When I say I plan to do politics differently, what I mean is that I'm willing to leave Stephen Harper in power based on the most petty and frivolous excuses anybody's ever heard.No longer is there any pretense that a flat "no" to a coalition with the NDP is based on policy differences (however implausible). Instead, Trudeau is ruling out the possibility of cooperation based on personal hostility toward Thomas Mulcair - which of course couldn't be further from matching the public's perception of the NDP's leader, particularly among people with whom Trudeau supposedly shares the goal of ousting the Harper Cons.
And in related news, Leadnow's commitment to bringing down the Cons is once again reflected by its willingness to back a party which places Trudeau's personal hangups over the good of the country.
Update: Josee Legault has more.
What about all the snarky & nasty attacks Mulcair has made on Trudeau? Or the fact that Mulcair was originally against working with Trudeau & the Liberals? This conflict is not one-sided. Both sides need to grow up.
ReplyDeleteI'll set aside the apparent expectation that all opposing leaders should treat Trudeau with kid gloves, since drawing contrasts between parties and leaders is entirely justifiable and consistent with cooperating where the opportunity arises.
DeleteAs for Mulcair's initial position, I criticized it then in the context of the NDP's leadership race:
http://accidentaldeliberations.blogspot.ca/2012/03/leadership-2012-first-ballot.html
And I also pointed out the importance of his returning to the NDP's history of working with other parties:
http://accidentaldeliberations.blogspot.ca/2012/04/on-speculative-advances.html
Fortunately, Mulcair has come around to the idea that cooperation is worth pursuing. But it takes two parties to make that work, and Trudeau is still joining forces with Harper to tell Canadians that a coalition isn't an option.
An even shorter Justin Trudeau: If Tom plays then I'm taking my ball and going home!
ReplyDeleteMulcair had justifible critisms, but he never said he wouldn't work with Trudeau.
ReplyDeleteAnd Mulcair opposed mergers not a not a coalition.
Actually, there might be a silver lining to this (apparently, Trudeau has completely ruled out forming any coalition with the NDP today, just as Iggy and Dion had done before).
ReplyDeleteIf Junior can pull some of the soft Cons votes with his refusal to work with the NDP, he will be able to weaken the Harper base sufficiently to prevent another Cons minority government. Then, if the soft NDP and red/progressive Liberal votes migrate to the NDP, we can possibly have an NDP minority government.
Will be interesting to see what Junior and the Libs do if they are caught in a left-right squeeze against the centre, as Jim Prentice and the PC seem to be in Alberta.