The Secret Plot to Destroy the Liberals.

[shoop]

Here it is. http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/politics...7_125314_125314

Here is one of the highlights.

The poll, taken in March, showed the Liberals down eight points since election day, with the Conservatives up five, the NDP up three and the Bloc holding steady. These results put Harper's party at 41 per cent in popular vote -- majority government territory -- and the Liberals and the NDP only a point apart, at 22 and 21. The poll put the Liberals at fourth place in Quebec, commanding barely one vote there for every three Tory votes. In Ontario, the Liberals have lost the five-point lead they enjoyed on election night to fall 11 points behind the Conservatives, a 16-point swing. There is no part of the country where Liberals command more than 30 per cent of the vote except Atlantic Canada and the Greater Toronto Area.

I know, I know. Polls outside election periods catch distracted voters who haven't been thinking seriously about politics. You can't put much stock in them. And the Liberals are between leaders -- except that parties between leaders often rise in the polls because respondents can imagine an ideal leader without any baggage. Free of Martin and Jean Chrétien, the Liberals are still close to historic low voter support.

I asked a long-time Liberal strategist whether he realized the party is being double-teamed, and he said, "Sure." But the collapse of Canada's governing party "ain't gonna happen." This would be more credible if the Liberals hadn't lately had to witness a lot of events that used to dwell in the realm of ain't-gonna-happen: the unification of the right; the loss of Paul Martin's once-legendary mojo; the utter collapse of the Liberal vote in Quebec; and the election of Stephen Harper.

Hmmm, the Conservatives are governing in a manner that shows how sad the Liberals *scary, scary, scary* really was *and* they have become the choice of Federalists in Quebec. The NDs are looking more professional in their dealings in Parliament. The Bloc is holding their vote.

Is this the creation of a set of events that could lead to a major change in the politics of the country that could relegate the term *Natural Governing Party* to the dustbin of history?

[August1991]

Is this the creation of a set of events that could lead to a major change in the politics of the country that could relegate the term *Natural Governing Party* to the dustbin of history?

In 1993, when the PCs were reduced to two seats, it seemed it was all over for them too. Now, admittedly, it took a reuniting to get them back in power but it happened.

The Liberals still have about 100 seats in the Commons, and many of those seats are very safe.

If anything, I think we might be entering an era when we have two viable federal parties with support across the country and in both Englsih and French Canada. Each party forms the government for two terms or so before getting booted out.

I don't think the Liberals and NDP could unite but the NDP could conceivably eat the Liberals sometime in the future (and that's what Wells implies in his piece). To do it, the NDP would have to morph into something like the US Democratic Party where people like Joe Liberman and San Francisco wingnuts can vote for the same ticket. Maybe.

Anyway Shoop, thanks for the link. I particularly liked this quote:

There. Just west of the Centre Block, behind the statue of Diefenbaker. Soldiers. With guns. In our cities. I'm not making this up.

Another phrase has entered the Canadian political lexicon, alongside "fuddle duddle" and "conscription if necessary but not necessarily conscription."

[Biblio Bibuli]

Anyway Shoop, thanks for the link.

You mean you don't have a subscription to Macleans?

I picked it up at the dentist last December & was blown away. There were Mark Steyn ... Barbara Ameil, Paul Wells ... all the old gang pulled together by the new editor ... the guy that Izzie canned from the National Post.

It was a great feeling ... like finding the bar where all your friends have moved to when you go back home to visit & discover the old haunt was razed.

I took out a subscription immediately & wait with bated breath every wednesday for my mailman.

[shoop]

That would be a good development. Hopefully leading to the end of the use of the term "Natural Governing Party." (I don't recall seeing that one used very much in the Mulroney days . These long, long periods of Liberal rule aren't really healthy.

A shortish minority and two majorities for Harper would be a good start!

If anything, I think we might be entering an era when we have two viable federal parties with support across the country and in both Englsih and French Canada. Each party forms the government for two terms or so before getting booted out.

