well, holy shit.
Huh. So it turns out that all the cabinet-job-dangling the Liberals had been doing for the last few weeks seems to have totally paid off. As the Guardian online reports, former Conservative Party leadership hopeful Belinda Stronach has switched sides, joining the Liberals so she could accept her appointment as the new minister of human resources. Countless media sources are predicting this all but assures the Liberals will win the non-confidence vote scheduled for Thursday.
You know, I was thinking that all this non-confidence shit was getting blown out of proportion... but man, handling out ministerial positions in exchange for votes is pretty fucking underhanded. I mean, I'm well aware that neither Stronach nor the Liberals have any real sense of shame, but yee. I'm surprisingly disillusioned.
posted by Anonymous at 10:01 AM
8 Comments:
My jaw hit the floor on this one, the most severe threat to the democratic process in the history of Canada. Martin used a highly unethical (if not outright illegal) delaying tactic to woo a high-profile Conservative. She ran for the damn leadership - how's that for faking out your voters? This sucks in so many ways... but what can a left-leaning Albertan do?
11:20 AM
How is this illegal?
Or surprising?
Has she been around long enough to have a real loyalty. Her entry, two years ago, into the political realm was to run for the leadership of a party.
She was given control of a multi-billion dollar automotive manufacturing business in her early 20s. Suffice it to say she's ambitious, and the shadow cabinet doesn't have the ring that Cabinet Minister does. Good for her.
I'd hate to think that she was the future of the Conservative Party anyway.
There will still be an election. Mondo-nutbars like Rob Anders will be re-elected in places like Calgary Varisty.
The question is this: are swing voters willing to stop giving the finger to those crazy conservatives, hold their nose, and vote against the Liberals.
If I was Anne McLellan, I'd consider doing a Stronych over to the NDP -- which, ironically, has been the most pragmatic party of late.
Collin
1:12 PM
Ah, Landslide Annie ain't going anywhere.
Borderline-illegal because of responsibilities the Prime Minister holds towards intimations of "no confidence" in the House. If there's a question, there's a vote. As it always has been done, so shall it be.
Granted, not at all surprising. But revoltingly unethical. Do you think the Liberals will straw dog Belinda (or even Annie) in the next election? It would be so satisfying to watch the Liberals hit as hard as the Tories post-Mulroney.
Yeah, like that'll happen with the "gun-lovin’, immigrant-hatin’, hardlinin’, whoop-whoop-whoop-holy-fuck-we’re-crazy Conservative Party of Canada" as the alternative. *sigh* Last time, I voted for a twelve year old Music student in order to avoid voting Annie or Military Man. Guess I'm doing the same again.
1:28 PM
I like today. It's like I woke up in Italy. Partitocrazia!!!
I goddamn guarauntee an election.
While it will be fun to watch Stronach vote for a hippy-dippy budget, it's a stall.
A few liberals will jump ship when things get bad closer to the Gomery Inquiry's conclusion.
Right now it's still pretty much 50-50 factoring in independents and terminally ill MPs. The Lib's would need to keep the NDP on side and have 100 per cent attendance for the next four years.
Stronach once again proves my theory that you just can't trust billionaires.
Still, this isn't like the ghost of John Deifenbaker came back to life and crossed the floor.
Stronach fits. There are more neo-cons in the liberal party than you'd first think, though none as out-right. And -- it strikes me just now -- no real leaders in waiting. Not that Stronach could pull that one off.
Anne Mc isn't going anywhere but the private sector. The deputy PM won her seat by 700 votes last time around.
Also, there is very little that is illegal when it comes to House of Commons votes. It's all is based upon workable, bendable precedent.
In other news today:
Camrose woman starves herself to death demanding better healthcare:
http://calgary.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=ca_geddes20050517
Ralph Klien takes a mental health day to comb petro-dollars out of his hair:
http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/politics/news/shownews.jsp?content=n051653A
2:23 PM
Add your name when making anonymous posts!
~Mike
4:26 PM
Sorry, I'm new to this blog thing, plus I can't see over my huge erection brought on by this powersuit wearing, high powered, heartbreaking billioniaress upstaging the Queen.
Zowie
- Collin
4:37 PM
Tee hee...
Oh - I'm sorry... you were serious when you said "Martin promised"?
I could have sworn you were kidding.
I think the Liberals are on that tired, last-legs point that handed the country to Mulroney for a while. A term or two of Con craziness will set things up for another 15-20 years of (anti-)Liberalism.
11:04 PM
I, Collin, should clear something up.
Belinda isn't necessarily sexy, but rather, is hot in that same sort of way a Nazi chick is hot if she's in an Indiana Jones movie.
I've also decided that Paul Martin is my new hero. Slimmy, most probably. The head of a bloated, criminal conspiracy rife with fiends and a boss-level of carpetbagging. Oh yeah.
Still, he recovered from the worst week a Canadian Prime Minister has had since Pearl Harbour, and devised a way to kick the opposition so hard in the nuts that their eyes popped out of their head and rolled down a storm drain.
It's horribly desperate, but for today, the trumpet player added "Wah-wah" to Stephen Harper's indignation.
Thursday's vote will be a truimph -- a screaming, yelling truimph for the liberals. I expect the Tories to throw things.
Yet, I smell a fall election and a book deal for Belinda, who is a fifty-fucking-foot-tall billboard for modern womanhood.
I'm totally serious here.
She's basically Margeret Trudeau without the housework and an actual shot to be PM herself. Perhaps she'll fade into a footnote, but right now she's basically boring-old-Canada's answer to 1994 Madonna. Let's see how she survives her treatment on the Royal Canadian Airfarce.
-- Collin
2:04 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home