" I am not in the business of carrying Premier Williams water...and he has to understand that." ( Ignatieff on 1/30/2009- CBC- The House, in response to weather he will allow the NFLD MP to vote against the budget.)
Yesterday, Liberal "Leader" Michael Ignatieff confirmed that he will allow 4 MP's from Newfoundland/Labrador to break ranks and issue a "one-time" vote of protest against the Conservative budget. I was pleased to see that Iggy showed his true leadership qualities and gave confirmation to the rest of his caucus ( and the rest of Canada) that he really has no backbone and will cave into any special interest groups demands.
By doing this he has set a wonderful precedence for the rest of the Liberal MP's, who will likely need to get their own "one-time" protest votes in future matters that are important to their riding's and/or provinces.
Parliamentary tradition requires MPs to toe the party line on important confidence votes such as the budget. Mr. Dion had been forced to expel Liberal MP Joe Comuzzi from caucus in 2007 for refusing to vote with the Liberals on the budget. What has changed here?
Iggy has stated " This is not just about Newfoundland and Labrador, this is about the way Stephen Harper runs this federation, this tendency for unilateral, surprise action is damaging to the national unity of our country. Tonight, they will have a one-time vote against the budget in order to send a clear signal to Newfoundland and Labrador and the rest of the country that this is no way to run a federation.''
If the budget is so bad and if Iggy is so upset with how Mr.Harper is running the country, why did he allow his party to pass the budget? He is spinning the mini-revolt in his caucus to deflect from the bigger issue here....the fact that this job is way over his head and abilities. While teaching at Harvard, I wonder if he allowed 4 of his students to avoid writing the final exam? I am sure he would have let it slide, as confronting them would just create conflict and force him to take a stand.
It looks like he is more concerned about saving those Liberal seats in Newfoundland. You can also say that he may be a bit afraid of facing Premier Williams wrath. By showing his weakness and caving in to one provinces demand.... I think we have Dion II on our hands. Which is all right by me!
If the supreme kangaroo court of canukistan hadn’t contravene the constitution where by all of the provinces are supposed to own, control and be the primary beneficiary of their own non-renewable resources we wouldn't of needed the Atlantic Accord and non of this would be an issue.
ReplyDeleteEquality or Exit!
The Canadian confederation is a sham. It is nothing more than. Tyranny of the majority, Per Capita Colonialism, Democratic Discrimination by all of the national proxy parties of the majority ON/QU against the minority, Reverse robin hood. Steal from the poor minority and give to the vote rich majority. And those are the nice terms. Don't give us your crap about feed us please on a per capita basis NL'ians have contributed four times as much as the next nearest province.
EQUALITY OR EXIT!
Under the Atlantic Accord NL was supposed to be the principal beneficiary of the resources on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland when the Accord was signed in 1985 by the Mulroney-Peckford governments. Mulroney oxymoronically said that he was not afraid to inflict prosperty on NL. During the Chretien government, the primary beneficiary was clearly Ottawa. Martin, the then finance minister took over top job and was likely embarrassed by his government's unashamed rip off of the intent of the Atlantic Accord. During a preelection visit, he agreed to a one time payment of 2 billion dollars to make amends. The Liberals tried to weasel out of the commitment. Williams had a fit, flags down, etc. One disturbing comment made by an Ottawa minion at that time was NL will pay (for this acrimony). In the new budget, Ontario gets $1 billion and NL looses $1.6 billion. It is a puzzle to me how the feds can unabashedly change these agreements/accords. What became of the principle 'a contract is a contract' a la Churchill Falls. Incidentally, the equalization payments beginning in January 2009: Ontario - $347 million Quebec - $8.35 billion Manitoba - $2.1 billion New Brunswick - $1.69 billion Nova Scotia - $1.57 billion P.E.I. - $340 million NL - $O
EQUALITY OR EXIT!
NEPII