I have always supported Jack Layton even when my friends were getting more than a bit fed up with his strutting around like a bantam rooster. Jack wants to be Prime Minister so bad he can taste it but, he just doesn't seem to realize that it isn't going to happen. Most of us here in this camp accept the fact that our role is to add weight to the left side of the fulcrum so it can't tip too far to the right. In these days, that is as good as it gets.
So, I could hardly believe my ears when I heard that the NDP is taking out radio ads slamming Ignatieff for supporting the new Harper budget. I know that Jack wanted to make the Liberal/NDP/Bloc deal work but the adventure in coalition government wasn't so much blown out of the water by Iggy as it was stymied by the Governor General's short sightedness. Why not take out adds slamming her.
I am not much pleased by the Liberal support for this budget either but, polling tells us that Canadians don't want a coalition government or an election. Let Harper dig is own grave. He is half way there anyway. Nothing is gained by exacerbating the differences amongst the majority of us who do not support this government and who should wait for the right time to bring them down.
This is the most sensible post on this topic by a NDP/Layton supporter that I have read.
ReplyDeleteThe media is really giving Layton a hard time over his behaviour and the ads. Most Dippers think this is a media bias, but I think Layton has really misread what Canadians want right now. They just want government to work and to think that government is at least doing something to try to ease the economic downturn. Canadians are willing to compromise and they expect the same from politicians right now. As bad as this budget is, it still looks like Harper compromised on it. If Ignatieff and Layton could have really worked together, they might have been able to amend this budget in a few key places without bringing the government down. However, I guess that was always too much to hope for.
If the economy or situation changes, politicians can get back to their usual antics.
By the way, I left the NDP for the Liberals a couple years ago, because of Layton, but I still take an interest.