Vancouver King

....and did you notice not a single Canadian flag behind Harper's desk. For shame.

With only 32% favouring Harper's choice of yet another election with the balance favoring some form of coalition or undecided, it becomes obvious the Tory propaganda machine has it's work cut out for it. On this we agree. The most likely scenario now seems to be a proroguation until mid January. While the CPC brings it's formidable resources to a PR battle for this month and half, Liberals could cancel it's effectiveness with a single action: jettisoning Dion as the coalition PM in favor of Michael Ignatieff on the legitimate grounds that a party emergency dictated a caucus vote and chose him as interim leader.

The shock is not Alberta's expected opposition to Dion as PM, it is the near unanimity of it. When was the last time any poll on any political subject measured an 83% response?

First major scientific poll of coalition sentiment. Here is a staggering number: 83% of Albertans don't want Dion heading a coalition. "In the midst of a coalition showdown, Canadians are deeply divided on whether the Conservatives deserve to stay in power, with 35% saying the party should continue to govern and 40% wanting change, according to an Angus Reid Strategies poll for CTV." http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...?hub=TopStories

Such an arrangement would only be appropriate in times of war when the nation's existence hangs in the balance. Tough as it's going to get, the economic downturn simply doesn't measure up. Did you see these two protagonists go at it in the Commons today? Such animosity can't be neutralized. Really, Dobbin this is the craziest idea you have ever floated.

Moonbox, Argus etc. display usual neo-con ignorance by assuming all who favor the NDP are drawing welfare. We recently received an unsolicited offer of $1.2 million for our East Vancouver home and after I finish this little rant, will go to wholesalers to place orders for a retail operation that total more than those two will see in the next year. They are experts though at hurling insults from their bureaucratic perches all the while insulated from the real world, never having to meet a payroll and never losing sleep over the coming economic/retail storm.

We can now add bribery to Harper's legacy. Can crimes against the Canadian people be far behind?

Stephen Harper had the oppourtunity to absorb Quebec? Our pathological PM had the chance to bury a century and a half of painstakingly nurtured cultural duality and he blew it?

Perhaps a continuation of Harper's policy of massive transfers of wealth into the province.

Obtaining only a handful of seats in Western Canada is a given for Liberals just as winning zero seats in the nation's major cities is part of the equation for Tories. My point is Harper risks what is possibly the penultimate nightmare for any govt - attempting to govern without represenation from Quebec. This perennial threat is hollow. We have a permanent separatist fact of life in Quebec, one based on a legitimate foundation of a founding people working to protect their culture and influence in a sea of English. Somehow blue-eyed Arabs, full of themselves through an accident of geography, just can't be taken too seriously. The NDP is doing just fine in this city. My riding passed judgement on Conservative David Emerson and found him and his party wanting.

This statement is the funniest post of the year, next, of course, to your claim of not being a partisan.

What if this Liberal/NDP cozying up leads to every left of center politico's dream - amalgamation of the two parties? A permanent coalition. How many generations of wandering the wasteland would that spell for the CPC?

If the duly elected represenatives of that 63% of voters can form a viable govt that has the confidence of the Commons, then it is legitimate and a preferable option to throwing the nation into another unwanted, expensive election.

strange, I don't feel like an Eastern fascist....

All this knashing of teeth when the object of your political affections is solely responsible for current Tory woes. Maybe it's time to let go and join a draft Jim Prentice campaign.

We can test the coalition without squandering another $300 million. Harper only needs to cross the floor and hand Dion the keys to the treasury. Then we can begin to measure the effectiveness of the new coalition govt.

If Harper's forthcoming anti-coalition campaign includes ads and speeches focusing on the 'scary' Bloc, he risks a Quebec backlash that could eliminate remaining CPC seats in Quebec.

And disregard the wishes of 63% of voters in the last election? I think not.

Lighten up - lol - there is a definite loss of humour among this forum's Tories.

Another timely reference to Liberal PMs. Do you realize Pearson estbalished his reputation without ever leading a majority govt?

NDP's inability to attain national power should be tempered with their record of developing important programs succesfully adopted by the major parties - CPP, medicare etc. As this downturn spirals further down - we are only in the 2nd inning of a 9 inning affair - it is some comfort that cabinet will include ministers sensitive to needs of average working Canadians.

Here's an idea: If Harper publicly promises to have his pathological hatred of Liberals examined by a board of independent psychiatrists, and comes away with a clean bill of health, the coalition disbands.

Good on you that you recall Canada's greatest PM. This contrasts to Harper who will soon be a footnote in the nation's political history.

Have you ever considered writing nursery rhymes?

The rubes in Carrot Creek, Sask. overwhelmingly voted Conservative, and are generally the haters of Liberals/New Democrats, therefore one might assume today, they are fearful.