"Coalition would have caused a great divide"

[Keepitsimple]

For all those coalition supporters out there who thought it was a great idea......here's some words from Michael Ignatieff....although we didn't hear this from him when he signed on to support it. Why did he not stand on principle and refuse to sign. What does all this really say about the Liberal Party.....guided by the backroom power brokers......that they were willing to sell the country down the river to regain power?

Coalition government would have caused a 'divide'

TheStar.com - Canada - Coalition government would have caused a 'divide'

Proposed alliance with NDP would have split country, Ignatieff says

May 11, 2009

Jessica Murphy

THE CANADIAN PRESS

MONTREAL – If the proposed coalition of opposition parties had come to power last year it would have deeply and enduringly divided Canadians, says Michael Ignatieff.

In Montreal yesterday to promote his most recent book, True Patriot Love, the federal Liberal leader also said the coalition came at a time when his party's right to govern would have been called into question after one of its worst election results in its history.

The Liberals lost 19 seats and captured just 26 per cent of the vote in last October's federal election.

"I'm in politics to unify people, not to divide them," Ignatieff said. "There was also a question concerning the legitimacy of the coalition that troubled me."

Link: http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/632201

Edited May 12, 2009 by Keepitsimple

[Molly]

The coalition was not a great thing.

Voting confidence in the piece of crap on offer was worse by far.

An election was a very bad idea, too.

He chose the least awful option. (And Harper and clan are the ones who created that choice between bad, worse, and completely unacceptable.)

[Machjo]

This is not a uniquely Liberal thing. It seems all parties, including His Holiness the Harper's party, react the same way. Last election, the Greens were already starting to show signs of the same corruption, and they were only at 10% in the polls.

Really, is it even worth voting anymore?

[jdobbin]

Why did he not stand on principle and refuse to sign. What does all this really say about the Liberal Party.....guided by the backroom power brokers......that they were willing to sell the country down the river to regain power?

Harper was willing to continue his gameplaying until the issue of confidence came up and hit him right on the nose.

The Tories will going to call an election before May just so they could face Dion again. Harper can try to blame Ignatieff all he wants but then he has to take blame for creating the situation in the first place. In that battle, he seems to be coming off a little worse.

[kimmy]

The fact that he recognizes it would have deeply divided the country shows that Ignatieff is a far more sensible man than his oblivious predecessor and his NDP counterpart.

The country would have never recovered from the coalition, had it come to pass.

-k

[Keepitsimple]

The fact that he recognizes it would have deeply divided the country shows that Ignatieff is a far more sensible man than his oblivious predecessor and his NDP counterpart.

The country would have never recovered from the coalition, had it come to pass.

-k

Pretty naive.....do you really think that Dion decided to push the coalition on his own? Preposterous. He was guided by the same backroom boys who coerced Mr. Ignatieff to come back to Canada. That's the scary thing about the Liberals.....there has always been a power-first coven of old-boys lurking in the shadows, pulling the strings. At least with Harper, you know exactly what you get.....you might not like it - but he's the guy who was voted in - and he's the guy who calls the shots. Oh yes, and he's also the guy who's elected by Conservative party members where everyone gets to vote.

[Cuzzin E]

I get the impression Ignatieff takes the public for a bunch of illiterate sloths. Does he really expect us to forget him signing the coalition and standing up there with Bob Rae defending it? And now that he comes out and says it would be illegitimate, we are supposed to take this as gospel and forget the past? This is sleazy and incredibly dishonest. Not the kind of change we need.

If he came out and said he made a mistake, and after much thought he now realizes the coalition wasn't a good idea, then that would be acceptable. He is defining himself better than any tory attack ads could dream of with all his double talk & dishonesty

[Jerry J. Fortin]

Iggy was not the leader of the party at that point. If you understand how partisan politics works, then you will know that he had little choice in the matter.

[Argus]

Harper was willing to continue his gameplaying until the issue of confidence came up and hit him right on the nose.

The Tories will going to call an election before May just so they could face Dion again. Harper can try to blame Ignatieff all he wants but then he has to take blame for creating the situation in the first place. In that battle, he seems to be coming off a little worse.

You're missing the point - again. People have been saying that the coallition would have divided the country, would have been seen as illigitimate for months now and you and the other Liberal supporters have been in full court denial. Now your own leader has come out and agreed.

[madmax]

You're missing the point - again. People have been saying that the coallition would have divided the country, would have been seen as illigitimate for months now and you and the other Liberal supporters have been in full court denial. Now your own leader has come out and agreed.

That is correct. The CPC certainly went screamed to high heaven about legitimacy in order to form public opinion. Ignatieff has confirmed that in his opinion the coalition would have been seen as illegitimate in the mind of the public.

This may or may not have become the case over time as politics is a strange animal. The Coalition could have become warmly received or extremely hated as they addressed issues. My guess is that with Dion as the head, it would have been disasterous. However, if they had made it past into the new leader era of the LPC, a new light might have been formed. In the meantime, the CPC completely dropped the ball in November, didn't know their ass from a hole in the ground and something needed to be done, because Harper was delirous and disconnected from the economic plight hitting the country.

At the end of the day, the LPC and CPC are working together finding new and bizarre ways to give money away to corporate elites. It is the worst of both worlds, and both are blaming the other for the state of affairs.

However, this is going worse for Harper then for Ignatieff. Harper overplayed his hand.

Don't worry, LPC flip flopping and arrogance will balance this out. There is still time, no election coming soon.

Ignatieff is working with a government he supports in every fashion. What is different from Dion, is that Dion was afraid to challenge the government and didn't claim to support the government, where as Ignatieff believes in the policies and actions of the CPC and is only biding time until the LPC think they can win.

One thing that is silent are all those yammering hardcore CPC advocates who were demanding an election in January. Seems they have grown silent, with their new silent partner.... the Liberal Party