Saturday, December 06, 2008

The Liberals Must Now Endure the Twelve Temptations

According to the ancient myth (I just made this one up), when men and women set out on a righteous course, they must endure twelve temptations calculated to lure them from their path.

So it now is for the Liberal Party, which is being sorely enticed to abandon the coalition with the NDP and seek an accommodation with Stephen Harper.

The first temptation came today in the form of an op ed piece in the Globe and Mail by John Manley, former deputy prime minister and minister of finance.

Technically still a Liberal, Manley has long served the cause of neo-conservatism and even that of the Harper government. He was the Canadian co-Chair of a commission whose goal was to promote the much deeper integration of the Canadian economy with that of the United States. A year ago, he offered succor to the Conservatives when he served as the head of their panel on Afghanistan, helping them to stave off criticism of Canada’s military role in a conflict which most Canadians do not support.

Manley’s advice to the Liberals is that the party’s national executive and parliamentary caucus should pick a new leader to replace Stephane Dion before Christmas. The first job of that leader should be to “rebuild the Liberal Party, rather than leading a coalition with the NDP.”

When the House resumes in late January---here Manley is at his most beguiling as the tempter---the Liberals should work “collaboratively with all other parties to restore the confidence of Canadians in their Parliament.”

Go back to work, under the Harper government, he is saying. Forget about the coalition and the plan to turn the Conservatives out of office.

The upshot of his advice, of course, is that the neo-Cons would remain at the helm. And then when Harper wants an election sometime down the road, he’ll get to choose the circumstances and the timing.

There is only one chance for the coalition to replace the Harper government and that is at the end of January before the Speech from the Throne or the Budget are passed. That course is precisely what Manley wants to prevent.

In the coming days, the other tempters will appear, some in more diaphanous apparel than Manley’s garb. According to the myth, each temper will be more beseeching than the ones who came before.

Liberals should remember though, that if they give in to temptation, awaiting them will be Stephen Harper and that he will visit upon them a terrible pestilence that will afflict them and their heirs to the end of days.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Still stuck on Waffle level stupid eh?

It is not about Dion.

It is about Layton, the NDP and their masters in the CFL reaching for the golden ring of power, because this is the closet the Socialist horde will ever get to power.

Unlike the Socialist CFL horde, the vast majority of Canadians reject the kindergarten analysis that is the "foundation" of socialism.

Enjoy the wilderness.

Oemissions said...

I am grateful for your post but after listening to the CBC panel today on At Issue I am feeling very depressed and my ship of Hope is sinking.
What is so disturbing is: Harper wins.
The press is already smashing the pumpkin. The slipper is lost.
He will forever smirk.
I am going to send him a lump of poop for Christmas.

Blues Clair said...

Fred feels threatened, hence his need to lash out. I've enjoyed your commentary Mr. Laxer since the beggining of this crisis. It was great to see Dion and Layton on the stage together today in Toronto. I wonderful sight.

Jenn Jilks said...

It is my fervent New Year's wish that Harper might actually work WITH other members of parliament. Yes, it is a dream, a notion - not yet an idea, that he will fulfill his promise, operate as if he were in a minority government position, and instead of stealing ideas from the coalition's proposed plans, put together gather ideas from MPs that will help our people and the economy. I want to sing, ♫♪♫♪ "I saw Harper kissing M. Jean, underneath the mistletoe last night"♫♪♫♪, but that would just be gross.
For now the coalition really does not know who they are and what they want to be when they grow up. It is fascinating watching it all unfold as perhaps it shouldn't.

Unknown said...

Thank you, Mr. Laxer. I've appreciated your commentary on the situation and I'm particularly grateful that you chose to talk about Manley. I had almost convinced myself that the people holding him up as a good choice for those who reject everything Stephen Harper stands for were referring to some other John Manley. The irony of such a strong believer in greater economic – and, let's face it, political – integration with the U.S. getting the nod as a friend to people who oppose the neoliberal agenda is almost painful.

Anonymous said...

Speaking in Winnipeg today, Bob Rae showed he understood the risks of knuckling under to Harper.

Said Rae: "What I know in my bones is that if we give Mr. Harper a vote of confidence at the end of January we will live to regret it for the rest of our lives. The democratic rights that he wanted to take away with that economic statement – they are the steps that he wanted to take. Those steps are not gone. Those steps are simply sleeping. There is nothing in what he has said since then that leads me to believe that he is sorry, has changed his mind, or is prepared to mend his ways. And everyone here knows that those are the steps that are crucial before you can say you are on the road to recovery. This guy ain’t on the road to recovery; he’s on the road to ruin."

Converso said...

