Water Court Foyer of the National Gallery of Canada
http://www.siegelproductions.ca/ottawarocks/viennese.htm
The Liberal Party is falling apart, and will not recover. Like all liberal parties in Europe, it will become a weakling at the mercy of ephemeral coalitions. By refusing the historic coalition that would have placed it at the helm of the left, it will be punished by history.-Janine Krieber Professor at Royal Military College of Canada
Her background and expertise should not be dismissed in her criticism of the writings on the current leaders regarding his writings of torture.
It’s been a year since the Dion putsch, so Ms. Krieber can’t be accused of lashing out in the heat of the moment. She’s had time to think, and her words carry particular danger in that they appear to reflect a conviction held by others in the party.- Kelly McParland
This is what Janine Krieber got right
1) Igantieff has been an unmediated disaster.
2) The rot goes well beyond Ignatieff.
3) Paul Martin was a cancer. - The Maple Three
Insiders Unhappy:
Over the past several years, I have seen that the position of VP Org has been neglected, in terms of energy, commitment and resources, and coincidentally, we have seen a dramatic drop in Liberal held seats in Ontario. - James Curran
What is the biggest challenge facing the Liberal Party of Canada in Ontario today? -BCer in Toronto
All Parties are challenged by the ambivalence and apathy that has permeated throughout the political system, in large part due to the focus on strategy and tactics, rather than solid policy development and meaningful dialogue.
While at the riding level, fundraising in most parts of the province is a challenge, I believe if we look at the bigger picture, the most significant challenge facing the federal Liberal Party in Ontario is that we have not rationalized a general and coordinated strategy for the organization.
To put it bluntly, we have no plan to implement and therefore, there is little or no buy-in from the members and ridings and this affects all aspects of the Party's operations, from membership to fundraising and from policy to participation.
We are having difficulties attracting new members and ensuring that we are a Party that is growing, rather than a Party in decline.
We must address these fundamental shortcomings by focusing on the creation and implementation of a solid plan.
The Liberals have had NO PLAN for YEARS. The Liberals spent a few weeks pushing a fake scandal trying to win back the Catholic Vote at the expense of our PM attending a state funeral. They decry our PM arriving a minute and a half behind some leaders for a photo op. They sided with a Chinese dictator in rebuke of our PM, they lined up with activists organizations who have a vested financial interest such as Green Peace. Liberals are pushing a new tax on Canadians use of Carbon, GreenShift redux and publicly stating they will not raise taxes.
The Liberals were able to coast to victory in 2000 with the support of two key groups: visible minorities and Catholics. By 2008, the Liberals could no longer count on their loyalty. The visible minority vote dropped 14 points between 2000 and 2004 (see Figure 2).3 The main beneficiary was the NDP. The Liberals did not lose any further ground in 2006, but in 2008, they lost a massive 19 points. And now it was the Conservatives who benefited. In fact, minority voters were almost as likely to vote Conservative in 2008 as they were to vote Liberal.-The Anatomy of The Liberal Defeat
In 2000 Jean Chretien has the Perfect Storm. He was able to take advantage of a split right and a weakened NDP who were NOT competitive in Ontario. Ontario and Quebec was responsible in giving the Liberals their last majority.
In 2008 the Liberals suffered the worst defeat in popular support in over 100 years. The Liberals have been reduced to the three largest cities. It has been nearly a decade since the Liberals have enjoyed the "Perfect Storm".
In November 2009 during a global recession, posting a large deficit, Canadian voters sent two more MP's to join the CPC caucus. The Liberals failed to win a single seat or make a decent showing in any of the ridings.
Follow The Money:
In a few weeks the finances will become public again for the political parties. The Liberals can't ignore that several of the leadership candidates in 2006 have failed to repay their loans. Elections Canada will be unable to give another extension. Some estimates are over one million dollars will be counted as campaign expense for the party reducing their ability to fund the next campaign. The GST overpayment is estimated at another million. My opinion is the party is in serious financial difficulty and has not attracted a significant list of new donors. I wrote a post several months ago on this funding shortfall. Since than Rocco Rossi has resigned and several key liberal staffers from Toronto have left their positions at LPOC HQ.
Are they having a problem making payroll?
11 comments:
Excellent analysis! Sure the Liberals are broke, their Bay Street buddies can't prop them up anymore.
The only portion of your analysis with which I take exception is Ms. Kreiber's comments regarding the decline of liberal parties in Europe. It would seem to me that the liberal element has almost total control.
The attacks by the institutions of the state on anyone who dares contradict their politically correct catechism when it comes to immigrants is one example of the liberal social-engineers at work. The massive restructuring of the tax system to satisfy the carping demands of the environmentalists is another example of liberal bureaucratic terrorism. The dictatorial edicts of an unelected super-government defines liberalism in its truest form. The refusal of most European nations to commit combat troops to NATO, an organization that once protected them, in its Afghanistan operations displays how far the liberal values have inculcated themselves into the psyche of the people.
Now, if Ms. Krieber associates liberal values as falling between socialists and conservatives, and that the above mentioned atrocities are socialist inspired values rather than liberal values, then I am in agreement with her.
Fantastic graphics!
