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Dion's Wife Goes Rogue?

gristle

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Liberal implosion in the works? Looks like Ms. Krieber is holding the evil "Toronto elites" to blame. This could mean that the elites of some other city are not getting their way.

Very sad.

Saturday, November 21, 2009 5:18 PM
Dion's wife goes rogue?
Stephen Wicary

A scathing message attacking Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff appeared today on the Facebook site belonging to Janine Krieber - the wife of Mr. Ignatieff's predecessor, Stéphane Dion.

The message, a copy of which was obtained by The Globe, says the party "is falling apart, and will not recover." It also blames "the Toronto elites" for being out of tune, arrogant and unrealistic.

Mr. Ignatieff's leadership is openly questioned, as is his decision to shun the coalition deal struck by Mr. Dion, NDP Leader Jack Layton and Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe.
"The time for choices is now," the message says.

The Canadian Press reports, citing unnamed sources, that Mr. Dion himself was not involved in producing the note.

It was deleted from the Facebook site this afternoon, and Liberal officials are refusing comment.

The text of the note, and The Globe's translation, follow.
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Ça fait un an et une semaine que je n'ai pas écrit dans mon blog. Ah! que la présidente est paresseuse. Mais maintenant, il faut faire quelque chose.

Le parti libéral est en pleine déconfiture, il ne s'en remettra pas. Comme tous les partis libéraux d'Europe, il deviendra une pauvre petite chose à la merci des coalitions éphémères. Pour avoir refusé la coalition historique qui pouvait le mettre à la tête de la gauche, il sera puni par l'histoire.

Bon, j'en était convaincue au moment où Paul Martin a traité si cavalièrement Jean Chrétien. Ce moment a signé la mort de notre parti. Si les élites de Toronto avaient été plus éveillées, humbles et réalistes, Stéphane était prêt à prendre tout le temps et les coups pour reconstruire ce parti. Mais ils n'ont pas avalé le 26%, maintenant nous sommes à 23%.

Le temps des choix est arrivé. Je ne veux pas que les conservateurs continuent à changer mon pays. Ils sont en train, doucement, comme n'importe quelle dictature, de transformer le monde. La torture n'existe pas, la corruption est une vue de l'esprit. Avons nous vraiment le bon chef pour discuter de ces questions? Est-ce que quelqu'un peut vraiment écrire toutes ces insanités et nous faire croire qu'il a tout simplement changé d'idée? Pour justifier la violence, il faut avoir réfléchi sérieusement. Sinon, c'est très dangereux. Qu'est-ce qui nous garantie qu'il ne changera pas d'idée une autre fois?

Tout ceci, la base du parti l'avais compris et le citoyen canadien est en train de le comprendre. Les supporters de Ignatieff n'ont pas fait leurs devoirs. Ils n'ont pas lu ses livres, n'ont pas consulté ses collègues. Ils se sont contentés de son habileté à naviguer dans les cocktails. Certains d'entre eux sont enragés maintenant. J'entend: pourquoi personne ne l'a dit? Nous vous l'avons dit haut et fort, vous n'avez pas écouté.

J'amorce une réflexion sérieuse. Je ne veux pas donner ma voix à un parti qui risque de finir dans les poubelles de l'histoire. Je regarde autour et il y a certaines choses qui me plaisent. Comme un parti dédié, qui ne conteste pas son chef à chaque hoquet des sondages. Un parti où la règle serait le principe de plaisir et non l'assassinat. Un parti où l'éthique du travail et de la compétence seraient respectés et où les sourires ne seraient pas factices.

Je ne rêve peut-être pas.

La présidente

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It's been a year and one week since I last wrote on my blog. Ah! "la présidente" is lazy. But we have to take action now.

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.

Anyway, I became convinced of it the moment that Paul Martin treated Jean Chrétien so cavalierly. The party died at that moment. If the Toronto elites had been more in tune, humble and realist, Stéphane would have been willing to take all the time and absord all the hits needed to rebuild the party. But they couldn't swallow the 26%, and now we are at 23%.

The time for choices is now. I don't want to see the Conservatives continue to change my country. They are, slowly, like any dictatorship, changing the world. Torture doesn't exist, corruption is a fabrication. Do we really have the right leader to discuss these questions? Can someone really write these insanities and lead us to believe that he simply changed his mind? In order to justify violence, he must have engaged in serious thought. Otherwise, it's very dangerous. How can we be sure that he won't change his mind one more time?

