Meanwhile On The Immigration Front

The Tories are set to pass their Immigration law, which will give the minister more power to decide which ethnic groups are worthy. What about the opposition you ask? I will let John Ivision tell you:

The NDP has been vocal and active in opposition to the legislation; immigration critic Olivia Chow will introduce an amendment to the budget bill today calling for the immigration section to be removed because it lacks fairness and transparency.

However, the amendment is doomed because the Liberals will once again sit on their hands. Most Liberals would like to follow their consciences on the vote but, as in so many recent instances, they can't because their consciences are not going in the same direction as they are.

Ouch. Today's Liberal Party. As strong as Dion is popular.

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And The Kabuki Never Stops

The PM hints that Canada will stay in Afghanistan beyond 2011 and the Liberals claim to be shocked and betrayed. If no one else is going to call "Shenanigans", I will.

Update: Meanwhile, at ProgBlogs, the main topic of conversation seems to be a 16 year old video tape. I guess it beats thinking about how the Liberals are enabling Harper's foreign adventures.

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From The What Are They Thinking Department

That a governing party which already has trouble attracting women voters, would consider halting the practice of lowering the flag on parliament, in remembrance of women massacred in Montreal, seems to me to be a bit insane. Symbols matter and gestures mirror attitudes. Women will rightly conclude that the Conservatives are dismissing the gesture as a "Liberal sop to feminists". That message will, no doubt, go over well with the Tory base (and it ironically, meshes well with Marc Lepine's opinions) , but it is hardly the way to win over women voters. If the Tories go ahead and ban the December 6 commemoration, all hell is going to break loose. Count on it.

Update: The base speaks, in the form of an editorial in the Calgary Herald:

A federal committee examining the issue wanted a number of special half-mast days to be eliminated, including Police and Peace Officers' National Memorial Day in September, Vimy Ridge Day and Workers' Mourning Day, both in April, and the Montreal massacre commemorative day. That is as it should be. Individual groups whose interests centre on those days can lower their own flags for the occasion that is meaningful to them. The Peace Tower flag is a national symbol and lowering it should be reserved for the deaths of our own heads of state, such as the monarch, or governors general, and Remembrance Day. (emphasis mine).

I am sure the families of the women slaughtered in Montreal would be interested to know that the Conservatives consider them to be merely a special interest group and that the commemoration of the Montreal massacre is only of personal interest and not a national one. That the Montreal massacre is meaningful only to them and no one else. I hope to hear Jason Kenney's take on this issue very soon.

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That Didn't Take Long

See? Yesterday was nothing but an April Fool after all. Leave it to Steve. It is games, morning, noon and night. Not that this changes a damn thing. It is still all about optics and nothing more. It looks like Dion and Rae won't have to hide in the bushes.

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Spin, Spin, Little Liberal

Since Impolitical does not have any comments, I guess I will have to post here. The Liberal spinner is upset that the NDP is introducing a motion of non-confidence against the government, as opposed say, against the other opposition parties. Heaven forbid the opposition actually oppose. That is just so gauche. I first must note that only a Liberal could see a vote of non-confidence in the government as a vote against them. I guess when you vote with the government as often as Liberals do, you start to see yourself mirrored in their interests. Now, on to the guts of Impolitical's complaint. He writes:

I think the Liberals stand for creating prosperity and balanced budgets, much as they did during the entire course of their recent long tenure which Canadians well remember.

Funny, I remember the massive cuts in transfers to the provinces which were passed down to the municipalities, which we are still dealing with. I guess it's all in how you remember it.

And yes, that does include evil but reasonable corporate tax cuts worked into the mix. Small business owners are "ordinary Canadians" too, don't ya know. They work hard and play by the rules and deserve their tax cuts too.

Ah, the small businessman, the last refuge of scoundrels and Liberals. I have never heard the Royal Bank and Shell Oil described as small businesses before, but it is the banks and oil sector that are making out like bandits under these tax cuts.

The Liberal approach to budgeting is starkly different from the current crop of Conservative ideologues whose policies have led us to the brink of deficit for the first time in over a decade. In fact, it's likely one of the strongest areas of contrast that the election will see. If the NDP want to make the Liberal record on the economy an issue, by all means, go right ahead.

My answer to this is, if it is so different why are you voting to support their budgets? Also, I am sure the NDP will bring it up during a campaign, thanks.

The larger point here though is one of political positioning that the NDP continue to pursue but which has failed to produce noticeable gains for them in the polls or in recent by-elections.

Cuz ya know, politics is all about the polls and power. God forbid you, you know, stand for something.

The Green Party is elbowing them out. They need to grow. Yet they're not likely to build up much goodwill with Liberal voters in order to convince them to vote NDP with this approach. That's why it's such a strange tactic, this continued onslaught. In ridings such as my own, where Peggy Nash will be facing Gerard Kennedy, I can't imagine such MP's would favour the hardening of sentiment that the likes of Mulcair are fostering. Shouldn't such MP's want to attract Liberal voters rather than ridicule them?

As for this, we will see about the Greens. This "onslaught" is about bringing down the Tories and Mulcair is mocking the pantywaists in the Liberal caucus, not Liberal voters (and that is pretty damn easy to do). Impolitical has completely missed the boat and has screwed himself into the ground. Liberals have to remember that, even though they vote like Conservatives, they are not the government. This vote is not against them unless they make it so, by siding with the Tories (yet again).

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No Troops Or Equipment, But A Moral Victory?

Really? NATO is going to tell Canadians that "We feel your pain, but we aren't going to send any more troops. However, you can write this nice document for us! Isn't that super?" I find that hard to believe. This has to be an April Fool. Surely, the government is just trying to push this line so that when they do get the troops and equipment they themselves have said is the minimum for our continued involvement, they will look like diplomatic giants? If this turns out to be the reality, even the spineless Bob Rae faction will not be able to swallow it. Right? On second thought, there is nothing Bob Rae can't swallow if it means putting off an election.

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Amazing Discovery

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