Scott Tribe has an excellent theory: Jack is making a go of it with Harper over EI reforms only because he knows it will fail. That places Jack on top of the moral heap ('I tried making Parliament work...'), and also gives the Liberals justification to continue to seek an election, with the NDP supporting that vote.
I agree Scott may be right, and saw this possibility as well; however, I thought it more reasonable to take Jack at face value given the risks that come with making deals with someone like Harper, who is inherently unreliable and cunning.
As such, my plea of "Don't do it Jack" is reasonable. What if Jack is trying to do that, but then Harper gives him everything he asks for? Harper may do so just to put Jack on the spot. After all, the EI modifications being sought are only temporary, and cheap given how much red ink is flowing these days.
Temporarily improving EI is not enough reason to keep Harper afloat until next year, when he will push hard for his majority, citing economic victory with a likely false good-news budget in hand. I still maintain we should have taken him down last January after camping out on the Hill protesting Harper's pseudo-fascist closing of Parliament. So, don't do it, Jack!
But if Jack doesn't get what he wants, and also pleads that 'you can't work with these guys' well, I agree. All the better.
But, I suspect Harper understands this, and will work hard to go negative on him as well in the lead up to the vote. Let's hope Jack has a counter.
(I call every other leader by their last name, except Jack. Why? I have no idea.)
4 comments:
In answer to your last question, the NDP has made a concerted effort to make Jack seem more like "one of the guys" rather than a cold, distant political leader. It is a matter of strategy that most voters think of him as "Jack" rather than "The Honourable Dr. Layton" (Jack is both a PhD and a member of the Privy Council).
Ya, I'd have a beer with him. Not so sure about the others -- well, I've actually had a beer with EMay. She's fine.
NDP is right to be cautious. No need to be hasty. If the EI bill is a good one (and comes with no poison pill), why not vote for it? Despite the 79 chances bluster, I don't think they'd be crucified by the voters over being reasonable. So they lose more high ground. They need to stall as long as they can to save their seats and raise more dough for the next election. Anyway, there'll be other chances to bring down the government later this month.
The problem is, the bill won't pass into law right away. And expect the NDP to get strung along.
The longer we wait, the harder it will be to stop Harper's majority, and any minor gains today will be lost then.
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