According to CTV News….
Michael Ignatieff makes history, becoming the first American to lead the Liberal Party of Canada!
Update – Reader Mike W. writes with a reminder – “Have the Liberals forgotten how it worked last time they let one Mr. Paul Martin scare the rest of the pack out of the race?”
Probably.
Mississauga Matt is unhappy. “I should get a say as to who leads the LPC. After all, I’m part of the majority that never voted for them.”
The MSM will have to make the CPC look far-right so that the Liberals will appear to be the center. Get ready for a full assault of the Neo-cons are mean-spirited, nasty, knuckle-dragging, heartless rednecks stories. Articles filled with anonymous sources, sensitive papers found and delivered to the CBC, days upon days of manufactured outrage over one petty issues and an unending parade of “experts” to condemn every CPC initiative. I suspect they will also throw in a lot of region-baiting stories to attempt to demonize the west to gain support in Ontario and the East. That is why the progressive MSM want Harper gone. He has outsmarted them too many times and they would prefer an easier target.
Let’s see. Having failed in a clandestine backroom coup to replace Canada’s duly-elected Prime Minister without going to the Canadian electorate, the Liberal Party of Canada has responded by . . . well . . . conducting an INTERNAL clandestine backroom coup to dispose of its own elected leader, the chief knock against whom is that he is a hopelessly out-of-touch academic, and replace him with another hopelessly out-of-touch academic without going to the Liberal Party membership.
Somehow, I don’t think that this will play well in a democracy.
Conservatives must stress how this episode exposes the incredible insularity, elitism and Toronto-centrism of the Liberal Party of Canada. For the Liberals, it’s all about catering to the ever-changing whims and whispers of the backroom elite in Toronto. This is a political party that has turned its back on its own rank-and-file, just as it has turned its back on ordinary Canadians.
The Tories should be welcoming with open arms those centrist Liberal Party members who are having second thoughts about jumping into an ill-conceived coalition with socialists and separatists on the eve of a Global recession and who want to know just how a Russian aristocrat (I, for one, will be insisting that Count Ignatieff be addressed using his proper title) who has spent the majority of his adult life outside of Canada came to be their party’s leader without their vote.
Strange – Iggy is a rookie MP who has never been in government except for opposition; has never had to make any decisions on policy for the country; was the original “Green Shift” carbon tax guy during the first leadership race and whose claim to being a Canadian “Liberal” is that he worked as a volunteer for Trudeau when he was a teenager.
Harper has more than 15 YEARS experience in Parliament and has spent the majority of his adult life developing policies for this country which he has lived in and contributed to for his entire life.
I really don’t get why the so called smart people in the Liberal party recruited Iggy in 2005 to move back to Canada after 30 years away and truly believing that an insular professor whose only insights into our country for three decades has been filtered through the media and what he read from other sheltered acasdemics.
If we wondered if the Liberals were out of touch with Canadians we now have absolute confirmation.
Scary indeed. The latte Toronto centric media elite want one of their own I guess. How about US????
When will the MSM rise up and blame Stephen Harper for the hole that the Liberals have dug for themselves?
Enter, the leader of the band: Iggy Pop and the Stooges!
Stephen Le Drew, a big Liberal party guy (past President I believe) wrote in the National press before (I assume) Iggy’s crowning.
[ A party cannot choose a leadership candidate to be interim leader, and expect anyone to think it is a fair race. That is why parties traditionally demand that any interim leader sign a pledge saying he or she will not run for permanent leader. It is also wrong to deny thousand of people their say; it is undemocratic and bad politics. It smacks of an elitist club.]
[ .. ]
[ In response, some Liberals contend that the party needs a permanent leader to run in the election that surely will befall us before the Liberal convention in Vancouver slated for May. But anyone who says that the Liberals should vote down the government has rocks in his head.
The Liberal party has no money, precious few new ideas (I am being generous here), an embarrassing leader and the least voter-support in its history. It desperately needs to rebuild before it can expect any respect from Canadians.]
[ Looking at the results of the leadership convention that tapped Paul Martin, the Liberal party does not gain from a coronation. Let the race begin. – Stephen LeDrew, a Toronto lawyer and a radio host on CFRB 1010, was president of the Liberal Party of Canada from 1998 to 2003.] NP
IMO, the only thing that explains the LPC conduct lately is that all rational thought has been displaced by a fit of rage. The fit of rage, resulting from the threat of loosing the taxpayer teat.
If the Liberals we’re worried about collecting donations before … try knocking on a door now.
Vote for us! If you don’t like us now, how about with a new leader? We change them often, as snow tires, they can be seasonal.
