"He talks to Stephen Harper all the time. Surely, our shared values are much closer between the NDP and the Greens."
Both Layton and the federal NDP rank and file think that they can coast on vaguely greenish promises they once made years ago in a white paper nobody read when there was no hope of them becoming the governing party anyway.
Well they can't. Anyone who spent time in B.C. during the 1990s knows how little difference distinguishes the NDP from more Conservative governments when they actually get in power. Remember B.C. Premier Glen Clark calling environmentalists, who helped maintain the NDP in power for ten years, "enemies of B.C."? He was throwing red meat to the other part of his constituency; the lumber workers manning chainsaws during the War of the Woods.
No, in the Green Party we have a new political player on the scene that matches the NDP policy for policy on the environmental front without having its debilitating connections to Big Labor. So flogging the old dead horses won't do the trick. But from his response to the May's attempts at outreach, this seems to be all Jack Layton has to offer.
22 comments:
Earth First !! the unions will log the other planets later
After Buzz Hargrove launches a blitzkrieg against the organized madness of Kyoto.
harper doesn't have to worry, the unions will kill off the residual Kyoto support, leaving only the urban latte liberals & limousine socialists bleating away at saving the planet by sacrificing a couple of hundred thousand jobs and our standard of living.
"ding dong kyoto..." Can you believe this person has actually fallen for the fear mongering rhetoric of the Conservatives?
Can you believe it?
They say there's a fool born every minute - maybe it's true.
Between unions killing the economy and ongoing disaster funds I wonder which will hurt the economy more - going green or the other two.
I don't agree that the unions are killing the economy. Harper's fiscal management practises are killing the economy.
Actually, May talked to her old friend Steven Lewis and ran her wonderful idea by him. He told her in no uncertain terms that the means to supress liberalism (you know citizens right to choose) was a no go.
Considering all the bashing that May has done in the media towards Jack, I guess he didn't need to take her call in private when she was acting so two-faced.
It's just May's little strategy to paint herself as doing politics different, but it sure doesn't look different to me - just more sneaky.
I don't remember the libs giving Jack a free ride during the general election to win his seat in the house of commons. But then all leaders aren't treated the same, and anyway, May is a wonderful prop for the Libs as she endorses his leadership.
An aside: remember Cretian's book, Straight from the Heart. I actually believed him, cause he really, really, really meant it. And we all know how much he meant it when libs got a huge majority in 1993. So Dion really, really, really means it. When is the book coming out?
I think Jack is two faced. He talks a good game about being a progressive...but talk to another progressive...nah...he hates em all..Layton likes his buddy Harper.
Saving the planet does not equate to selling out your fellow party members and depriving your constituants the option of voting for the party of their choice.
Your party had 13 years and 3 majorities to "save the planet" and you do have anything to show for it.
"Apparently, Layton wouldn't even return Elizabeth May's phone-calls when it came to talk of similar co-operation between the Greens and NDP"
I don't blame Jack. Elizabeth May has been bashing him and his party for the past several months. If I was him, I would not trust her at all.
Speaking of Jack, he did not get a free ride into parliament and he certainly did not try to get the conservative candidate or the green candidate to drop out of the race.
He ran a very good campaign against a long time Liberal, Denis Mills and won that riding fairly and squarely.
So when I hear Elizabeth May whining about special treatment, it makes my blood boil. I
If this woman is not prepared to do the necessary work to win a riding fairly and squarely, how can she be trusted on the more complex environmental file?
NDP governments were completely different than the Socred governments before them and the Liberal governments that followed. There's no comaparison. Your stating there wasn't a difference shows me that you either invent things to make your points or you're not very good at interpreting information.
like being a heckler at the special Olympics.
That's describes Liberals to a "t".
Please explain how May winning her seat will save the planet.
Use graphs. Compare and contrast to Layton's new Clean Air Act.
Cheers,
lance
Lance,
For what its worth, I think the Green party calculation is this:
1) Get your leader into the HOC, which means put everything behind Elizabeth May's bid in Nova. Now, why she picked that riding in the first place I don't know, that seems crazy.
2) Get your leader into the debates. Now I think Dion has already indicated he supports May at the debates. Hopefully, he will follow up on this. A good show at a debate can make a world of difference (ask the B.C. Liberal Party)
As things are now, May has eight per cent of the vote almost everywhere in the country. The most likely result is she double's the party's previous best total and gets squat out of it.
