Micheal Ignatieff: "“I could be sitting here as your prime minister, but I turned it down because I didn’t think it was right for someone who believes in the national unity of my country to make a deal with people who want to split the country up,”
I wonder if the media is going to give Ignatieff a pass on this one too?
Update: Oh how Iggy's tune has changed : Links from Andrew Coyne at Macleans .
Source: "Like them, he's a federalist, and said Canadians shouldn't fear the Bloc Quebecois' role in the opposition coalition, which also includes the New Democrats."
Source: "Bloc MPs are duly elected by Québec voters. They are not traitors, they are not the enemies of Canada."
I thought that the Daily Gleaner article was so good it deserves to be reprinted in its entirety.
Read it yourself for a little understanding on just how Ignatieff really thinks and how he used this entire charade as an excuse to seize power of the Liberal Party for his OWN benefit.
SAINT JOHN - Stephen Harper will have to destroy the Liberal Party to keep his job as prime minister, and that's not going to happen, Michael Ignatieff said Friday.
In Saint John for meetings with local business and political leaders, the Liberals' prospective quarterback said that not even banishing Parliament to a seven-week recess will help Harper save his government.
"Mr. Harper's only chance for survival is to split the Liberal Party of Canada," Ignatieff said in his first significant interview since Ottawa's descent into a constitutional crisis.
"He will try to drive a wedge between us, and he will not succeed. Our party is united in its determination to face Mr. Harper down."
Ignatieff is the most popular Liberal leadership candidate in a race that includes fellow Ontarian Bob Rae and Beausejour MP Dominic LeBlanc. He arrived in Saint John on Thursday night and was shepherded around the city by former MP Paul Zed, chairman of his 2006 leadership campaign.
"As soon as I left Ottawa, I could feel the stress leaving me with every mile," said Ignatieff, whose great-grandfather, Sir George Parkin, was from Parkindale, near Moncton.
"I can't walk through the airport, go to the supermarket or stop to get a bottle of wine without people saying, 'What is going on?'
"This is a special event in Canadian history."
His ability to govern fading by the minute, Harper asked Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean on Thursday to prorogue, or temporarily suspend, Parliament. The manoeuvre allowed the embattled prime minister to escape a no-confidence vote that would have scuttled his leadership.
But Ignatieff said nothing will save Harper from that fate. He said a coalition of opposing parties will ultimately topple the Conservatives, who retained a minority government in the Oct. 14 election. The House of Commons is scheduled to re-convene during the last week in January.
"This is an extraordinary situation," said Ignatieff, who lost the last leadership vote to Stephane Dion. "The prime minister has had to go begging the Governor General to get off the hook. But he is the one who got us to where we are today.
"He deliberately provoked the opposition and created a political crisis, and a national unity crisis, and that is unworthy of a prime minister.
"People are furious at him, and they should be."
The son of a Canadian diplomat and the grandson of a Russian count, Ignatieff was a campaign volunteer for Lester B. Pearson in 1965, and three years later was a national youth organizer and party delegate for Pierre Trudeau.
Like them, he's a federalist, and said Canadians shouldn't fear the Bloc Quebecois' role in the opposition coalition, which also includes the New Democrats.
"Democracy hinges on there being confidence in the government, and there isn't any at present," Ignatieff said. "In fact, Mr. Harper has managed almost the impossible, by getting parties that disagree on fundamentals to join together.
"But there are limits to what the Liberal Party will allow. The Liberal Party believes in fiscal responsibility and a competitive business environment, but it will never trade away national unity or trade away the authority of government.
"What's outrageous is for a party like ours to seek to end a constitutional impasse caused by Mr. Harper, and to be discredited as traitors. That's terrible. He crossed the line when he did that.
"His rhetoric has to stop, and stop for good."
Animosity has grown between the Conservatives and the Opposition since Harper called a fall election, a year ahead of schedule, in hope of winning a majority. The Tories ended up gaining seats, but in the last two weeks completely lost control of the House of Commons as deadlock devolved into disaster.
Ignatieff said the crisis was triggered by what the Opposition perceived as government attacks on collective bargaining and pay equity, and by a proposition by Harper to do away with financing political parties.
