"Where are the Greens"? My new and non Liberal blogging friend Idealistic Pragmatist asks that very timely and probing question, and gives some thoughtful analysis & opinion on the Greens silence for Liberals lack of support for the recent NDP non confidence motion on the environment.
I agree with almost everything she wrote and have to wonder as well, just how far does that deal between Elizabeth May and Stephane Dion really go. They said it was limited only for their own 2 ridings, but in truth it looks to have gone much farther than that. As IP noted there seems to be NO criticism from the Green Party on anything to do with Dion and the Liberals. You would think it obvious by the way many Libloggers are going after their own leadership under Dion, that a competing political party would at the very least be raising some questions of their own. Yet there is silence from the Green Party.Is this lack of criticism part of the deal or perhaps,
Could a full fledged merger be in the works between the Liberals and Green Party?
The Greens already look to be going out of their way to play extra nice with their leaders Liberal friends, and since May has already endorsed Dion to be Prime Minister, I don't see it as out of the range of possibility that they take it a step further and try merging the 2 parties.
It is a risky proposition but given the recent setbacks of the Liberals it could be a possible strategy. If you take a look to the polls (take your pick) the differences in support between the CPC and LPC has been relatively consistent since the election. Now if the Liberals could manage to add on the Greens numbers to that of their own, they easily become top dog in the race.
While I do not see the numbers going that way if a merger did indeed happen, just the thought of it occurring might just be enough for the desperate Dion led Liberals to make the attempt.
I think we should be keeping on this one, because you just never know what will happen.
After all, the Libs have nothing else and the clock is ticking on the Liberal self destruct timer.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
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8 comments:
If that happened, I doubt that the Greenberals would hold onto all the green support that they have now.
I can see why this hypothetical might be appealing to the Liberals if they thought that they could retain the Green support base (which I highly doubt), but why would the Greens, as the only party which has actually grown in support since the last election, be inclined to join with another party?
I am no fan of the Liberals. Yes, I'd sooner have them forming government than the Conservatives, if those were my only two choices, but there's so much room for improvement there that that is hardly a ringing endorsement.
I never thought I'd be able to agree with Joanne about anything, but I agree with her about this. The Greens are more use to the Liberals as they currently are, keeping potential votes away from the NDP and helping give credibility to Dion.
I think a merger would be a disaster for both (not that I oppose that). The majority of Green voters are parking votes because they don't like Dion (my two brothers-in-law fall into this category) or Harper. A merger with Liberals would either drive them to the NDP or to stay home on election day. Second, aside from the environment, Green party policies (the few they have) are decidely right wing so wouldn't be of interest to Liberals. For the Liberal Party it would be quite a sight to see -how many ridings would be "allotted" to former Green Party candidates and would the current (or future) Liberal candidates quitely stand aside? Green Party candidates (like some NDP and David Orchard) are ideologues who are in it solely to promote their own personal agenda and could be more of a problem than a help. Finally, what does this say about the desparation of the Liberals? The Conservatives, NDP, and Bloc would quickly frame this as a Hail Mary play of a desparate leader and party --- I have been surprised at the silence of the Green Party lately - perhaps they are starting to realise (like the Liberals) they picked a very poor quality leader and are figuring out how to dump her and get someone whose elevator reaches the top floor.
Ron,
I don't know where you got that Green Party is right-wing outside of the environment.
The last time I looked at their platform, they had switch to an NDP type stance. Previous to Elizabeth May they were fairly libertarian.
I am certain most Green Party voters will not support a merger, and be spread among the other parties.
I too think that the Greens numbers would be split up among all of the parties, but given what we have seen so far from the Dion led Liberals, such an attempt seems possible.
Somewhere in the OLO, there is someone salivating as they look at adding the Greens poll numbers to their own.
'...as the only party which has actually grown in support since the last election, be inclined to join with another party?..'
To stop Harper,
to stop vote splitting on the left,
to stop Harper,
for their candidates to finally get a seat instead of being the protest vote,
to stop Harper..
Libs still have 100 or so candidates to 'appoint'.
IMO Greens would give in on giving Ontario's (where 40% of the votes are) auto sector a break, if they could shut down the Alberta oilsands, in trade.
Green's would sell out their mother, if they could shut down oil and gas in Alberta.
Kill the economy? No worries, there will be lots of $12 hr jobs assembling windmills.
Kinsella suggested Dion could win if he did a Trudeau 'zap, you're frozen', price freeze on gas prices.
Here we go again. ??
Libs can't win an election unless they divide the country.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
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