Iggy – Maclean’s 2003 Canada’s Sexiest Cerebral Man!!!
Guess that’ll teach Rae from show his butt on national television in prime time!
Imagine the MSM tolerating a Conservative candidate that spent 30 years outside this country. Ha.
The Libs think that by putting new lipstick on an old skunk it will keep it from smelling. The honeymoon with Iggy will last about as long as it takes for the old smell to cross the room.
Sadly though, it would be a very healthy thing for Canada to have an opposition with a semblance of integrity and decency.
However, since the party funding changes that cut them off from their large corporate buddies and their corrupt hold on power its like watching a penniless Paris Hilton trying to survive on the street.
All it can do now is pimp itself out to the highest bidder like the NDP and the Bloc to survive.
Pretty sad spectacle.
The reality of the LPC is that they are bankrupt: ideologically, morally, and financially. Instead of new ideas, ethical behavior, and effective fund raising, we have seen ill conceived notions (Green Shift, Coalition), smear jobs (Mulroney, Cadman) and feigned indignation (how dare you take my voter subsidized money from me?). OK so they have a new leader – but expect more of the same…
So the liberals, who have been getting all their policy ideas from the leftwing side of the American Democratic Party, have now decided to import their Coalition Colonel as well
True SYF
This is exactly how the Liberals hamstrung themselves(politically). For the last 2.5 years the Liberals have been out flanked by the Dippers and the Cons. This is why Liberals must abstain from voting on bills in Parliament, the best they can do is agree with one of the two parties they must disagree with; therefore, don’t say anything. It surprises me that people in Ontario stuck with the Libs after the last 2.5 years. After all, a vote for the Liberals is a vote for nothing.
For those Liberals that can not vote for the Cons or the Dippers do yourselves a favor and stay home on election night! (or vote for Lizzy May hahahahahahahahahaha)
Democracy. Liberal Style. Parachutes. Coronations. Leadership with Elections. Gender Bias. No grass roots nominations.Backroom dealing. Top down Policies.
Of the 77 Liberal Members of Parliament, only ten were actually democratically elected to carry the Liberal Party banner in this election.
The other 67 Members of Parliament were appointed this time around.
Why would anybody pay $10 to be a member of a party that doesn’t care beans about what you think.
I’m just curious.How come no Liberals are on here bemoaning the fact they didn’t get to vote in their new leader? Hell,even us conservatives are PO’d at the way the Lieberals are “electing” their new Poo-Bah.Is there a Can in Zimbabwe??
The January budget has, IMO, just got to include a cut in political party subsidies.
From $1.95 down to a $buck.
A no-brainer. Morally right, Fiscal responsible. A vote getter.
If Liberals will not give to the LPC, why should taxpayers ?
Liberals tried to give Canada a French citizen as Prime Minister in Dion and failed and now they want to give us an American in Ignatieff.
Oh Yes. the great democratic liberal party of Canada. I remember Trudeau unilaterally suspending my human rights in Oct 1970 for a regional dispute. It was outrageous.
Looks like Rae couldn’t muster enough of his union supporters to cough up ten bucks to infiltrate the Liberal party.
Doesn’t come as a surprise really because Liberals and NDP supporters don’t feel it is up to them to support their own parties….it is up to the taxpayer. You know…..”entitlement” and all that.
Another Liberal saviour with high expectations. You know where that leads. Paul Martin, anyone?
From $1.95 down to a $buck.
And cut the 75% political donation tax rebate down to zero.
And freeloader farm subsidies to nothing while we’re at it.
A no-brainer. Morally right, Fiscal responsible. A vote getter.
And right whingers won’t have to wear that hypocrisy tag quite as often.
Mike, Iggy the Ditherer may have lived “stateside” for five years but wherever else he was, he was out of the country for some 30 years.
The media will all be so giddy with excitement, orgasms all ’round with this new and exciting news of Iggy being crowned. We’ll be having another professor giving us lectures and double talking his way to the bottom of the heap with the mess called the LPC.
Hedy Fry must be very upset to have her choice for leader, Rae, be basically forced to quit the race without any say by the ordinary members of the party. Bottom line, they just don’t get it.
Things are unfolding as one would expect and it’s all going to cave in around them in the end.
I wonder if the typical Torontonian will have the same reaction to him as they do all Americans.(à la Carolyn Parrish). Do you think the CPC could capitalize on the anti-American bias most Canadians have towards Americans and get a stronger majority?
Hmmm…
favill
ron in kelowna … “down to a buck”.
I agree – but only for “national” parties (1 candidate for every riding – coast-to-coast).
Kills the Bloc and the Greens and stops future non-compete agreements.
