Looks like the much anticipated poop-storm at Liberal Party Headquarters is finally hitting the fan. According to the Star, Dion might resign as early as tomorrow. LeBlanc is expected to step aside and support Ignatieff, and predictions are a quick caucus vote would favour Iggy.
So, it's Ignatieff who will be the new Liberal leader.
The guy who is great on paper, but not so good in person.
Every Iggy supporter I have talked to, has said they are supporting Ignatieff, not because of his leadership, or values - but just because they think he can win.
Now, the Liberals have bypassed the Liberal community completely and simply acclaimed Ignatieff - a battle of attrition to see who had money left over after the last leadership campaign. This should do wonders for Harper's message of the Liberals being undemocratic.
If Stephen Harper ever wanted to cement the mantle of the 'Canadian party' on the Conservatives, running against a guy who spent the last 20 years outside of Canada ought to do it.
Michael Ignatieff seems to be contemplating playing Mackenzie King to Stephen Harper's R.B. Bennett. His "coalition if necessary, but not necessarily coalition" remark on the weekend certainly points in that direction.
Last Wednesday the pundits were ready to write Harper's political obituary. But on Thursday afternoon Harper had schmoozed the Governor General into giving him a parliamentary time-out, thus preventing the potential coalition forces from bringing his government down this week on a vote of non-confidence. By Friday the polling industry weighed in with surveys suggesting that Harper was a big gainer coming out of the battle and that the coalition option was deeply unpopular with Canadians.
Did anyone go out to the anti-coalition rallies today in Toronto or elsewhere?
A few of us from rabble went to the pro-coalition rally (btw, you can see photos of the rallies at rabble.ca/coalition). The energy there was fantastic. I was in the front - hard to tell how many people were out, but I guess a 2 thousand?
I walked home carrying my "Coalition Yes" sign, and was stopped by couple with a baby who asked me if I went to the rally, and if anyone ever spoke "for" the coalition... it turned out they went to the Queen's Park rally... and were very confused by the messages. They said there were a couple hundred people there, and that John Tory spoke.
