What Ails The Liberals?

[kengs333]

Mocking Protesters! OMG! Nooooooo!

Chretien would have throttled them....

Actually, I think given the circumstances it was pretty insensitive what he said. Ontario has lost how many manufacturing jobs since Harper has been in power? He doesn't care, because he's cozy with Big Business and only views the economy in terms of numbers.

[Canadian Blue]

I've got nothing against corporations per se, in fact I own one, I'd just rather they receive their charters from the municipalities and regional districts they operate in. I want my community to ensure its own interests are taken into consideration and that the surrounding ecosystems they depend on for their livelihoods are protected for future generations, not Ottawa or Victoria. They can look after their own region's interests themselves and leave us to look after ours.

I think socialism failed when the Berlin Wall fell.

Actually, I think given the circumstances it was pretty insensitive what he said.

Which was what exactly. Let me give you a hint, at the end of the 19th Century the lionshare of jobs in this country were in farming/agriculture, by the end of the 20th Century that number was in the single digits. As the economy and technology progress some jobs will become obsolete or replaced by technology, and that labour will need to find a new means to get capital.

Now the reason why many of the factories over in Asia are doing so well is due to the lack of unions. The fact is that while many Unions were getting rich and funding left wing ad campaigns, the factories were slowly becoming more and more unprofitable. The end result is lost jobs. Now if Ontario actually cut corporate taxes, then more investors would probably invest in the province. But until that time no government subsidies will do much of anything for the economy.

Ontario has lost how many manufacturing jobs since Harper has been in power? He doesn't care, because he's cozy with Big Business and only views the economy in terms of numbers.

You mean he's cozy with the free market, which I think is preferable to being cozy with statism. I prefer a government that realizes it can't fix all the country's economic problems by simply throwing money at it.

[August1991]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...5/BNStory/Front

This in a nut shell is why the Liberals will not do well October 4th. Canadians as a whole massively reject the left wiong alternatives and the liberals today seem to want to compete against the Greens and the NDP for the <20% who are attracted to the left wing....

What the Liberals need to do after this election is to find another Roy McLaren who has serious business and financial credibility and can manage an economy like Canada's.

Morris, as much as I respect you, the G&M article and this thread are very much Ontario concerns, if not concerns of Toronto. Outside of Toronto, opinions of the Liberal Party are different.

If the Liberals found a Roy McLaren, they would still be in the same position as they are now - in fact, their position might be worse.

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Chretien had the advantage of facing a divided opposition. Following Mulroney, Harper has created a viable coalition of Westerners, Quebecers outside Montreal and non-urbanite people in Ontario. The main feature of these people is that they live in civilized communities and they know that Canada is a civilized country.

The Liberals can pray that Harper tries to bring Quebec into the constitution by rolling the die.

IOW, the problem of the Liberal Party is far more than Left/Right ideology. The days of Trudeau and his 74 seats in Quebec are long gone.

[jdobbin]

If the Liberals found a Roy McLaren, they would still be in the same position as they are now - in fact, their position might be worse.

The fact is that someone like MacLaren didn't seem interested in leadership. He wasn't the best campaigner either, once losing his seat in a general election.

I don't know what organization he might have been able to put into place had he decided to run.

[scribblet]

Dion should make more use of Bob Rae and other well known Liberals, but he isn't. Maybe he puts his own leadership ahead of the party political fortunes.

[Moonbox]

Dion should make more use of Bob Rae and other well known Liberals, but he isn't. Maybe he puts his own leadership ahead of the party political fortunes.

When I think Bob Rae, I think, "Worst Premier of Ontario EVER" and so does most of the rest of Ontario. Rae recorded Ontario's biggest deficit of its history and he did this before the federal liberals cut transfer payments to the provinces. I'm pretty sure that Ontario will remember how he and his NDP screwed the province over and killed the NDP provincially ever since.

[M.Dancer]

Morris, as much as I respect you, the G&M article and this thread are very much Ontario concerns, if not concerns of Toronto. Outside of Toronto, opinions of the Liberal Party are different.

If the Liberals found a Roy McLaren, they would still be in the same position as they are now - in fact, their position might be worse.

I certainly wasn't saying that someone Like Roy be the leader....just that they need policies that will attract business intelligent business leaders to the party, something Mclaren was in spades.