To Powell Lucas I'd say that Sarkozy and Merkel are considered right wing by European standards, and that Gordon Brown is a lame duck. The European center may be to the left of the North American center, but there has been a recent shift in European electoral results, and least in the most important European economies. Burleshchoni in Italy is considered right wing by European standards, and Spain doesn't count.
The last round of EU Parliamentary voting was widely viewed as a right wing victory, even if their right is to our left.
It's all about baby steps.
Don't forget Poland, Iceman. We have center-right government and right wing opposition. Times are good.
Thank you, new format think I have lost my older comments argh!
Without finances they can not afford to buy air time for TV, they have used the CBC and internet radio to launch their offensive attack ads.
Some estimates had them $ 3 million in debt before Dion got his smackdown.
If they don't break $ 10 million this in 2009 than they have not made a significant gain in closing the gap.
With all the free press from the MSM in 2009 why have they been unable to capitalize on getting new donors?
Powell lucas Italy has the Cable Guy for PM.
Looks like labour party is toast now.
Germany new coalition went with a right of centre party.
The right of centre parties have pushed back the liberal welfare state solutions.
Michael Coren has briefly discussed this from his perspective as well.
If you examine some of the Liberal bloggers they are starting to admit their leader has failed to motivate the donors and grassroots in returning.
In 2008 700k confirmed Lib voters stayed home. If another 300k join them in 2010/2011 the difficult majority should be achievable.
Jack Layton made a tactical mistake in October forming the coalition. He must be angry after Iffy refused to honour his signature in Jan 2009.
How long can Jack moderate his position and actually read the Bills before rejecting them?
Great post. The Tory Fundraising juggernaut will continue to run over the grits. The latest grit ad buy was pathetic. They don't have the money. No TV ads and some radio ads.
Once Harper gets a Senate majority, he will have almost all the major advantages over the Libs. And he is going to use them for maximum effect.
It's obvious that the Libs and Dippers are woefully unprepared for a snap election after the March budget (as Spector and Don Newman speculated Harper would do).
The only thing saving them, is the public backlash, helped along by the media, that would result from such a hardball move by Harper.
IMHO, the best outcome of the budget vote, is if the Lib MPs split--some voting for, some voting against, some abstaining. But how to get that kind of result ? Maybe go after the Libs non-urban MPs, with a hot button issue like the gun registry ?
The "divide and conquer" approach seems to be Harper's preferred way to proceed in taking down the LPC beast. Flanagan's "war of attrition" won't work fast enough, as we saw when the Libs appointed Iggy, bypassing a leadership race. And Harper said he would only revisit $1.95 subsidy during the next campaign.
By refusing the historic coalition that would have placed it at the helm of the left, it will be punished by history.-Janine Krieber
I'd like to point out that the Coalition was a Lose-Lose situation for the liberals. Had the Liberals held the helm, they would have been powerless to stop the multiple torpedoes already on their way. Remember the real opposition to the Coalition? People were genuinely angry. It would have been their GST moment. I'm not sure about now, but then, people voted strategically. If they had known that the choice was between the Conservatives and an NDP-Lib-Bloc mutant, it would have been a landslide for the Conservatives. Scrapping Dion and the Coalition was the lesser of 2 evils for the Libs.
Excellent post btw!
CJ,
I agree the MSM has been busy propping up the Liberls in 2009 with fake scandals. A saving grace is the CBC News is not in the Top 30 Programs. The problem is the 'groupthink' with the PPG in Ottawa who feed on morsels of negative news for weeks ignoring the good news resulting in driving down voter participation.
( I blame the mainstream media for pushing negativity, cynicisim in our politics.)
Spin Assasin,
If the Liberals were serious about rebuilding their party, holding adult conversation and developing a REAL alternative to the current gov't I would agree with your position that the coalition was a lose-lose.
They went for the short game:
(They rushed Dion out in hopes of a January-May election Harper wearing the recession)
The Party of Props & Twitter spent their entire year talking down the economy and the budget they voted for! In September they voted non-confidence without offering a Real alternative. (Iffy removes any doubt he is the "Emperor No clothes" again!)
They kept threatening every other month to defeat the government. Review the monthly list of scandals in 2009.
They effectively muzzled themselves by restricting ANY ideas until 5 days before the writ is dropped! ( I still can't believe they are calling it a wise move)
This is NOT how a government-in waiting (official opposition) behaves. This is how the fringe NDP/Bloc parties behave in the HOC.
We have had the Party of Tweets rehash a promise from their Red Book National Daycare, host a Pinkbook Party (overshadowed by a doorknob stunt).
Rick Mercer was thrilled for the Liberals, he even made a video. It took 10 months to announce a Policy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4YV-JqeRS4
What have they done in 2009 to give the 700,000+ confirmed Liberals voters who stayed home in 2008?
LPOT
Trust us, let us look at the books, Kevin Page is endorsed (correct) but we won't raise taxes or cut program as he states. If you can find anything resembling an adult conversation or ideas from the Liberals let me know!
Thanks.
For the last decade, the LPC were merely brokers for other parties ideas.
That is why they are total failures in opposition,
they have never owned the ideas they say they stood for.
Balanced budgets & pay down the national debt: Reform.
SSM, national daycare, child poverty: NDP
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