"You can't make a gesture like that and expect to have the co-operation of the House," Ignatieff said. "But that's typical Harper. He tried to jam us and we refused, and it was game over at that point.
"To understand the rage, you have to understand that this is the continuation of a buildup of accumulating resentments. It was a long time coming."
The last straw, Ignatieff said, was when the prime minister failed to announce an economic recovery plan that was to the Opposition's liking.
"We were anxiously awaiting the government's economic stimulus package, and we sat there in stunned disbelief over the absence of any economic stimulus," Ignatieff said. "Like in Sherlock Holmes, when the dog didn't bark, everyone sat around and looked at one another, dumbfounded."
Ignatieff said the coalition has already worked, by forcing Harper to back down on collective bargaining, pay equity for women and on party financing.
"That's pretty good for a week in Parliament," he said.
Educated at the University of Toronto, Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard, Ignatieff's ancestors were among the early settlers in Parkindale, which is in Albert County. His great-grandfather, the founder of the Rhodes Trust, served as a headmaster at schools in Bathurst and Fredericton.
"I've got some New Brunswick in me," he said.
Ignatieff said his constituency office in Toronto received 2,000 e-mails one day this week from Canadians concerned about the current conundrum. He said it can be resolved by a government-run coalition.
"In our system, to govern, a government has to have the confidence of the House," he said. "We have to talk to each other, not past each other, and that isn't happening now. We owe that to the Canadian people.
"Canadians can have confidence in a coalition, provided they know certain things are on the table and certain things are off it at all times. And they have our iron-clad assurance they we will govern in their best interest.
"I think this is what Canadian people pay us to do. They pay us to get it right, and I think we have to find a way out of this for all Canadians. I am convinced we can do this. We are up to it.
"We are aware we are we are living historic moments. We are aware of the responsibility."
Funny how all of this has now changed once he got what HE wanted out of it; not for the good of the people of Canada but rather for himself.
If this is not proof that he only cares about what is good for Iggy and that he will say or do anything to achieve his goals, than I do not know what would be.
11 comments:
Of course.
Actually it is factually untrue. Had the coalition succeeded, Dion would be sitting as PM and Ignatieff would have been sitting in a Cabinet with the NDP and running everything by Gilles Duceppe for approval.
For a guy who did not want to make a deal with the bloc on the coalition sure had a strange way of showing it at the time when signed the document!
Now he has even abandoned his own signature and everything it stands for.
What a cheeky guy our dear Liberal leader is - he could be PM - was he planning an unfortunate stiletto to the heart of the previous dear Liberal leader. March 11th would have been a good date for the change of leadership in keeping with ancient Roman politics of "lets eat our own" and hope the plebs don't notice.
No. Dion would be sitting there as PM and Ignatieff would just another Liberal arse who signed the document!
In most jurisdictions,,, if you sign it, you agree to it.
What specious dink!
Check out Andrew Coyne's blog and also Bourque's got it now.
Ignatieff's done like dinner!
Thanks for the tip. An update is definitely coming soon.
I wish AA, that you had the tape when Ignatieff told Kevin Newman for the GLOBAL NATIONAL NEWS in an interview when Ignatieff was asked about the 'coalition'. Ignatieff said that he has to honour his signature on the coalition agreement.
Duceppe must love that statement and most likely use it against IGNATIEFF or any member of the liberal mps in HOC whose signature is on the agreement.
Has the NDP tape ever been released. I still believe this coalition was in place before the election. PMSH called the election to stop it. After the election it was apparent that the Bloc was needed, to gain enough seats. Why else did Dion dither on resigning, he was planning on the coup to become PM. The planners just forgot that the GG would have to invite them to form a govt, they could not go and demand power.
I think the coalition is still an option for the opposition, they just haven't had an opportunity to execute it. The GG would call an election. Iggy saying he could have been PM but chose not to is plain BS.
Too bad the media wont call him on it.
Too bad the media wont call him on it.
Not a chance MaryT, the media is part of the whole show. They followed the coalition trio whereever they went and spoke highly of the coalition scheme.
I don't remember a time on television ever hearing the MSM speak for us and our rights and democracy.
The MSM frankly don't care about us.
Iggy gets but one word....
WINDBAG
followed by two words....
SELF-INFLATED.
Huckster
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