He's too confrontational and doesn't know how to seek a compromise nor build alliances. Whether it's Danny Williams or Quebec, Harper stumbles and never quite seems to be able to put himself over the top. This latest row about political funding demonostrates the character deficit he's got. Too rigid.

But that doesn't necessarily mean that he's a bad guy. I kinda like him tho' I voted Liberal, who are really inept. About the only reason I voted for them was so the Tories wouldn't have absolute power. The voters did Harper a favor buy limiting his power, because o/w, he'd fall on his own sword, being the somewhat divisive leader that he is.

If the Tories wish to become the majority party, they ought to be thinking about a new leader, 2 or 3 years down the road to succeed Harper. Harper should eventually step down gracefully, call a leadership convention and the Tories ought to get a leader with more appeal. Thats the name of the game. Appeal. Harper's got the brains, but no charisma.

It apppears he is on his way..proven with each time an increase in popularity

I think he stands a good chance now!

Harper will never get a majority because the Conservatives are
way, way to the right of the majority of mainstream Canadians.

The Tories are salivating over using the economic meltdown as an excuse to implement
their right wing agenda, of slashing the civil service, eliminating collective bargaining,
selling off Crown assets, banning strike action by unions, mass scale privatization, etc, etc...

Trying to push all this far right-wing c.rap through with a minority boggles the mind.

Imagine what Harper would do with a majority?
He has shown himself to be slightly to the right of Attila the Hun.
I'm sorry, once the Liberals have a new leader, Harper is going to get booted
right back to his Calgary sweater store.

The only reason Harper was elected is because people will still reeling over yet another liberal scandal, and because Stephanie Dianne and his "green shift" were fallacy.
Ignatief will be the next PM.

...Ya think so, eh Goat Boy?

Will wait and see, will wait and see...

I dunno, I kinda think whomeveer succeeds Dion will be a caretaker, given their age. If Belinda Stronach had a bit more education and experience, she might be good for them, eh? They need a bit of chutzpah and sex appeal.

Maybe they're waitin' fer the Second Comin' of......TRUDEAU!

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...We're all waitin' fer the Son of Trudeau ta take over, Goat Boy!

So move over, Iggy. Move over Stephen. Justin's movin' in!

I predict the Liberals and NDP will combine into one party and defeat the Conservatives (Reform + Tories = Conservatives). Green will be the true Left wing party.

I could more see the Liberals absorbing the Greens. They are basically the same.

The Rotten apple doesn't fall far from the bastard tree.

NDP is Left Wing Labour Party.

Green is Left Wing White Collar party.

There's the split.

Liberals and the Centrist Progressive Establishment party.

Conservatives are the pro-business right of centre party.

Actually, looks like a bit of fight between the NDP and the Greens for the voice of the left.

I think if any two parties'll merge, it'll be those two.

The NDP-Green Alliance? The New Democrat Green Party? The Green New Democrat Party?

Ifya notice, already the NDP is sporting Green in their party colors, opening the way to a merger one day between the two.

NDP & BQ are in talks about a coalition right now. However 49 + 37 = 86 which is most definitely not the 144 required to form a government. Don't really see what the point is here.

Give your heads a shake re:left wing The LIBERALS have the past head of the NDP party as one of the head honchoes and if that isnt showing the true colours what is? Maybe a long time ago the were in the middle but they are left now

Disagree. They are, will do anything, including my own mother for your vote.

the liberals need a strong leader for sure - dion has the brains but is too sensitive to be effective as a world-leader - imagine if some country renegged on a non-binding memorandum in trade, or something - dion would cross his arms and say something like, "well you lied to me and now, i don't know if we can be friends anymore" - hold his nose up in the air, frown and turn his face away...boo-hoo.

harper is too much of a shark to be in complete control of our policies - he's slimey enough to anticipate / manipulate several actions ahead and smart enough / paranoid enough to be correct in those projections....he's the type of guy you want at arm's length...and if he is on your team you want to always test his loyalty...but never leave him in complete charge of things without knowing exactly where everything is....

if the liberals elect a leader who is more practical, of course insightful, knowledgeable and experienced in our internal and outside interests with just enough slime-ball characteristics balanced against a kitchen table, open-minded, traditional liberal public persona then yah...harper is gone. rae is too cocky for his own good. ignatieff, i predict, will get closer than dion but will ultimately be out manouvered by harper. trudeau is too inexperienced - give him ten years.

and so, the best thing may be this proposed coalition government. the whole governance system, i think, needs an overhaul. i for one, am encouraged that the green party finally got some national exposure for their platform and i hope that their success rubs off on all the political parties.

