Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronald Pagan
Eitherway, should be an interesting parliament. Harper has been significantly weakened.
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Maybe. But it can be argued the Liberals could be weakened even more. This is something that could blow apart a party that has threatened to come apart for years now. They can no longer hold up the national unity card as a party. They've put themselves behind a leader that got blown out of the water in the national election a few short weeks ago.
In the end I'm not convinced this will weaken Harper though it depends on how everything turns out. Yesterday Harper without a doubt won the day with his performance during question period and everyone got a reminder as to why they didn't vote for Dion.
More and more will come out over the coming 48 hours of backroom deals, "bribes" to Quebec (hell the PQ and Bloc are bragging!), that the Bloc really does hold the power, Senate promises, cabinet minister deliberations by a coalition that hasn't even been granted power, a stimulus package that doesn't exist etc etc. A lot of cart before the horse stuff and a lot of information that completely destroys the foundation of why the coalition said they were doing this. There is no question that as each hour passes the media is making this look more and more like the power grab it is and that the power grab has no substance behind it. I think that is only going to get worse over the remainder week and come the weekend the coalition will start to really fall apart as Ignatieff and the half of the liberal MPs that support him step away.
Unless Dion can somehow show he is capable of being even an interim leader. I doubt he can because it's plain as day that he just doesn't have the necessary demeanour to be that guy for a minute let alone 6 months. And honestly, Ignatieff is in a position to guarantee himself of being the leader of the liberal party in 6 months time by being the saviour that prevented Dion from allowing separatists to run the party. I don't think it's a stretch to see that happen. Ignatieff is not a red liberal...he's a blue liberal so getting into bed with the NDP has to be galling to him, and then to get into bed with separatists should be putting him over the edge even if he despises Harper. If it doesn't he is going to lose a lot of credibility and be forever tied to Dion - the guy who gave the Bloc power.