Stephen Harper – former Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper – after a long and illustrious career in politics, a short stint in academia (at the University of Calgary, of course), and a long and distinguished retirement, is dead.
Stephen Harper goes to meet his Lord.
On his knees before his Lord, Stephen Harper is called to account for his life.
(There’s to be none of this St. Peter at the gates of heaven crap, you see – influential men like him get a personal audience with the Lord God upon arrival, to make their case for a life everlasting, yada yada yada, or damnation and eternal torment in the fires of hell. You know the story.)
It was long life with much to be accounted for, so we cannot touch upon everything said in that most portentous of conversations. May it suffice to say, even before his Lord God, Stephen Harper did not grovel. No he did not.
In a firm and strong voice, Stephen Harper described his personal and political life, with much emphasis, of course, on family, the church, his devotion to duty, his love of country, and how he did his very best to do what he sincerely believed to be the work of the entity standing before him, his Lord God – the stuff he thought the Lord wished him to do.
That was fine – but the thing is, after the presentation, the Lord will bring up any offences committed by his subjects and demand an explanation. That’s what He did.
The Lord God spoke:
Hmm… it says here, Harper (even the Lord God has to refer to his notes) that using the instrument of mass deception of the voting public over the course of three elections you did take control of the government of the independent nation known as the Dominion of Canada, and with malice aforethought, did dismantle and sell off to the highest bidder each and every institutional asset of that fair nation; rewrite that nation’s laws so as to align its legal and constitutional framework with the social and economic interests of a small cabal of businessmen, right-wing academics, and used car salesmen; and in accomplishing the foregoing, make of use of one of my fair creatures, to wit, a pussycat, as an engine of fraud.
What say you to these charges, Harper?
Lord, is this some kind of Liberal plot against me? Did someone slip a manila envelope under your door?
Says the Lord: Harper, do you know what omnipotent and omniscient mean?
Yes, My lord.
Then stop the political bull shit, will you, and answer the charges.
Yes, My Lord.
And so he did. And so brilliant was he. It seems the charges, well, they couldn’t really stick, because Stephen Harper actually believed that the things he did and was charged with. They were done without malice on his part; he actually believed that the things he did were in the best interests of the people of Canada. They had to be cured of their horrible curse of social democratic leaning, and, well, learn to love the market and to become good Social Darwinists, just like him, the Honourable Stephen Harper.
Except for the last one. The one about the pussycat.
About this Harper said “Lord, I’m really sorry about lying to the people of Canada about liking cats, when I really loathed cats and, well, thought they were evil and familiars of Satan. But that’s not serious, is it?”
“I’m afraid it is, Harper. I’m sorry, but my decision is that you shall be banished to that other place for eternity less a day, where you shall suffer the most tormenting of torments. The Prince of Darkness is here now waiting for you just outside the gates, and he will accompany you there. I think he’s a friend of yours, isn’t he? In Canada of your time he was known as Tom Flanagan.
No, Lord, please… tell me why this is happening?
But don’t you know, Harper? I would have thought one your friends at the Department of History at the U of C would have told you.
What, my Lord?
Well, Harper, I was a delegate to the founding convention of the CCF in 1932. Wordsworth, Tommy Douglas and I had a great time. Calgary was a lot more fun back then, you know.
Take him away!!!!

Unknown said...

Your comments, Mr Laxer, are poignant, relevant, and as usual, on target. Your recent posts provide a perspective rarely seen in mainstream media.

Whether the coalition will hold, is of course debatable considering the odds and the personalities. But in all of this, I've found new respect for Bob Rae, much of which was lost when he was Ontario's Premier.

Over the last ten days he's undergone a re-birth. Tough, well spoken, able to think on his feet and field difficult questions, he could be the coalition's best hope. He and Layton make a strong pair. As for choosing him Liberal leader down the road, baggage and all, his new party could do worse.

Anonymous said...

Fred said: "It is about Layton, the NDP and their masters in the CFL reaching for the golden ring of power, because this is the closet the Socialist horde will ever get to power. Unlike the Socialist CFL horde, the vast majority of Canadians reject the kindergarten analysis that is the "foundation" of socialism."

Response: I'm realy not sure what the Canadian Football League has to do with this debate.

My Cat Knows Better said...

Its not just John Manley, posing as a progessive, while attempting to continue Harper's war on Dion and the coalition. CTV, that Canadian icon to independent journalism, has once again trotted out Stephen LeDrew, the former head of the LPC and self-professed expert on everything political.

mmph said...

the opposition parties need to walk carefully. it is entirely possible that harper's deathbed conversion (read obituary in national post dec 6 - referred to as 'nixon') will be to bring forth a budget full of such goodies as universal daycare, mortgage interest deduction, elimination of marriage penalty etc. that it will be impossible for the coalition to vote it down. it took the ccf years to get the credit for universal health which it forced upon an unwilling government with a willing and grateful constituency. the coalition will have to work hard and diligently and with the strategy of preemption, such as taking the credit before the parliament is recalled, to make sure that the voters don't wrongly thank the conservatives at the next election.

Unknown said...

I don't know if this is one of the eleven temptations still to come, but according to a long-time Liberal who’s a Calgary business community insider (Darryl Raymaker), they’re clamoring for Harper to go, to be replaced by Jim Prentice. Prentice came THIS close to saddling us with the most regressive copyright law in the world to please the US media/entertainment lobby, and his wireless spectrum auction was a masterful con job that even the Financial Post admitted is unlikely to result in cheaper, better wireless service, but he’ll be perceived as moderate because he rarely opens his mouth – except to say “as you wish” to corporate Canada, of course.

Anonymous said...

Prof. James:
It looks as if Ignatieff will be leading the Liberals and he has no stomach for an election. He wants Harper to get stuck with the recession. He also sees that the NDP is gaining on the Liberals in Quebec. Iggy will want to nip that in the bud.
Now, what happens if I'm wrong and Iggy hangs tough and defeats Harper on the budget? Will the GG let the Liberals and the NDP govern or call and election. If it's the latter, then the NDP will suffer out West. Remember, the last time the party was on the wrong side of Western anger was in the early '90s as a result of the party's inexplicable and foolish support of the Meech and Charlottetown accords. The party lost 20 or so seats out West and has yet to recover. It'll lose all 7 in an election and gain nothing in Quebec. That's Bloc territory. The NDP has had an unrequited and painful love affair with Quebec over the years.
If the coalition succeeds in convincing the GG to let it govern, then the NDP might escape the wrath of the electorate, but find itself in a partnership with Liberals, who are every bit as conservative on matters of the economy and certainly every bit as hawkish when it comes to a more aggessive Afghan-Pakistan policy.
Has Ignatieff ever seen a war he didn't want to fight? What will cabinet minister Layton do should a Liberal PM decide to stay in Afghanistan and join in escalating the war as Barak Obama wants to do?
He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day.