http://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/news/blog.html?b=news.nationalpost.com/...
First there was consumer protections, then it was the rumour about Abolishing the Senate, and now there is a rumour about a possible carbon market aka cap and trade, the very thing Harper just attacked Mulcair over!
WTF?
I can only guess that Tom Mulcair and the NDP will be a serious threat against the HarperCons inspite of what the polls say right now.
Look for Harper to go after Mulcair on the dairy quotas.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!
Funniest thing was the CBC headline proclaiming that it was the NDP who were being squeezed here.
There's something to be said for that. The NDP might be able to take credit for some of these consumer protections, but they'll no longer be able to use them as promises for how an NDP government will change things.
There's something to be said for that. The NDP might be able to take credit for some of these consumer protections, but they'll no longer be able to use them as promises for how an NDP government will change things.
I wouldn't say that. I think they can argue it is a way in which they have already changed things. And there is still plenty more ground to cover.
Frankly, now that the NDP has forced the Conservatives to set up more regulations on consumer protections, I hope that in turn forces the NDP to "cover more ground". Because bank fees, cell phone charges, and credit card interest are all appetizers, not the real meal.
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Its not Mulcair's style to be petulant over stuff like this. Mulcair has only demanded a Harper Minister resign once, I believe it was Gerry Ritz Agriculture minister.
What does one have to do with the other? Its shows Mulcair isn't petulant or childish.
Frankly, now that the NDP has forced the Conservatives to set up more regulations on consumer protections, I hope that in turn forces the NDP to "cover more ground". Because bank fees, cell phone charges, and credit card interest are all appetizers, not the real meal.
Especially when you can respond that the way around those fees is to use a credit union, keep your landline, and pay off your credit card balance on time (all of which I do).
Harper's adoption of these gimmicks confirms what we (many of us on babble) have said all along - that they are gimmicks that change nothing, that are unworthy of a platform of a party with a history like the NDP's.
Yes, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Stockholm. And who flatters you should serve as a wakeup call.
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Yeah, I agree that they're small things. If I were in charge of the NDP, I'd take credit for the good ideas, proclaim yourself the most effective opposition in 30 years, and use these points to talk about the BIGGER solutions to inequality.
At the same time... I take a look at the pages of reactions just to something as simple as TV channels. On babble, no less. In a time where the conventional wisdom is that the government can't do anything about jobs or the economy, and deregulation and privatization are always good. For the average person who doesn't understand the economy or the powers of the federal government, these small things might be the only sign that the government is making a difference in your life. I say that with a bit of disappointment. I see my facebook feed with less political folks who were critical of Harper getting excited about changes to their TV. These small things might actually be really good politics.
I agree and which was why I was quite surprised of the long thread on cable/tv bundling. Obviously there were babblers who had lots of interest in that topic and yet banking transaction fees, some think is small potatoes.
They're both small potatoes. That's what our political class is reduced to serving up.
You should have heard Jamie Nicholls on CBC Radio Noon Montréal just now. "They're stealing our ideas!"
Typical narrow-minded partisan politics - which people really don't understand or appreciate.
If these are "consumerist" measures are good for people, then why not praise Harper for adopting NDP initiatives at long last? By making snide comments, Nicholls proves that partisan interests are more important than providing needed reforms.
The trouble is, or course, as we've been pointing out for years, these measures are meaningless pap. Circuses with no bread. But the NDP isn't well-placed to make that point. Not after advertising the circus for years, without any success.
I dearly hope the NDP is able to re-focus the conversation on the big issues. But it may not be possible. Curses, outsmarted again!
Except for me TV is a big deal, as I have it on at least six hours a day, and appreciate being able to get the variety I have at reasonable cost. If I have banking fees at my credit union, they are very small, and indeed I get a dividend cheque from them at the end of every year. I live on a disability pension, and these things count.
If the Conservatives are ripping off NDP ideas, how good can the NDP ideas be?
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So why doesn't the NDP say: "Excellent! They're implementing our ideas!"
Or did they shit on medicare just because it was the Liberals who tabled the Canada Health Act?
If the Conservatives are ripping off NDP ideas, how good can the NDP ideas be?
Nailed it.
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Yeah, Jack Layton was a smart guy that way. Which is why he didn't fight the Liberals when they took up his ideas. He let them. And then he flagrantly took credit: the first NDP budget.
Yeah, Jack Layton was a smart guy that way. Which is why he didn't fight the Liberals when they took up his ideas. He let them. And then he flagrantly took credit: the first NDP budget.
Well no, sdm, that's not exactly what happened. Layton and Martin negotiated a deal (reportedly mediated by Buzz Hargrove) to prop up Martin's minority government in the spring of 2005, which produced the "first NDP budget". It was all agreed in advance. A far cry from what happened today.
Even though there was no deal this time, I'm still amazed that Mulcair doesn't have the smarts to applaud Harper for borrowing NDP ideas (even though I don't agree with the ideas...). We'll see how this plays out.
The NDP is bragging about how the thrown speech borrowed 10 NDP ideas, so I think that's close enough. I honestly think that the NDP didn't think the Tories would feed so deeply from the NDP's ideas, I think it came as a shock, given the idealogical underpinnings of the tories.
I think the Liberals should be worried, the NDP and the Tories are recieving plenty of attention, but for a change the Liberals are being ignored. Or maybe the Liberals have nothing to say.
Ok, so now that the Conservatives have borrowed Liberally from the NDP trough of 'pocketbook ideas', making us Green with envy (sorry, I don't know how to fit the Marxist-Leninists in there), what's our next move? More pocketbook micro-policies or something big enough to hang our campaign hats on in 2015? For the sake of the party, I hope it's the latter. And I still think if Harper is comfortable pilfering our ideas, we should be able to come up with better ones.
Brachina:
You wrote in part "Or maybe the Libeals have nothing to say".
This is a very important point. I think it is possible people are beginning to grow weary of Trudeau's lack of substance, and not willing to accept his pronouncements as revealling anything meaningul about him. It is possible that his stategy of building on some kind of imagined "chrisma", may in fact be starting to backfire on him.
Harper has zero interest in sharing the credit, and in a majority government situation he doesn't need to.
But that shouldn't stop the NDP from declaring victory. I certainly hope that the NDP can leverage this into more, and hopefully larger victories.