The country might be governed by a coalition of over 60% of the peoples choice and wishes?
Including Quebec?
What a novel idea, why didn't they think of it sooner!!
?

Anyone saying that the Lib/NDP/Bloc coalition will be bad for the TSE,
give your head a shake.
The TSE, and New York Exchange, are the cause of the problems.

For starters it's NDP/BQ only. Secondly it's nowhere near 60%.

But in the words of Jack Layton........."50 people that wanted to leave Canada working toward a better Canadian futre.." Good words..

That was a really stupid move by Harper. What the hell did he think the outcome was going to be? He is causing a lot of disorder and dissent in the house of commons.

Actually it was a really smart move.

A - His legislation of only one gov per 4 years.
B - The Liberal party (only real competition) was in complete disarray.
C - He was terrified of an Obama victory, which would have/likely would have swayed voters to the left.

Is it smart to cause the opposition parties to form a coalition and bring him down?

I'll believe that when me $hit turns purple and leprechauns fly. Liberal/BQ coalition? In a pigs eye! Nobody is forming a coalition without the liberals.....and it won't happen.

If the threat wasnt there at all then he wouldnt have back tracked like he did and call it off.

Ignorance is bliss. How can harper/canada or should I say why would they throw in tons of money in to the (tail) of the Auto industry when the (dog) USA might not bail them out or change the rules to exclude Canada in one way. A smart person would have to wait to see what they the USA does and then act accordingly

Dion to head coalition government

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion would be prime minister in a coalition government with the NDP, his caucus decided Monday afternoon.

Liberal MPs threw their support behind Dion, who is set to step down as Liberal leader in May, during a caucus meeting where details of a coalition government were discussed.



Among those details are that the Liberals and NDP have agreed to govern together for 30 months and will soon send a letter to the Governor General saying there is a "government-in-waiting."



The two parties will also reportedly release a letter to all Canadians explaining why they believe a coalition government is necessary to replace Prime Minister Stephen Harper, just weeks after the re-election of his minority government.



The three men vying for the Liberal leadership — Bob Rae, Michael Ignatieff and Dominic LeBlanc — all backed Dion to lead the coalition government.



NDP and Liberal MPs got closed door briefings on Parliament Hill on Monday to learn how they might form a coalition government and topple Harper's Conservatives as early as next Monday.

Complete Vancouver Sun Story

Conservatives will never get a majority due to the BLOC.

Also, the Liberals & NDP playing politics when they should be working with the current government is a farce.

What a bunch of idiots.

F.ck Quebec & Ontario.

It's called, MAINTAINING THE STATUS QUO.

The Liberals & NDP do not want to lose power, so they will sleep with the Bloc to do it.

I will support Harper & the democratically elected Conservative government.

I call for CIVIL WAR if the coalition happens without a vote.

I would love to see BC, WA, AK, AB & SK break away and form a new country.

Who's with me!

This post has been edited by StraightTalk: Dec 1 2008, 11:28 AM

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...201?hub=QPeriod

Tape suggests dissension

The tape also reveals some dissension among New Democrats on the notion of forming a coalition.

MP Charlie Angus can be heard saying that NDP efforts to win over the Liberals, rather than the public, are "insane" and "disastrous."

Layton then responds by saying that in order to win over the Liberals, the NDP needs to create public support and that "it's the Liberals that have all the nervousness and could screw this up."

Layton goes on to call the current situation a "game of chicken." If it doesn't result in a coalition, Layton says, there are only two other options: either the NDP will have to help support the Conservatives, or there will be another election, less than two months after Canadians went to the polls.

"And that's the game of chicken that we're trying to get out of, by a much more hopeful alternative," Layton says.

New Democrat MP Peter Julian also weighs in on the tape, saying the party must be prepared to drop the deal if it starts to go south.

"If we don't think this is going to be solid, if we don't think we're going to be able to attain our objectives, the cost of walking away is far, far smaller than the ultimate cost in the long term," Julian says.

Stephen Harper is an idiot.
He showed his true colours by trying to bolster his foothold in government by taking away the funding of his competitors.
He's also an American Wanna Be.

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