The leader of the Liberal Party has announced that if elected Prime Minister he will allocate federal money to build a new stadium in Quebec City. This is going to put the Tory Quebec caucus in danger in the next election, but could lead to greater gains for the Conservatives in Ontario, BC, and Atlantic Canada. The current Mayor of Quebec campaigned on a new arena and won 80% of the vote in the municipal election, so this is something that resonates with the people in Quebec City. But there is little to no support for federal arena subsidies in Southern Ontario, so this is likely to be unpopular in the Liberal stronghold of Toronto. Etobicoke Lakeshore voted largely for Rob Ford in 2010.
Stephen Harper was considering the funding, but after substantial push back from the base he backed off. As Charles Adler said on Monday, "no matter how the would Tories played it, it would not have been to their benefit", and he's probably right. The question is, how many seats will the Liberals lose outside of Quebec because of this policy announcement? Also, most of those Tory QC seats are likely to shift to the Bloc, not the Liberals. So the end result might be more Tories elected outside of Quebec, and more Bloc MPs elected inside Quebec. Maybe Iggy expects the Liberals to win those seats, but even if they go Bloc, the Liberals and friends could put a big spin on the Tory Quebec caucus getting wiped out.
This is the best case scenario. Go Iggy GO!! What a Knob this guy is, it is like he doesn't know that there are these new fangled thingys like the internet and TV were invented so people outside Quebec can hear what he said. I hope in the next election he runs on this and the Tories don't win a single seat in Quebec and still get a majority. The we can have a REAL referendum!!!!
ReplyDeleteWorst case scenario, we'll hold on to at least 5 seats. Quebec voters still want representation in the federal government, and not all Tory seats in Quebec are near Quebec City. Also, the economy, autonomy, and crackdown on illegal immigration are important to Quebec, so let's not paint them as one-issue voters.
ReplyDelete"so let's not paint them as one-issue voters."
ReplyDeleteBut in essence they are and have been for a very long time and no I am not talking about seperation. Not many Quebecers are hard core seperatists but they are adept at blackmail. Blackmail that has been enabled by Federal Partys of all stripes buying votes. Beyond all comprehension this enabling increased with the emergence of the Bloc. Liberals and Torys thought that maybe they weren't paying enough hush money and if they paid more then Quebec would like us, they would really like us. But Quebecers saw a good thing and voted for more Bloc MPs and the Feds paid more ransom. Then more Bloc MPS and yet more of our money gets flushed away in Quebec. It has been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and hoping for a differnet result. Well I for one say it is time to top the insanity. Treat Quebec no different than any other Province. No better yet no worse. Treat them fairly and if that isn't good enough then see ya!
This is no different than caving to Unions. Same result. The enablers never can buy peace or love of the ones they try to buy off.
But can you trust the promises of the Liberals?
ReplyDeleteoh i forgot it is Quebec
ADSCAM sponsorship Quebec
fh
Maybe Iffy was also thinking he could buy big city ROC votes, like Winnipeg and Regina.
ReplyDeleteSo now Iffy expanded on his national vision,
wants to build schools, hospitals and arenas.
Manitoba Tory leader Hugh McFadyen tried the same thing in the last provincial election.
ReplyDeleteIt was one of the things that got him labelled not ready for prime time.
I can't believe that Ignatieff would pick up that toxic torch.
Also, I think Quebec has reached the limit on their extortion envelope. They are now so hopelessly dependent on Canada that they can never separate.
It will take them generations to even get a handle on their own provincial debt.
Nevermind what they would owe Canada if they left.
They can keep sending the Bloc to Ottawa.
It just consigns them to irrelevance in determining national affairs.
That dog won't hunt in the Quebec City area on this outing, where Libs are 4th. As a long-tern strategy, after Gilles is gone, perhaps, if Rae unites the left after Iggy's departure and the BLOCheads decide to join Canada again.
ReplyDelete