The Sky is Falling: Ignatieff has long-term vision

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

The economic time-bomb that many in the CPC thought the LPC-NDP Coalition ought to hold instead of their PM, has been juggled by the coalition and the Liberals have thought twice and are sending it back. Why are progressives angry?

I believe a LPC-NDP Coalition budget would be better than what Harper has proposed, but would it have resulted in the ultimate defeat of Harper in an election? The coalition, while legal and constitutionally sound, was extremely unpopular with the majority of Canadians. It would have made more CPC voters than coalition enthusiasts in the next election.

I am pro-Coalition and I lament the fact that the Coalition never received the chance to govern, but that chance was back in December and the prorogation of parliament was the ultimate sign that the GG would not have given them the reigns should the government fall in the near future.

Now let us take a look at Ignatieff's strategy: The CPC will not achieve their objectives. And even if they do, there are too many other things that are missing in the budget for those left behind to be pissed off about. The ball was put into the Conservatives' corner when he successfully convinced the GG to prorogue parliament and he chose to ignore some crucial policies (amendments to EI, for example) that many Canadians are looking for.

Why didn't the Liberals make those amendments instead of the accountability amendments? Because you don't give your enemies your best ideas! You don't give them goals, that even are unachievable or difficult to achieve, that would be popular with Canadians. Imagine, that if the Liberals amended the budget to include all the things they thought ought to be included, what Harper could say in an election if those goals were not met: my hands were tied and those were unrealistic expectations; I made Liberal changes and they were still unhappy and now we have an election - I did my job; etc.

The Liberals are letting Harper fail on his own. They're allowing Harper to prove to Canadians that he really is incompetent and incapable of governing. They're allowing the Conservatives to be hypocrites and ruffle the feathers of their ideological base.

The NDP know that the fall of the CPC will probably swing more soft-conservative voters to Liberal candidates instead of their own. However, could Liberals gain on NDP ridings through this strategy? Perhaps, if not all NDP supporters were coalition-supporters. Which they aren't.

There is no Liberal-Conservative "virtual" coalition. It's a ridiculous piece of NDP propaganda that makes me wonder what the hell they were thinking when Jack signed that coalition agreement in the first place if the Liberals are so pro-Conservative. This "virtual" coalition is false and by becoming the new Accountability Hawks, the Liberals (and also the NDP if they would perhaps shift their electoral strategy and target CPC ridings instead of Liberal ones) have placed a pillow at the foot of the CPC to soften the impact when Harper falls on his own sword.

Ignatieff has long-term vision and he's not just thinking about this recession, or where we're going to be in June, or December. He's thinking of the political economy and what is best for the financial economy for the long-haul and he knows that the CPC cannot deliver on what is best for the country. But he realizes that they might be put back into the driver's seat should it fall and voters punish the opposition for forcing an election.

The GG killed the coalition back in December, every supporter of the coalition knows that deep down in their heart of hearts. It's time to dust ourselves off and think of what's the best way to end the ultimate threat to this country, Harper's leadership. Iggy is putting his foot forward and implementing the domino effect to do that.