Will NDP support extended Libya attack?

Aristotleded24 wrote:

Stockholm wrote:

Quebec saw the NDP vote for the Libya mission just two weeks before the election campaign began and they obviously either liked what they saw or they didn't care one way or the other since the NDP went from 1 seat to 59.

You don't think Quebec could easily send the NDP in the other direction?

Of course it could - but if it does in 2015, I think that how the NDP voted on a motion to extend the mission in Libya by three months in June 2011 will be of no relevance. We know FOR A FACT that Quebecers embrace the NDP's position on Libya since they voted in such high numbers for the NDP just weeks after the NDP voted to support the Libya mission in the first place.

Meanwhile, the NDP is voting against any back to work legislation for Air Canada and Canada Post and will stall those bills as much as they can - but who cares about the rights of unions and the future of pensions here in Canada when its so much more fun to obsess over these esoteric foreign policy issues.

eastnoireast wrote:

ever single ndp mp voted to bomb for peace?  that's sick.

In an open vote, we could certainly lay into a handful here and there for simply being misguided or for having to cater to certain military industrial constituenties that might benefit from a new war, or for just being an asshole, and still find individuals of conscience within the ranks with which to pin ones progressive hopes to.  However; when row after row of them down to the last backbencher stands up in the affirmative, its similar to playing a game of whack-a-mole where they all pop out at once.  In the absence of suspense, there's just no fun in it anymore.

Stockholm wrote:

Meanwhile, the NDP is voting against any back to work legislation for Air Canada and Canada Post and will stall those bills as much as they can - but who cares about the rights of unions and the future of pensions here in Canada when its so much more fun to obsess over these esoteric foreign policy issues.

The question here is one of trust and goodwill. Those things are much easier to destroy than they are to build up, and it's cynical moves like this that confirm why people distrust politicians in general. If you are used to leaving your wallet in an unlocked locker several times, and one day someone steals it, you will change your thinking and behaviour based on the one time that something bad happened, not the numerous times when it didn't.

The new 'Harper doctrine' in foreign relations
Is the world ready for a more muscular Canada?
By Brian Stewart, special to CBC News
Posted: Jun 16, 2011 5:29 PM ET
Last Updated: Jun 16, 2011 7:12 PM ET

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Quote:

More red meat

The extension was an extraordinary triumph for Harper. It's doubtful any legislative body in the Western world would give its government such near unanimity in a vote involving war. Certainly not in the U.S. Congress or Britain's Parliament.

The NDP, as the new Official opposition, pushed for caveats and conditions, but in the end voted as solidly as the most red-meat Conservatives opposite to continue hammering Libya.