Reboot Alberta

Friday, October 12, 2007

Gore Wins Nobel Peace Prize

Way back in February I predicted that Al Gore would win both an Oscar and the Nobel Peace Prize this year. Congratulations Mr. Gore. I also called the selection of Ed Stelmach as the winner of the Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership and Premier of Alberta as well as Stephane Dion’s win of the federal Liberal leadership last December 2. So I am thinking of buy a deck of Tarot cards and turning professional.

In the meantime I am now predicting no fall federal or Alberta provincial elections. The only way we will get a federal election is if Harper forgets to put on a policy condom and does not practice safe-politics. There is no doubt Harper is intent on trying to screw Dion and if Mr. Harper doesn’t wear protection - an “accident” could happen.

That accident would result in an artificially induced premature election. The end result would a new born minority Dion government or a born-again minority Harper government. Another inevitable result of an election accident will be a serious possibility for some still born political careers for party leaders. That includes Mr. Harper’s leadership position. This could happen if he is perceived to have engineered an unnecessary election and as a result the nation turns on him…and I don’t mean the Quebec nation.

Steps and strategies are being planned to avoid the Conservative’s “con” of declaring everything being a “confidence vote” - starting with the Throne Speech. It would be funny and sad to see the Liberals being aggressive in the Throne Speech debate but ending up staying away from the vote so as not to bring down the Harper government and forcing an election.

It would be even funnier and even sadder if the Cons stayed away at the last minute from their own Throne Speech vote too. That would leave the Bloc and the Dippers to vote against it and thereby forcing an election. An election now is what Harper wants and by staying away from a vote on the Throne Speech – the Bloc and the Dippers alone could decide it is time for an election.

This game of vote extortion and political chicken over Harper’s push for an election is classic Harper and shows his penchant for clever politics. When partisan politics and personal power aspirations of the Cons and Mr. Harper over-ride the interests of the nation and its citizens this kind of absurdity can happen.

I am not predicting this turn of events…after all I am on a winning streak prognostication-wise and have to guard my reputation. However, I would not be surprised, only dismayed, to see Harper engineer his defeat on the Throne Speech with such tactics in order to make it look like someone else forced an election on him.

Harper has said everything his government will introduce in the next session of Parliament, starting next week, will be a confidence vote. Given Harper’s Cromwell-like lust for even more centralized political and personal power, if he doesn’t play this voting trickery with his caucus staying away from a vote next week, we can expect it sometime – anytime?

I will predict one thing, with this bullying attitude of Harper and his proclivity for power-grabbing political tactics, Canada can expect uncertainty and anxiety as the dominant over-arching reality for awhile.

Good government is almost always good politics. “Good politics” is almost inevitably bad government. This lack of good government and the excessive exercise of politics by tactics by the current Harper regime are not good for the nation and not good for the economy.

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous5:04 pm

    The Throne Speech will clearly state that it is the position of the government that kyoto is "unattainable". Either Dion votes against the government, or simply shows again that he is not a leader and is not a man of principle. As well, it will state that we will not leave Afghanistan at some arbitrary date. Again, Dion must vote against the speech if he disagrees.

    My guess is that the LPC is so weak, fractured and practically bankrupt that they will do anything humanly possible to vote in favour of the governmnent.

    It will be a sad and embarrassing day for all liberals who voted for Dion or whose leadership was forced upon them.

    Iggy is waiting in the wings. Many liberals want an election just to get rid of Dion.

    If Dion votes against the Throne Speech, it will be patently obvious that they brought down the government.

    The liberals are the ones whose political aspirations overrode the interets of the country - they stole millions of dollars and funnelled it into the party's coffers. People punished them in the last election and, given the recent byelections, they will punish again.

    Many Cdns do not want an election - they are very happy with the way the CPC is governing the country. If the CPC can get another budget passed, there will be the single biggest tax cut in Cdn history. Liberals did nothing to reduce the tax burden for taxpayers - the Conservatives will.

    The economy is extremely strong - look at the massive surpluses which are being used to pay down the debt - unlike when the LPC used it to simply finance their elections.

    The liberals are weak - the CPC should go in for the kill.

    ReplyDelete

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