Will the Liberals support it – you bet (after pragmatic consideration) – $1.00 is better than a kick in the nuts.
Will the NDP support it – no – they will vote with the Bloc – further soiling their bedding.
Works like crazy glue for me.
MM
Can any of you imagine the absolute and abject OUTRAGE if Stephen Harper has spent 30 years of his life in the USA!!!
Funny how it isn’t even an issue when it is a Liberal???
What’s Iggy’s stance on corporate welfare bums … like the auto industry?
The US has approved a $15 billion loan, their Canadian branch plants would like to hook the Canadian taxpayer for $6.8 billion.
Who’s about to take the bait on behalf of the taxpayer?
Who will defend the interest of the taxpayer?
Stay tuned for the next exciting episode of ‘we know how to spend your money better than you do.”
From A Liberal Blog:
Why I Despise Michael Ignatieff:
First he only only irritated me, as a panglossian cheerleader for American imperialism (Empire Lite), the Iraq War, and a jesuitical apologist for torture (coercive interrogation). I thought, he’s a foolish supporter of bad things, acting the intellectual without being one (have you seen the Channel 4 chat show? I have. He was good at that, and should have stuck to it). But there are many such, so I just thought he was a fool.
More here: http://eugeneforseyliberal.blogspot.com/2008/12/why-i-despise-michael-ignatieff.html
I bet he drops out this afternoon .
“down to a buck”….No way…cut it off completely. Polls have shown that most taxpayers agree with Harper that politicians should raise their own funds.
I know it will be tough for the Liberals since they have to be in power to steal it!
From CTV:
Liberal Sen. Céline Hervieux-Payette, who participated in the conference call, was reportedly furious over the process by which Ignatieff will take power.
“This will destroy the Liberal Party, I’m devastated by what this will do to the party, they don’t understand anything about democracy,” she said, according to Fife.
There you go. Even senior Liberal senators say that the Liberals “don’t understand anything about democracy”. The attack ads against the coalition pretty much write themselves after that…many thanks, Céline!
About that terrible Economic Update:
Don Drummond, pathalogical Liberal economist for TD Bank said:
“The economic update is exactly what the country needs. I could not have written it better myself.”
This is the guy the Liberal quote ad nauseum. Havn’t heard them repeat this time.
Funny that.
“And cut the 75% political donation tax rebate down to zero.”
Does this tax break only help right wingers?
This tax break makes it possible for all people (especially low income) to participate in Canadian politics at the grass roots level. The political subsidy allows political parties to avoid grass roots input because the money has already been extorted from the electorate; therefore, the parties do not have to earn it. Very Liberal!
Leftards like Manny also fail to mention that under the Conservative’s canceled plan to cancel the subsidy, the Conservatives would have taken the largest loss in $$, so one could say the Conservatives would be leading by example.
Perhaps Manny would prefer some type of income test for the subsidy so all parties that operate in the black can be excluded from the subsidy. After all, in the words of their infamous leader: “It’s not fair!”
Re liberal party members voting for their leader.
Correct me if I’m wrong here, but there seems to be a notion that the liberal party of Canada operates democratically.
Un like conservative party members liberals do not allow just every liberal the chance to vote in their leader.
The liberal party assigns “delegates” that task and those delegates are chosen by some other equally elite system of dorks. The unelected “delegates” choose their leader at their convention, NOT their own party’s members.
Conversely, Conservatives allow every conservative party member who has paid for their membership the right to vote for their party leader.
Kate,
Little blitz at night and lots of help from velvet mafia was all that it took to persuade Bob Rae to give up on his dreams of glory.
“Liberals don’t understand anything about democracy.” What a wonderful statement for the upcoming Conservative elections ads. Someone said earlier that the majority of Liberal candidates are parachuted into the ridings (bypassing the voting process). No matter: It’s ‘Do as I say, not as I do.’
Great Employment Opportunities Now Available For Disaffected Liberals:
“…We need somebody who’s got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it’s like to be a young teenage mom, the empathy to understand what it’s like to be poor or African-American or gay or disabled or old – and that’s the criterion by which I’ll be selecting my judges….” – Barack Obama
Appoint a Prime Minister !
Appoint a Party Leader !
Choose which industries will survive !
Decide which employers will employ !
What’s left ? The weather !?
(Actually, The Weather Network has been known to favor th…… )
Heads up. WK, in his infinite wisdom, is calling SDA racist.
