The Count and a New Day
I’ve had a busy day and not much time to write about Rae’s withdrawal and the putative ascension of Micheal Ignatieff to the Liberal leadership. While I feel deprived of the happy spectacle of the Liberals self destructing, I am delighted that Iggy took the prize.
Partially because I rather like the man. I like his intelligence, his broad experience, his friendship with Sir Isaiah Berlin, his wonderfully apposite connection to George Grant and his willingness to actually understand that Saddam was evil.
But what I really like is that I have no reason at all to consider an Ignatieff led Liberal Party Barking mad. It is an alternative which I can live with.
So now I am looking at the CPC and Harper. Enough with the BS Steve. The Liberals have not self-destructed so now you are going to have to articulate a vision for Canada and you are going to have to justify your position. If you don’t think a stimulus package is right, explain that. Start actually addressing the issues.
And, Steve, here’s the deal. s. 13 needs to be gone forthwith. With Iggy leading the Liberals you need your base. And you damn well need the 20 seats where Plan-B will run candidates if you don’t move and move fast. Yes, Iggy and the Jackal will whine about it; so what?
With Iggy there is the possibility of a real conversation about the differing views of Canada. No one could take Martin or Dion seriously, you have no choice but to take Iggy seriously simply because he is an acceptable leader for a large number of soft conservatives.
The fact is that if Harper and the CPC do not actually implement a conservative agenda I have no particular reason not to vote for Iggy. With Ignatieff – assuming that the CPC is incapable of conservative policy – I get the same policy minus the social conservative rubbish and with a bit of style.
The CPC has to stop its pandering and get moving on a conservative agenda. Otherwise the party will have lost the biggest opportunity for majority it is likely to see for decades.
December 9th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
So Iggy Popp has a willingness to understand that Saddam was evil. And this qualifies him for what?
December 9th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Smarter than Dion? Or Layton? Or Duceppe? Something like that.
December 10th, 2008 at 4:35 am
Did I mention I took a number of courses from George Grant back at Kings in the early 80s? Probably did. I started rereading “English-Speaking Justice” the other day. Great guy but messy. Hadn’t clicked to their relationship, though.
December 10th, 2008 at 5:12 am
You are a reasonable man, Jay.
December 10th, 2008 at 6:26 am
Let’s hope Iggy doesn’t spoil the chance of a reasonable conversation about the country the way Dion did by coming right out of the gate with a lunatic Busharper neo-con conspiracy rant.
December 10th, 2008 at 7:26 am
Great post ! The insight that the liberals will no longer be considered barking mad should be a wakeup call to the Conservatives.
December 10th, 2008 at 9:08 am
“I get the same policy minus the social conservative rubbish …”
I hear this sentiment often and it leaves me puzzled. I’ll be the first to admit that I may have missed it, but where in the CPC’s platform or in the PM’s utterances is all this “social conservative rubbish”. Are they advocating re-opening the abortion debate? Capital punishment? Sunday closing laws? Unless you are referring to a conservative’s inclination to oppose the destructive social engineering experiments of the loopy among us, and I don’t believe you are, I just don’t see it. Perhaps we just have different ideas on what constitutes a “social conservative” platform.
Anyway, I enjoy your blog. Your ongoing whack-a-jackal game is hilarious.
December 10th, 2008 at 9:36 am
“I get the same policy minus the social conservative rubbish …”
I hear this sentiment often and it leaves me puzzled. I’ll be the first to admit that I may have missed it, but where in the CPC’s platform or in the PM’s utterances is all this “social conservative rubbish”? Are they advocating re-opening the abortion debate? Capital punishment? Sunday closing laws? Unless you are referring to a conservative’s inclination to oppose the destructive social engineering experiments of the loopy among us, and I don’t believe you are, I just don’t see it. Perhaps we just have different ideas on what constitutes a “social conservative” platform.
Anyway, I enjoy your blog. Your ongoing whack-a-jackal game is hilarious.
December 10th, 2008 at 10:56 am
Murray, the concern arises from such things as the recent CPC policy convention.
Whack a Jackal is great fun.
December 10th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Jay, it seems inconsistent to worry over the convention outcome when the most strongly-voiced resolution, to eliminate Sec 13(1) of the CHRA, was one that you support. Certainly there is a history of convention resolutions not making it into Party platforms – but I would at least wait and see what Harper does.
I agree about Iggy – I have less problem with him than any of the past four Liberal leaders, but I worry about what he might have to do or promise to keep the rank and file in order. The Liberals have lurched to the left (qv, Bob Rae as a serious leadership candidate – twice), and I am not very comfortable with the Party’s current centre of gravity.
December 10th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
The CPC Policy Convention passed some rather odd resolutions some of which would have significantly infringed on individual freedom. But it did, as you point out, dcardno, pass a resolution calling for repeal of s.13.
In a sense, the fact Rae dropped out suggests that the rank and file of the Grits may not be as left as I assume. But, at the moment, I can’t say for sure. I do know that the Toronto Party will work very hard not to have faction fighting for the first few months of the Iggy leadership. I think the overwhelmingly negative polls on the Coalition have sobered them up.
December 10th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
I’ll have to take a look at the CPC convention resolutions, but generally it’s worth considering that individual freedom, which I also take to be sacred, is itself dependent on renewal of certain socially “conservative” values. For example, certain kinds of families and cultural values are surely more likely to raise people capable of a high degree of individuation than are others. True, the degree to which this is a matter for government concern should be limited, but not zero I would think. The renewal of civil society, as we learn how to do this well, will be in the cause of individual freedom.
As for Iggy, I can understand how a thinking man would prefer him to Rae; I am not convinced however that he is pragmatically the better choice for the Liberal party. Why should they not aim to marginalizing the NDP instead of playing to the Tories’ weak flank? And Rae strikes me as a more skilled poltician, and better on his feet in public speaking given what the ordinary Canadian intellect prefers. As for Iggy, his lack of adult years in Canada, and his academic demeanour, will, right or wrong, alienate a lot of voters. I also don’t think his coronation helps. Jack Layton has skewered them: they would have been better off declaring that while Harper must most probably go it is a bit too hysterical to stand as if he must go tomorrow – we can wait a few months to pass non-confidence and have a proper leadership campaign in the mean time. Are they really right in thinking that after the budget is passed they will have no leg to stand on? They are losing a lot of free publicity, not to mention democratic legitimacy and po’d members.
December 10th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
“...his wonderfully apposite connection to George Grant…”
I’m intrigued. What connection?
December 10th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
The Count’s mother was George Grant’s sister.
December 10th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Just watching Iggy’s press conference.
Apparently the Grits have never done anything that’s not in the national
interest! Oh, and they’ve always been fiscally responsible and none of their policies have ever endangered national unity (translation: Trudeau’s budgets and the NEP have been consigned to the memory hole).
I do like some things about Iggy, but this kind of liberal arrogance makes me warm to the CPC (despite all their faults). And I doubt it’ll play well in the west.
December 10th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
And, of course, his great-grandfather, the original George Grant was the pioneering principal at Queens University in the last century. And throw in the Parkins, great uncle Vincent Massey and an assortment of other relatives, Ignatieff’s family background is a most interesting slice of Canadian history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Monro_Grant
I wonder if Ignatieff’s absence from Canada for so many years will hurt him? I think less so that I once thought.
Still think that Ignatieff will not bring down the Conservatives down this winter. He knows his Canadian History and knows that the four significant Conservative governments since Borden have been undone by economic downturns. I think that he will let Harper be the fifth.