Bryan

I'm not so sure that's entirely true. Socialism benefits exceptionally lazy people.

Manning certainly is one of the greatest Canadians alive today, he deserves this honor greatly.

I'm sure the NDP has probably got some increased funding, but I'm hearing rumblings that Liberals donations have actually nosedived. Some CPC fundraisers are even claiming that card carrying Liberals are donating money to the Conservatives (according to some pro CPC blogs anyway for whatever their speculations are worth).

I saw one estimate at 300, but most were in the 500-700 range. It was more than 500 for sure. Rae's talk was also inside, with paid union personel posing as "grassroots supporters" complete with their pre-printed signs. The "yes" support is pure astroturf, and the latest polls are proving that out.

The PC party were Liberals wearing blue suits. I particularly disliked Mulroney, even during his leadership race. I supported (and voted for) Turner during that time, because as far as I was concerned, the Liberals were more conservative than the PCs were. The Reform Party's policies were as close to the perfect political party as I could imagine. They were exactly what I would want my utopian government to be. They are the only party that I've been an official member of and donated money to (although I'm probably going to go ahead and donate to the CPC eventually). My support for the Conservatives is nowhere near as strong, because they've moved way too far to the left for my liking in a number of areas.

I was at the pro democracy rally in Winnipeg today. Decent turnout considering it the -30 windchill.

Legal and democratic are not the same thing. The coalition attempt was legal, and within the constitution, but it was absolutely undemocratic.

From what I've been hearing, both donations and party memberships are up significantly in the last couple of weeks.

I'm also a former (and never again) Liberal. The last Liberal leader I supported was Turner. Since then (federally)I've voted Reform--Alliance--Conservative, but never PC.

When I first saw you write these things on this forum, I had not given the idea any thought. But the more I see you say it, the more you have convinced me. Convinced me that whenever people start to think that Harper may have "gone too far", or appears to be hurting his own personal image, that they are missing the point. Harper doesn't care how popular he is. He absolutely does NOT have the lust for power that he's so often accused of, in fact he couldn't care less if he lost the PM or even the leader of the CPC, as long as it furthered the long term goal of eradicating the LPC. Not only have you convinced me that all of the above is true, you've even convinced me that I too need to look at the big picture that way. Time to stop worrying about whether the CPC gets elected, or what the optics of any given scenario are, and just concentrate on making sure maximum damage is inflicted on the LPC. That is now my new outlook on politics. No longer am I about "how does this help Conservatives?" (or even "how does this help me?"), now my primary concern is "how does this hurt Liberals?". Thanks for making things so clear to me.

It won't last more than a couple of weeks before Duceppe double crosses them. No matter what they give him, he'll demand more to keep his vote(s). His demands will make the Rhino party look reasonable in comparison.

Harper won't prorogue. However, those in favor of this coalition of the losers who keep using the excuse that it's legal and constitutional, better understand that if Harper WANTED to play that game, he could do more than they can. Parliament only has to sit once per year. If he wanted to, Harper could suspend parliament until next December and govern for a full year completely unopposed. Again, he'd never do that, but it would be legal and constitutional.

These sites are obviously Liberal disinformation campaigns. Baird? Come on.

What did he push too far? Cutting political welfare? They were the ones giving up the most by proposing it.

The fiscal update that the opposition so strongly opposes already includes record spending on infrastructure, double current levels.

Even back then, the CPC would be strongly in favor of it. Cutting govt funding of political parties is just the right thing to do.

My opinions of the coalition itself aside, Dion as leader is the only choice they reasonably had. Layton got even less support, and the optics of putting someone new in would be even worse.

Exactly. In politics as in poker, the best way to get your opponent to do something stupid is to appear weak when you're actually in a position of strength. The worse this looks for Harper, the more damage the Liberals will inflict on themselves.

He's far from finished. No matter how this all goes down, by this time next year, he'll be the Prime Minister.

It's not quite that simple, but yes he can. He simply wouldn't. The Governor General's role is very complicated. In some ways her role is purely ceremonial, and she holds no real power at all. In other ways, she holds all the power. The PM can replace her, but technically only on her own advice, and on approval of the Monarchy. Even the Monarch's role is mostly ceremonial. They have the authority, but at the same time, they will ALWAYS decide to do what the PM "advises". The PM can also refuse to step down if the GG decides on this coalition. He never would, but he could.

Of course it is. Not just the majority, but further down the road to the complete destruction of the LPC as well. Watch the faces of the CPC MPs. They cannot stop smiling, this is working out even better than they expected.

I can't wait. These idiots are just going to start lighting money on fire and call it "stimulus".

This is awesome. Liberals tying the noose around their own necks.

Don't kid yourself. All Harper had done is give the Liberals a myriad of choices with which to hang themselves: •It passes: Liberals and Bloc are cut off at the knees. •It passes in the house, but the Liberal controlled Senate rejects it: puts Senate reform on the front burner with 12 vacant seats waiting for appointments elections. •It gets defeated, and we go to an election: Electorate punishes the Liberals for being so greedy. •It gets defeated, and the LPC forms a coalition govt: Duceppe punishes the Liberals for trusting him, Electorate punishes the Liberals for being both greedy and stupid. CPC's worst case scenario is to be out of office for a few months to a year, then back with a strong majority and the Liberals dead and gone forever. LPC's best case scenario is to just take it and vote for the bill.

Except that you are in effect charging people to vote. The way it is now, you don't get the choice to vote and/or donate, you're forced to take both. Making funding by direct donation only is more democratic because then all donations are voluntary. You can vote, or donate, or both. Plus you can donate as little or as much as you want (up to the $1100 limit). The CPC already raise more than twice as much money as all the other parties combined, and they have twice as many individual donor than all the other parties combined. They'd been doing online donations long before anyone ever heard of Obama. This is the ultimate win-win issue for the CPC. It's brilliant. If they get it through, it chops both the Liberals and the Bloc off at the knees. If it gets defeated, even better. Any party that forces an election over this will face serious wrath from the electorate.