THESE ARE difficult days for Liberals on Parliament Hill.
In their newfound resolve to defeat the Conservative government, they are forced to vote against things they (and voters) want. They are resolved to force an election that Canadians clearly don’t want, just 11 months after the last one.
They are lagging in the polls just months after electing a new leader who they imagined would inspire Canadians and quickly out-distance the Conservatives.
And they are uneasy about the predicament they have created for themselves.
Read Also
Worrisome drop in grain prices
Prices had been softening for most of the previous month, but heading into the Labour Day long weekend, the price drops were startling.
For readers who would rather puncture their eardrum with a knitting needle than vote Liberal, this is nothing but good news.
But for others who dream of a return to a more stable party system that more-often-than-not produced stable majority governments, this is a depressing scenario.
After more than four years of propping up the minority Conservatives through almost 80 confidence votes because the Liberals were not ready to force an election (the Conservatives triggered last year’s election because they thought they could win), new leader Michael Ignatieff decided enough was enough.
“Mr. Harper,” he intoned after a caucus meeting in Sudbury, “your time is up.”
Liberal MPs, tired of being mocked for being political geldings rather than the stallions they imagine themselves, cheered furiously. In the sober light of day, the assessment was more somber.
Then came the realization that the clever Conservatives could exploit the Liberal promise to defeat the government “at the first opportunity.”
This week, the Conservatives give them that opportunity with a budget motion that includes every voter-friendly measure the Tories can think of, from tax deferrals for some prairie farmers to recession-fighting rebates for homeowner renovations.
The Liberals now have to explain to Canadians why they are opposing these measures even though they support them and would reintroduce them if elected.
The Liberals can only hope one of the other opposition parties bails them out and gives the government at least a two-week reprieve.
But the Liberals seem to be on a roll of tactics that go wrong.
A few weeks ago, an attempt to embarrass the government by calling an opposition-inspired special meeting of the House of Commons agriculture committee resulted in a Conservative majority.
That led to a committee vote concluding there was no need for a public inquiry into the government’s handling of the listeria outbreak.
Liberals protested Tory sneakiness but really, they led with their chin and got hammered. They should have seen it coming.
Then there is the question of Ignatieff’s pledge to make the rural-urban divide a major issue to try to re-establish Liberals in rural seats.
If he has been talking about it, it has not been on the national political radar screen.
On Sept. 13 at a nomination meeting in the West Quebec riding of Pontiac, Ignatieff Quebec lieutenant Denis Coderre picked up on a theme from candidate Cindy Duncan-McMillan that the party cannot be just a party of the big cities.
But it is a theme rarely heard from party leadership, at least on the national stage, during the election set-up summer.
Liberals can only hope for gentler days.
