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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Ignatieff threatening to roll dice?

By: Editorial

Posted: 12/20/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

(DALE CUMMINGS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff says his party is ready to force an election in February or March if Prime Minister Stephen Harper does not do an about-face on just about every Tory policy likely to be alluded to in a federal budget expected at that time.

If the Liberals were supported by the New Democrats and the Bloc Québécois -- it will take the combined strength of all three opposition parties to defeat the budget -- that would force a spring election. Mr. Ignatieff is either truly unafraid of that prospect or he is doing a good job of putting on a brave face: "I have low expectations that there will be anything in the budget" that he will be able to support, he told the Globe and Mail last week. "I think the differences in political philosophy are very clear."

The "differences" do not appear to be as clear to Canadian voters as they are to the Liberal leader. As he himself said, "The Conservatives can only win when they pretend to be a liberal party," something that, if Mr. Ignatieff is correct in his analysis, Mr. Harper's Tories have done successfully in the last two elections. If an early election is forced, perhaps it will be more difficult for the Tories to do that this time, since Liberal policies are even tougher to identify now.

Mr. Ignatieff appears to be largely alone in wanting to rush off to the polls. He has in the past argued against it because Canadians don't want it, but after spending most of the summer bouncing across Canada on a bus and meeting Grits and some other curious Canadians, he believes the nation now wants an election. Voters want to "get rid of the guy (Mr. Harper)... there's a lot of impatience, anger and disappointment at this government."

That may well be true, but Canadians are feeling a lot of impatience and disappointment at the whole political process right now, and, if the opinion polls are as accurate as they are consistent, most of that is directed at Mr. Ignatieff himself.

The country is stumbling along well enough given the state of the world economy, the Conservatives continue to look arrogant, the Liberals persist in looking impotent, the NDP goes on posturing and the BQ splutters and spits as usual.

It is difficult to imagine, then, when the polls give the Tories a 10-point lead over the Grits and Mr. Ignatieff's personal popularity is at an all-time low, why the Liberal leader would want an election now or even soon. He has made such threats before and always found a way to wiggle out from under them, but he is running out of time and his party is running out of patience. One explanation might be he fears Mr. Harper himself might force an election that, if the Liberals can't win, could spell an early end to his political career.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 20, 2010 A12

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