Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Chantal Hebert Pushing for Lib-NDP Coaltion

  With the Conservatives trending upward in the last few polls lately and the Libs going down or spinning their wheels, Chantal Hebert is suggesting  the Liberals and the Dippers should listen to their elder statesmen and  get together because it would improve their standing.
If NDP and Liberal leaders Jack Layton and Michael Ignatieff had taken the advice of their elder statesmen and looked for a way to pool forces earlier this year, the result of their joint efforts would likely be doing better in the polls than their separate parties.
Instead, the end of 2010 finds the two main national opposition parties on opposite ends of a teeter-totter. They are each ensuring that the other does not go up very high or for very long.
She later warns that if they don't  there will most likely be a majority Conservative government after next election.
Like the then-Reformers, some New Democrats continue to believe they will eventually overtake the Liberals or, short of that, at least gain enough ground to have a strong hand in any future negotiation with a minority Liberal regime.
They are all more likely to end up sitting side by side across from a majority Conservative government.
I think even with a Lib/Dipper merger they would have a tough time. I sense the mood of the  public is now changing. They are moving more to the right looking for , smaller government, lower taxes, spending cuts, less red tape, reform of the  criminal justice system, reform of the immigration system etc.

A majority Conservative government is something this country needs especially if there will be difficult decisions that will have to be made in the near future about how to get our country out of deficit and debt, deal with the looming health care crisis, pensions etc..  Canadians find the Conservatives more trustworthy when dealing with those issues more so than the Libs or the Dippers. If the Libs and Dippers don't offer credible policy to deal with those issues, they will be climbing an uphill battle.