Gimbol's diatribe and screed

Start the countdown to the next election

And so the game begins. This is the precursor of events to come....at least with regard to the next federal election.....or forcing the Kyoto crowd to run up the white flag.

The Liberals, NDP and Bloc Quebecois pushed through the Kyoto Implementation Act last June, a law that says the government must submit a "Climate Change Plan'' for meeting the requirements under the international agreement within 60 days. The "plan'' it published Tuesday repeats the argument that trying to meet Kyoto by 2012 would wreak economic disaster on the Canadian economy. It estimates astronomical gas-price hikes and catastrophic job losses.

At the end of the article was the part that says the liberals are still not getting it.

""They have no intention of being bound or honouring the obligations of Kyoto," McGuinty said. "They've been perfectly clear on this even before arriving in government.''"

Gee, you think?
McGuinty while he was so intent on grandstanding seems to miss the point that only the government can table legislation that involves spending and by making this statement McGuinty has made it clear the liberals are going to table a nonconfidence motion over this. The problem is that going into an election over this the opposition parties all (Lib, NDP, Bloc, and Green) are going to be restricted to a platform (no matter what they publish) of higher taxes, draconian legislation, and a lower standard of living. At the very least the best the oppositin can hope for under those conditions is that their core support just sits on their hands next election.
The other part they missed is that its hard to make a case against global warming in the middle of winter.

But the best part of all this is if the opposition cannot succeed in bringing down the Harper government over this their credibility will be destroyed. Its one thing to back off on a threat its quite another when you've invested so much on that one issue. The point is that if the opposition forces a nonconfidence motion on this they have to follow through....Harper knows the opposition can't backdown without seriously losing face with its hard core kook fringe.
For those scratching their head wondering how this is could be a bad case scenario for the lib-left its simple. The lib-left has always taken a non-position, when the issue is for or against with no mushy middle, we win they lose. They need that middle ground. In this case they lost it the day that private members bill was tabled. For them its impose the Kyoto protocol no matter what it costs there is no other way, for the conservative government its do what you can how you can without turning the country into an economic basketcase.

I still give the following possible scenario as a plausible occurance.
The scene; election stop in the 905 area. When each leader comes to the place they get asked this question: "Would your government impose the Kyoto protocol no matter what the consequences"?
The answer from the opposition cannot be anything other than yes, due to the fact that the reason the election was called was that all opposition parties tabled legislation that was suppose to force the government to impose Kyoto, the n/c motion was tabled because they refused to accept the governments plan that won't. All Harper has to say is that people have a right to earn a living and not have the crap taxed out them over a UN protocol.

If its still not understood, try this. Campainging on a platform of taxes, onerous legislation, and lower standard of living is not the liberal way. They like something for everyone platforms that paint a rosy picture. This private members bill is all about bad news. That means Harper gets the good news platform.

Update:

Looks like the Bloc is staking its position early this time they don't get holding the bag when the nonconfidence motion comes to the floor.

"While Layton said his party would pursue other legislative options in Parliament, the Bloc Quebecois hinted that it might turn the matter of Canada's Kyoto targets into a confidence issue that could bring down the minority Conservative government and force an election in the fall"

Further in the article it states that Dion will be making a public statement on Thursday (today) to make the liberal position more clear. I predict that Dion doesn't want to be the last one to have to decide to support a nonconfidence motion over this mainly so the liberals don't get the blame for bringing forward the motion or be in the unpleasant position of supporting the government to avoid an election they can't afford.

Next update will be more info on Climateforchange.

Labels: Conservative majority, kyoto

posted by gimbol @ 4:16 AM