The party grassroots had understood all of that, and the average citizen is starting to understand it too. Ignatieff's supporters have not done their homework. They did not read his books, consult his colleagues. They were satisfied that he could be charming at cocktails. Some of them are outraged now. I am hearing: Why did no one say it? We told you loud and clear, you didn't listen.

I am starting a serious reflection. I will not give my voice to a party that will end up in the trashcan of history. I am looking around me, and certain things are attractive. Like a dedicated party that doesn't challenge its leader at every hiccup in the polls. A party where the rule would be the principle of pleasure, and not assassination. A party where work ethic and competence would be respected and where smiles would be real.

Maybe I'm not dreaming.

"La présidente."


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs/bureau-blog/dions-wife-goes-rogue/article1372858/
 
So she's suggesting that Liberals shift to the NDP?

I agree with her that Ignatieff went in with a little too much confidence. He should have accepted the coalition. Right now he'd be Prime Minister and we'd have a stable government representing the interests of the majority (Liberals + NDP + PQ + Greens) of Canadians.
 
So she's suggesting that Liberals shift to the NDP?

... He should have accepted the coalition. Right now he'd be Prime Minister and we'd have a stable government representing the interests of the majority (Liberals + NDP + PQ + Greens) of Canadians.

Time to wake up now dude. Most Libs I know will either not vote next election or vote Conservative. A coalition with the likes of Layton and Duceppe is a recipe for disaster and most Canadians will agree.
 
Dion and his promotion of this coalition represents one of the greatest abandonments of principle in recent history. Dion wasn't much of a leader, in terms of personal characteristics, but he was initially known as an honest and principled man, and I thought he had good potential for upward growth. He threw that away in the eyes of many people. Iggy is absolutely right to have rejected the coalition. Granted, he has made one or two other mistakes, but has at least started to recover from them.

If you maintain basic principles, let people know what you stand for, learn from initial mistakes, and work away at it, there actually is potential for success. (Exhibit A: Harper) Dion didn't do that, and his wife is in a poor position to complain.
 
It has been many months since the writing of this and while I don't agree with her assumption that "Toronto elites" are ruining the Liberal party, I think the Liberals missed a grand chance at a coalition government and to change the way Parliamentary government works in Canada. Majority governments are hard enough to find in a multi-party system, and super-majorities are near impossible. The hiccups that caused the PC demise after Mulroney and Campbell and led to the Liberal rise are over, we're in a different period, and people in leadership need to think differently. Brokering a deal with the NDP to stop competing in close ridings and running either NDP or Liberal candidates would have been a major deal the parties could have been working toward today, if Ignatieff wouldn't have ruined the coalition deal. The biggest lie and myth propagated about the coalition was that Liberals entered a coalition with separatists. The media ran with it, even the CBC repeated the mantra some. The Liberals brokered a coalition deal with the NDP, and garnered an agreement - not a coalition - from the Bloc that they wouldn't vote against the government for a temporary time while the Liberal-NDP coalition ran the government. There would be no Bloc ministers, but there would be Liberal and NDP ministers.

It would have been the first time the NDP actually governed, mind you... So dippers should be for the coalition as well.

Many people are uncomfortable with a coalition, but the Conservatives are working a de facto coalition since they merged with the PC "true Tories" several years back. It is only a matter of time before the Liberal party will have to deal with the reality: work with the NDP and form a coalition with them or don't get elected at all. Many of my Liberal friends aren't comfortable with the idea, but I think it is possibly the best move at this juncture in history. Pound the united right that is running a de facto coalition with a united fist, and stop hitting each other.
 
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Liberals are out because they went to far away from the center and allowed the Conservatives to move towards it. Liberals do best when they hold down the center of the political spectrum -- that is what made them the most successful party in Canada. They have to pick a leader that does not allow the wings of the party to pull it away from the center during election time. That is the compromise they need to focus on.
 
What makes you say that Iggy is an elitist, or at least more of an elitist than Harper or Layton? Layton is also a former university professor, etc.
 