[geoffrey]

Anyway Shoop, thanks for the link.

You mean you don't have a subscription to Macleans?

I picked it up at the dentist last December & was blown away. There were Mark Steyn ... Barbara Ameil, Paul Wells ... all the old gang pulled together by the new editor ... the guy that Izzie canned from the National Post.

It was a great feeling ... like finding the bar where all your friends have moved to when you go back home to visit & discover the old haunt was razed.

I took out a subscription immediately & wait with bated breath every wednesday for my mailman.

Macleans is a bore really. I especially dislike the fact they have a hate on for my univeristy, completely ignoring that we have been rated by everyone else as in the top 3 business schools in Canada. But hey, we don't fund the writers so we are a bad school. Pfft... Have you ever read a pro-West article in that magazine, by anyone??

Anyways, back to the topic at hand. The CPC has a long way to go, they don't have the popularity that a ruling party should have at the top of their game yet. Ontario and the big centres are still apprehensive. There is much work to be done. The GST cut will boost approval massively for sure. The budget full of handouts will definitely boost opinion.

Though I don't think opinion is what is necessary. Something is different this time. Mulroney didn't run his government by opinion, and it did cost him dearly. None the less, he accomplished a lot of good correcting the wrongs of Trudeau and bringing us into the modern age. I don't think Harper will be able to correct the wrongs, fiscal imbalances and massive tax load by governing with opinion.

The Liberals are and will always be the natural governing party. They are a feel good choice, always. The CPC or whatever manifestation of such will always be the angry white men. Which is good, we need to be angry, and we need mandates to correct things every once in awhile. That doesn't change the fact that the CPC has no vision. The Liberals will come to bat with a new vision for Canada, and 12 years later the CPC will be fixing the problems the average man has with that vision.

A cut and dry 5 priority system is great, I love it. But there is no vision. And unless that changes, the Liberals will remain the power party forever. It is, by nature, nearly impossible for the CPC to have a vision for the future, so I don't blame them too much.

[Conservative1]

A cut and dry 5 priority system is great, I love it. But there is no vision. And unless that changes, the Liberals will remain the power party forever. It is, by nature, nearly impossible for the CPC to have a vision for the future, so I don't blame them too much.

LOL what a baseless argument, by their very ideals people from the left and right have a vision...just not everyone agrees with that vision.

And if you want further proof... http://www.fraserinstitute.ca/pdf/CSF-Eng.pdf

[shoop]

What exactly do you want in a 'vision'?

Cleaning up Ottawa and making the Government more accountable to people is definitely a vision, maybe not one you like, but it is a vision.

A cut and dry 5 priority system is great, I love it. But there is no vision. And unless that changes, the Liberals will remain the power party forever. It is, by nature, nearly impossible for the CPC to have a vision for the future, so I don't blame them too much.

[geoffrey]

What exactly do you want in a 'vision'?

Cleaning up Ottawa and making the Government more accountable to people is definitely a vision, maybe not one you like, but it is a vision.

A cut and dry 5 priority system is great, I love it. But there is no vision. And unless that changes, the Liberals will remain the power party forever. It is, by nature, nearly impossible for the CPC to have a vision for the future, so I don't blame them too much.

Cleaning up Ottawa is great. But what is their vision for our future? I don't know. He's not saying.

I'll keep voting CPC (unless something else comes along on the right). I have no choice. The Liberals and NDP are parties with vision, but vision I don't like. When the CPC ends their time as the nation's protest party, then people will consider them long term. But historically in Canada, that's all the right has been. A protest group that comes in and fixes up the Liberals mistakes when people get mad enough. Very little national progress has been made under any conservative government. Any major advancement the conservatives have made is in reaction to a Liberal failure. Like this 'cleaning up OTtawa' business. Great, but its just fixing mistakes, nothing more.

When that changes, Canadians will elect them as the 'natural governing party.'