginning to grow, rather than the predicted contracting, and growth being pegged around 3% next year. With growth comes jobs. House sales up sharply. Auto sales also up. Ford posts a Q2 profit. Does Iggy really want to start crying wolf about forcing an election again, when all economic indicators appear to be heading in the right direction? Of course it's even more boggling that nobody that is a supposed msm journalist thought to ask Iggy about all the great economic news of the last week.

As it stands, it appears the perfect storm is beginning to brew, with Ignatieff and his Liberal Party looking at another election defeat. Recent polls indicate that Canadian's now widely favor a majority government in the next election. Tie that in with a rebounding economy, one that was predicted by both the PM and finance minister. Most Canadian's I talk to are feeling pretty good about themselves and the economy. As the economy worsened, so did Conservative polling numbers. And following that pattern, the momentum has switched back from Ignatieff to Harper in recent months.

It appears Liberal strategist Warren Kinsella was right. Liberal's should have forced an election before the summer recess, and that a growing economy would lead to a resurgent Conservative Party. Which begs the question, why have a supposed top-notch strategist, when you don't take his advice? Perhaps it's because Iggy already had summer plans, which would explain his absence for the last little while. I guess someone from Harvard doesn't think politics and elections should get in the way of a politicians excellent summer adventure.

17 comments:

Joanne (True Blue) said...

With the polling so close, nobody is going to want an election anytime soon.

Which begs the question - Will Iggy be content to be #2 for the indefinite future? Je pense que non.

Bec said...

Maybe he will attend the kayak trip afterall and the participants can suggest the 'vacation of a lifetime' as the grande finale.... a good old fashioned oak barrel RIDE, down Niagra Falls!.... hmmm

Anonymous said...

Screw the unemployed. It is unconservative to give EI, CPP etc.

KURSK said...

Is that you Warman?

djb said...

You called Catsella a "top-notch strategist"?

I just threw up in my mouth a little bit...

Bec said...

"Screw the unemployed."

Someone needs a history lesson......now sit here beside me and let me tell you about the 90's and how the government at the time.....

paulsstuff said...

Zing, Zing, and Ziiiiiiiing:0)

Joanne (True Blue) said...

Is that you Warman?

Kursk that was brilliant.

Anonymous said...

But you can rely on The National to give Ignatieff free puff pieces. A whole segment on how he is defending Canada's health system under attack by American ads and PM Harper is doing nothing.

paulsstuff said...

On June 23, 2007, the Toronto Star reported that Stronach had been diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ, a form of breast cancer, in April 2007, and had undergone a mastectomy on June 19 in an undisclosed Toronto hospital. [4]

According to a September 14, 2007 article from CTV News, Stronach travelled to the United States for breast cancer surgery in June 2007. According to the article, Stronach's spokesperson Greg MacEachern said that the hospital in the United States was the best place to have this type of surgery done. The article also says that Stronach paid for the surgery out of her own pocket.[

Anonymous said...

Ignatieff was talking to Environmentalists all week.....where is Harper?

wilson said...

Funny the media isn't asking 'where's Harper', unless of course they know where he is.

Iffy only gets one crack at winning, because of his age and the fowl mood the Libs are in.

Had he not backed down, all this good econominc news would be landing mid election, making Libs doom and gloom blame game campaign look silly.

So now Iffy actually has to present a plan,
with policies,
and not back down.
Repackaging the Green Shift and public daycare takes time.

That meeting of all the brainiacs Iffy was putting together got postponed....so i guess it's just Travers, Oliver and Fife, oh yah, and Spinsella, giving Iffy advice.

Or maybe Iffy will just take the easy road, phone up Jack and Gilles, and revive
the Coalition of Losers,
as actually having to win an election may be just too much work for such a gamble.

Bec said...

"Ignatieff was talking to Environmentalists all week"

About what,organic wine?

"....where is Harper?"

The Prime Minister, could be on a space shuttle to all the planets and the Canadian media would have him doing a 'space walk bathroom break'.

paulm said...

I know for a fact that the Prime Minister, as well as Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Americas, Peter Kent, have been very involved in the situation in Honduras, and the ongoing negotiations to resolve the political powderkeg there in the past several days.

Hey, its not a baby kissing presser, but it will have to do.

Tarkwell Robotico said...

he, he, I loved the OJ line but I can tell you, since I've been busy hunting down the real killer, Iggy wasn't helping us with that....

the mystery continues!

Anonymous said...

It´s summer recess but Prof. Iggy must be grading summer school papers to get ready for the fall session to report on the Conservative so-named probation status. Oh that´s right, no one fails in Iggy´s peer reviewed classroom. For the absent-in-mind Prof. that would also include a Conservative majority government. Time to put IggyPop out to pasture with his same old same old tired politicizing and demonizing. We. Are. Tired. Of. It.
Theresa

Anonymous said...

It´s summer recess but Prof. Iggy must be grading summer school papers to get ready for the fall session to report on the Conservative so-named probation status. Oh that´s right, no one fails in Iggy´s peer reviewed classroom. For the absent-in-mind Prof. that would also include a Conservative majority government. Time to put IggyPop out to pasture with his same old same old tired politicizing and demonizing. We. Are. Tired. Of. It.
Theresa