This is precisely what will keep Harper in power, the Liberals and NDP have to work together - not merge - in a coalition. Ignatieff has his gaffes, he wasn't even my preferred choice at Liberal leadership by any means, but a Liberal-NDP coalition where some deals are brokered to run one candidate in ridings where it makes sense either under an NDP or Liberal label will help win back Conservative seats away from the united right.

^^^Cacruden, don't forget the moment of the right getting united. I just happened to be in Toronto years ago when Harper was holding a convention to unite the right and that memory stuck with me. Turned on CP24 and that was my introduction to that visit to Toronto... At the time I thought it was hideous, but it worked for that party and that viewpoint. The united right has a centrist image in the mind of many Canadians, particularly rural Ontario now, when they are led by people who are generally quite far to the right. People like Stockwell Day, in his post of President of the Treasury Board, have actual power, and they are far-right in ideology. The reason why the Liberals fell from power is because a united right took them on, and sponsorship hurt the party greatly in Quebec and other regions as well. But it is also the year 2010 and its going on many years beyond that. The Liberal party no longer looks like the long-leading party that is out of touch, maybe not with a solid platform yet, but it is no longer perceived as this endless reign party that is out of touch. It is perceived as the weakling on its knees, which counts for something in an election.

And to all my NDP friends on here, wouldn't you be eager to have NDP ministers in government instead of just talking on the benches of Parliament? A Liberal-NDP coalition would give the NDP actual political power in leadership roles. You can't be too selfish in politics if you want a piece of the pie, otherwise you'll end up with nothing and Harper will continue to run the show. You don't get all of what you want in politics, you can only savor the victories and the moments you win and take advantage of them for what they are.

Both the Liberals and the NDP would be taking a huge risk, but you can't get a payoff if you don't take a calculated risk. The NDP will get tangible political power, ministers in power, and have a say in governing Canada. The Liberals are worried to death about "legitimizing" the NDP. Just listen to many discussions on here, many Liberals detest the idea of a coalition, having the NDP brand integrated with the Liberal brand.

It is a two way street on this, and in order for Canada to get beyond the united right, at least some cohesion on the left is necessary. The NDP has nothing to lose and would get actual power in federal government for the first time in Canadian history. The Liberals have to accept legitimizing the NDP as an actual party, which is a negative in the minds of Liberal leadership. Having to accept the NDP brand with this coalition would hurt the Liberal tradition of a majority government, but the Liberals and NDP don't have to maintain a coalition government. It can be undone.

The situation takes risk, but only those who take risks will benefit from the payoff. Harper may be distasteful to most of us on here, including me, but you cannot fight the united right without forging relationships and getting things done. The Liberals and NDP will have to face the music and talk to each other eventually, because Dion may not have been the right leader, but he was following advice from Chretien. Chretien wanted the coalition a few years ago, and he is keen on the Canadian public. Eventually it can be accepted to run a coalition in Canada, and under current circumstances it would be best. I see no reason for the Liberals and NDP to merge PC-Reform style... It doesn't sound like it'd work to me.

Coalition? Hell YES. And people need to get used to the idea, it'd be a good campaign having two political parties pounding Harper instead of each other. The way a coalition should work is that you run a 100% unified campaign, and once you're in power the parties then show differences. Layton - who would have ACTUAL power at that point - would negotiate with Ignatieff, as Ignatieff would with Layton. That's how it works, and if you don't want power then let it remain as it is today and Harper will run the show. It sounds to me like the NDP would be thrilled to have actual power in government, with NDP ministers, with the power to tell Iggy when they don't like what he is doing. And vice versa, it would be good for the Liberals to look like it is simply working in a coalition, not making decisions on its own accord. Gives both parties what they need: layers of protection, and the NDP has actual power for a change.

Canada has a choice, and it hopefully will be the choice of getting used to the idea of coalition governments. It is simply how successful multi-party states run. If it doesn't work, all you do is dissolve the coalition and run in the future. How risky can it possibly be after a certain point, especially when nothing is working today to hit Harper hard enough to completely take his government down?
 
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Though it also depends on how you go about creating a coalition. For instance, the way in which the present UK Tory/LibDem coalition came about makes more extemporaneous sense than the two-headed-monster forced issue of the Liberal/SDP Alliance of the 1980s--even if the latter ticket was more "mutually compatible"...
 

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