I'm of mixed minds regarding May's strategy.
I actually think it would be worse for her if she won. That's why she picked the riding she did.
Think of it, as your post and others hint; as Dion said, May getting in will save the planet.
She has cult-like status. . .now. If she wins, if she gets her one seat the whole planet will see just how ineffective that single seat will be.
She'll lose her face-time on air, she'll _gain_ a spot on the debates (next go-round, not this one), and that may help GPC candidates later. (which means more $).
However, if she loses, with all of the planets aligned as they are, she maintains her aura. Dion on the other-hand loses big time.
Cheers,
lance
Lance,
Well, there is some talk of getting her into THIS set of debates (whenever this election is called).
Getting into the house, though, would seem a fairly big accomplishment to me. Face time with the Press, it seems to me, would follow, unless until the novelty wore off.
Also, Dion also wins if NDP gets in. In a minority situation, any seat the Cons. lose is important.
And if MacKay still wins, then I still then May's endorsement is worth two or three percentage points nationwide (I wrote about that earlier). Also very important, given the fact that both Libs and Tories are about 35%
The +2-3% GPC to Lib, makes sense. That's the first time I've seen a reasonable Liberal strategy for this deal. Thank you.
If it works, it means that May and the GPC fell into the Liberals traditional trap for the soft Dippers.
I don't see the NDP picking up the seat being all that helpful for Dion though. It's smarter for Layton to work with the CPC then it is the Liberals, more gets done.
I really can't envision May getting into the debates, only Dion is in favour of it. Naturally the consortium will ultimately decide, but 'tradition' says a seat is needed.
Go, Sens!
lance
It's smarter for Layton to work with the CPC then it is the Liberals, more gets done.
What have we seen after almost a year and a half?
I don't buy this. I think the proximity to power provides the illusion to the NDP that they're getting things done, but when we consider the hidden agenda (boo!) I don't see any benefit to Canadians in this.
It's nice to see the Dippers all riled up again. That never get old, election after election after election...
Lance, do you really live in Delisle or are you just trying to drive me crazy? ;)
I think this all has to do with the NDP not wanting to lose more seats to the Greens. Unfortunately, Layton isn't seeing the bigger picture; he just wants to play partisan politics. Frankly, the Liberals, Greens, and NDP have far more in common. But Jack wants to team up with Steve, just to keep his party afloat. But how is this any better for Canada?! What the left-centre parties need to be doing is forming a coalition, as has many times in history happened, for the better of the country, to make sure Harper does not get a majority control of Canada to run his true agenda. That should be the ultimate goal in the next election. And hopefully it would be enough to wake up the public and put Canada back on the map of progressive countries.
The fact that so many politicians these days are just jumping around from party to party shows have partisanship is dying. Get a coalition in government, get real electoral reform in place, and the issue will forever be in the past, and our country can more forward and stop this ridiculous bickering about partisanship at every corner.
Ti: Does the former preclude the latter? ;)
Just down the road from your favourite blogger, as a matter of fact.
Course, in Delisle, everywhere is "just down the road."
Layton is great. A great source for laughs. Comedians must just love having the guy around. He's never met an idiotic socialist idea he couldn't embrace.
Will Buzz be supporting Harper now, after having dumped the NDP and is now pissed at Dijon?
funny thing wathcing the blogging dippers scurry around the blogosphere repeating that lizzy may is a vile bitch who has attacked layton and the ndp at every opportunity. funny, cause i haven't ever seen her do that. i have seen her praise the ndp, their stands, their record as being superior to the liberals. would be nice if these dippers backed up their assertions with, you know, some links, or evidence. but why let the facts get in the way of a good talking poitn.
where's jamie heath and bill blaikie again...oh yeah, they decided to leave the conservative, er layton, party.
The reason Jack is cosy to Steve is because thats the only way to get something done. Despite getting a very hard ride from nearly everyone PM Harper has grown into a capable leader who is decisive and intelligent. Disagree with his politics, fine, but he is cetainly not the scary leader people painted him to be. Face the facts, the Liberal party is in no condition to take on or win anything from the Conservative party. Jack knows he will not be PM but fostering a close friendly relationship can help him to advance his agenda beyond partisan politics and to a point of implementation. Jack can get more done for this country through influence by being Steve's buddy than his vociferous enemy.
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