Liberal MPs are confiding in Jane Taber that 2011 "looks a lot like" 1993, though her "sources" remain confidential. That is quite a lot of wishful thinking if you ask me, especially since now there is no Reform Party to split the Conservative vote in two. The Liberal Party might be borrowing some Chretien policies from 1993, but expect the result to be far different. They'll run a campaign similar to Chretien's 93 rise to power, but in a far different landscape. The fact that Donolo is running the campaign again and they want to scrap a fighter jet contract just allows Liberals like Taber to wax nostalgic about the good ole days to try and energize the foot soldiers.
By the way, the two main Chretien policies were a bust. Scrap the GST was never done, and turfing the helicopter contract ended up being a costly and really bad idea. Our helicopter fleet was falling part and needed to be replaced, and that it was not added logistical complications to our search and rescue operations. If you want to look back at the 1993 campaign, I see broken promises and bad ideas.
The Libs are sucking in the polls, that is pretty much the only thing similar to 1993. If having horrible poll numbers is what it takes to win government then we would have PM Dion right now.
ReplyDeleteJust a noisy form of political suicide for Iggy.
ReplyDeleteThey simply don't have the guts or the honesty to turff him without an election.
Bring it on, I say. It's worth all those pesky donation phone calls if it bleeds some more money from Liberal coffers.
The reason for Chretien's win in '93 was Mulroney bringing in the gst. Plain and simple.
ReplyDelete"The Liberals are 4th in Quebec and supporting the arena won't give them one seat in Quebec" said Jean Lappierre on PP.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone watched their committee manipulations today on CPAC ,it won't get them any votes.No wonder they are stuck at 23% and will most likely drop even lower. Dion must be rejoycing.Wonder if his seat will be safe?
Now let’s see.
ReplyDeleteWay back then, they had Lying Brian Mulphoney, who stupidly shackled Canadians with the GST, then bee lined it for his Corporate directorships and his hot date with I-Karly at Motel 6. The outcome of all this was a “walk in the park” win. But the fact is that it was much more a defeat and repudiation of Mulphoney then it was a victory for that other Quebec crook who took over from him.
If there is any similarity to 1993, it’ll be that the Liberal will be taking the beating this time.
As far as the lying, dirt-bagging Toronto media goes, they’ve been reading all the screeching kooks who populate their comment section for so long, they think they have the win in the bag. I can hardly wait to see the sappy look on their loathsome mugs when reality hits then right between the eyes.
Paulsstuff, it was also the emergence of the BLOQ with their 54 votes, some conservative, as well as a constant vilification of Mulroney, similar to Harper (for better reasons), by the Liberal media.
ReplyDeleteA lot has changed since 1993, with the BLOQ holding so many seats.
And it is really clear now that the Liberals have a math deficit. They do not even get demographics. Many middle class baby boomers are not all worried about paying for university and caring for parents. We can and have paid our own way, thanks, and did not ever vote for these social programs. I never wanted EI and I will never get OAS. CPP will be taxed to zero.
The early boomers (born 1946) are retired and paying wads of taxes on their pensions and investments, and many of our parents are dead. Some middle boomers probably have concerns about caring for aging parents, but there are generous write-offs, and some may be concerned about education, but many of the children have already gone through post-secondary (P.S. only 30% do), except for the divorced second families (sorry, you could not get along with your first pick - get out of my wallet, as divorce is the most costly decision one can make after having a child).
Anyone born in the last phase (1960-1964) probably does worry about all of issues (and so did we, then as we were broke while making good salaries, as it was all taxed away!).
The Libs continue to appeal to a very narrow urban demographic. Have a good time. I just hope we do not have to spend 300M to get rid of their incompetent leader. Ditto for Christy Clark of BC.
They talk to themselves.
Other things to remember:
ReplyDelete1993: Liberals facing a neophyte in Kim Campbell. 2011: Liberals facing Stephen Harper.
1993: Liberals had an experienced veteran campaigner in Jean Chretien.
2011: Liberals have Michael Ignatieff, who only campaigned once (for the 2007 leadership), did not lead in the 2008 election and was appointed leader without campaigning.
1993: Canadian electorate had nearly a decade of Brian Mulroney, who took Canada through Free Trade, Meech Lake and Charlottetown.
2011: Canadian electorate had five years of Stephen Harper, who did a GST reduction and continued participation in Afghanistan.
Conclusion: Harper does not have the baggage of Muluroney, and the Liberals will be in for a world of suffering if they don't start paying attention.
It looks more like 2008 all over again, than 1993!
ReplyDeleteIffy promising Quebecers anything they want.
Even got Brison out praising the BC Carbon Tax yesterday.