Kinsella needs to lighten up. Big time.
stephen harper must resign….resign…..resign…is the boob rae chant…but harper is winning in the body count department…leblanc, dion, and now rae….i’m waiting for the cage match with the “duly elected” american iggy going after the true canadian harper…..mister mean from alberta…..lets get ready to RUMBLE!!!!!!
i wonder if boob got his deposit back…
The Liberals in-the-know on TV have been hinting that the May convention could be a policy convention if a leadership contest is not needed. Iggy has said he wants to reach out to the grassroots and rebuild. In his and the rest of the elite’s minds, I am sure that is roughly translated as “when we want your opinion, we’ll give it to you… just send money” to the members. The policy convention will be MSM-hyped show dominated by university profs, progressive experts, artists and various other activist. The result being ideas completely out of touch with mainstream Canadians.
BTW how does PUMA translate into French?
Note how the Liberal party just assumes that all 76 of their elected MPs are just a number of sheep that they can herd one way or the other without them even bahhhhing the direction.
Now, little Liberal MP sheep, you just have to follow the big bad Iggy wolf – he knows best what is good for you and the party and the country.
After all – he can quote Aristotle!!!!
“I wonder if the typical Torontonian will have the same reaction to him as they do all Americans.”
Surely I’m not the only one who has noticed the left’s new found love for the United States. After all we MUST take their lead and “bailout” the auto sector and we MUST have “cap & trade” because the Americans are doing it.( they would probably like to bomb Pakistan also)
All of the AmericHATING in Torontard over the last few years has been a sham . There is no jurisdiction in Canada that wishes they were American like Torontard. Torontards have always looked to NYC for approval like a young sibling looks at a big brother. For proof of this one must just look at the pathetic Rap scene in Torontard. For the most part, it’s a bunch of rappers who wish they were from “the hood” or “projects” in NYC. They flaunt their brown $100 bills, with their plated medallions in their rented cars hoping that Jay-Z, or some other sophisticate from NYC will recognize them as peers not realizing that Jay-Z never got a subsidy to make a video. In truth Torontards are no better than Sarah Palin, a bunch of bumpkins who should know their place; but, unlike Jay-Z they’re not welcome back home.
(And the streets say Jigga can’t go back home
You know when I heard that? When I was back home)
Jay-Z
Wayne-WK is lighting up as we speak,he’s on vacation in Jamaica.
“And cut the 75% political donation tax rebate down to zero.”
Sure, I’m willing to bet this wouldn’t hurt the Conservatives any more than the Liberals or NDP parties; where a Conservative will see a problem and say “I should do something about that” someone who supports the NDP and Liberals would say “The government should do something about that”.
“And freeloader farm subsidies to nothing while we’re at it.”
I can’t speak for farmers in Ontario or Qubec but I suspect that many Western Canadian farmers would accept that if they were finally free of the Canadian Wheat Board, and could sell their crop at a fair price.
While we are at it, we can also cut all subsidies to all industries … I’m certain that the manufacturing industries in Ontario and Qubec would survive in a fair market.
Many of these comments about the purportedly ‘undemocratic’ nature of Iggie’s rise to leadership are simply false. He will be elected according to the LPC’s constitution. Fact. Character assassination is the bread and butter of a party without direction or proper leadership.
77K jobs were lost in ON in Nov. And the Con gov’t has done nothing to address this. Flaherty and Harper purposely neglect and insult Ontario to win votes elsewhere. Justified regionalism aside, these are CANADIANS that are being ignored by their own government. That is inexcusable.
You gotta know the end is near when WK is citing the last refuge, racism. Hope he doesn’t blow his mind on too many rim swizzles in Jamaica Mon.
Seems he realizes the Liberals have lost all credibility as a viable alternative to govern the country.
“popping up from his spider hole from time to time to give the MSM a sound bite and then he disappears again.”
This is so true — he reared his ugly head again today, stating Harper’s economic update was “stupid” and he must be fought at all costs.
Rae is the best at injecting hyperbole — well, next to Jack Layton.
Oops, the should read ……RUM swizzles, not rim swizzles!
Tom Stephane Dion, Bob Rae and Dominic Leblanc. Is that a brown smudge I see on your chins? Opps almost forgot, Christmas is coming. Must be the fudge!
Will wk be Iggies point man ?
Didn’t take him long to shed the (sorta)nice guy thing – you know, hand wringing about how his man doesn’t hate the right as much as Rae’s crowd. So shallow.
Today, wk is already attacking. Barking at sda again. And Bourque.
Just posted there(watching Rae live) – ‘I Have, just now, changed my home page to bourque.com from NNW.
As entertaining as this Liberal leadership race is, shouldn’t we be dealing with the issue of Harper not being able to get a majority. He was up against the weakest leader in Canadian history and someone who couldn’t pass a first year economics course. If Iggy can even pronounce words correctly, the CPC is in trouble. Is there something going on in the party to replace Harper?