PS: Exactly!
Friday, June 24, 2011
NDP Filibuster: The Street Has Spoken
Or at least my wife, long-time Liberal, saying: "You know, I'm proud of Jack." Indeed. Lots of piss and vinegar out of the NDP in the Canada Post showdown. Meanwhile the Liberals come across as a bunch of old white guys that need to sleep, when they're not parsing the semantics of some of bizarre big words they used to describe the scene in the HOC. I mean really bizarre: Rae's isn't even using the standard meaning of "shambolic" . Seriously, if the LPoC can't find much in the way of a youth movement in its ranks, can't they at least fake it? Slip this bunch some Viagra. Even Lizzy May's party of 1 is kicking their ass.
PS: Exactly!
PS: Exactly!
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13 comments:
Shambolic? Your killin me. LOL.
After listening to Ms. Jinny Sims, if only I had of had a teacher like that...she put them to shame @3:00 a.m. or so. I thought Christopherson was going to punch himself out with those stabbing arms/hands/fingers/voice. Lessons in what collective really means, should be youtubed for civics class.
I'm with your wife on this one - proud of the NDP. Harper has his majority for now, but voters may be more than ready for the "scary" NDP alternative after the next four years. The NDP are standing up for what they believe in and it's a damn shame that the Liberals didn't do the same more often when they were in opposition.
Filibuster like it's 1999. There's a reason the Speaker of the House carries a mace. ;)
I am amused that civility has broken down (everyone turn in your damn civility button.)... and that I doubt that this is what they meant by having Parliament work... but so be it.
I did think Layton was going to speak for longer than he did. As the Leader of the Opposition, he had the chance to speak for as long as he wished. I expected to wake up this morning with Layton still going strong in the House of Commons. He managed apparently 52 minutes. Conservative Tom Lukiwski spoke for six hours to stall a committee. Six hours man. I thought Layton had it within him to at least match that. ;)
Overall, the filibuster is great theatre, love reading the CBC tweets on it, but I suspect is that it will just delay the inevitable. There have been filibusters in the past that have accomplished nothing. Zip. Nada. The Clarity Act was filibustered by the Bloc. The NDP tried to delay Bill 103 (Amalgamation of Toronto) in Ontario with thousands of amendments -- it passed. Maybe the filibuster will have an effect on the public opinion polls on the legislation. (Alberta and Quebec are finally in agreement on something....) At this point, the biggest hope the unions have is using the time the NDP is delaying the bill to get back to the negotiating table.
Hey.... they're have the vote right now. Holy crap. Thought they'd drag this until three.
So tell me who is paying attention to the House of Comics except .0000001%
So tell me who is paying attention to the House of Comics except .0000001%
Yeah, that's another problem. I tried to get some people at work interested in the filibuster, including an NDP supporter. None of them were biting.
Something like this might be the equivalent of money blurts. You know all those controversial politicians who say stupid things... people rain money on them.
Meaning this is red meat for the base. Just the act of doing or saying it is significant.
There really isn't much the Liberals can do in this situation considering there are only two sides of the issue and both are taken.
"So tell me who is paying attention to the House of Comics except .0000001%"
So what? I am so sick and tired hearing about what the rubes in this country may or may not be paying attention to. If these people feel the need to self impose ignorance upon themselves in regards to how our government operates then I say, "fill your boots". Your wilful stupidity makes me angry, but it also makes me laugh. You complete me.
There really isn't much the Liberals can do in this situation considering there are only two sides of the issue and both are taken.
Yeah, how about passing the bill with amendments. Back to work legislation is there to end strikes AND lockouts. The postal workers are being locked out.
The sticky points appear to be the set wage increases as well as the method of arbitration. Take them out and pass the thing.
Postal workers want to get back to work. This makes a lot of sense if you consider the lost wages and the fact that management were the ones to lock them out. Also the fact that mail is less important than it used to be with the internet. There was chaos in the last mail strikes. A lot less this time around. What the industry does not need is a prolonged lockout.
(Yeah, management could end the whole thing by re-opening their doors, but I suspect that they're waiting for this legislation to pass.)
I'm going to side with what Elizabeth May said around 2:10 this morning. Everyone's making interesting points, but the debate has become too partisan.
Gerry Byrne raised an interesting point this morning around 10:24. The Conservatives could have limited debated and therefore stopped a filibuster. Why didn't they do that? It's possibly that they wanted one. Other possibilities? Bad House management. Another strategy for fundraising. Write your own conspiracy theory here! (I suspect that this might be the last filibuster we're going to see in the House for some time.)
(I suspect that this might be the last filibuster we're going to see in the House for some time.)
I hope not. I'd love to see one for the gun registry. That's where the Torys might limit debate. The longer that one's argued about, the more support they lose.
Yeah, how about passing the bill with amendments.
The Conservatives aren't going to support any amendments.
I hope not. I'd love to see one for the gun registry. That's where the Torys might limit debate. The longer that one's argued about, the more support they lose.
I'd love to see one on the gun registry too. Fight!
Hopefully, there are no crackdowns on filibusters.
The Conservatives aren't going to support any amendments.
One of the problems with a majority government, they have more seats than anyone else. In the end it seemed to breakdown into pure tribalism. Neither side could back down because they were afraid of seeming weak....
Backseat quaterbacking this....
If the NDP were going to stretch things out for negotiations, they should have tried signalling that they were going to go to the bitter end. The back-to-work legislation favored management and all they had to do was wait for the law to pass. If they were given the hint that the NDP were willing to fight this from here to eternity, they might have been more motivated to negotiate. It's not in the interests of the post office to have this drag out.m This was one reason I was surprised Jack Layton didn't speak for longer than 52 minutes. It was important to signal something like this early in the filibuster.
At the sametime, the MPs could have dangled the amendments to the bill that the NDP wanted (removal of the set wage increases and the method of arbitration) each time they spoke, and let the government know that they'd be willing to end the filibuster if they'd be willing to change these things. Try to flip the onus of ending this on the Conservatives.
(And yes, this strategy would have won the Super Bowl, an Oscar, an Emmy, and three Grammys. :P )
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