“[Mr. Dion] is essentially refusing to meet and, not only refusing to meet, refusing to speak by phone,” Kory Teneycke, Harper's communication director, said Monday.
“This is a sign that he's, for all intents and purposes, broken off communication with the prime minister
Harper is expected to indicate Tuesday whether he'll wait to meet Mr. Dion before determining whether he should call an election. But Mr. Teneycke hinted there's no need for a meeting, arguing that the Liberal leader's failure to arrange a meeting so far speaks volumes.
“In the age of modern communication, if some body's saying they can't find a way to talk to you, with cell phones and telephones and the fact that they live in the same city, only a handful of blocks apart etc., I think you're getting an answer.”
Handful of blocks apart, isn't Harper heading off to another Arctic photo-op, all patriotic and what not? Isn't Dion scheduled to be in Winnipeg for a Liberal caucus meeting early next week? Is there some DEADLINE that nobody knows about? Harper is acting like a bomb is about to detonate unless Dion immediately cuts the yellow wire (or is it the blue one, egads man!) The Conservatives are actually trying to sell Canadians that Dion must "text message" with the PM before the middle of next week, or that amounts to not wanting a meeting? Are you stooges for real?
This sounds reasonable:
Mark Dunn, Mr. Dion's spokesperson, said the Liberal leader is committed to meet with Harper before Parliament returns on Sept. 15. But given Mr. Dion's travel schedule and a planned Liberal caucus meeting from Sept. 2-4 in Winnipeg, he suggested a meeting isn't likely before the end of next week at the earliest.
“What's the rush?” said Mr. Dunn, accusing Mr. Harper of “manufacturing a crisis [over parliamentary dysfunction] when none exists.”
I know it's hard to keep track, Harper ups the ante almost daily. Wasn't it just a few days ago that he mused about "taking the next few weeks" to decide, that he wanted clarity prior to the September 15th Parliament return? Now, here we are, and Dion must meet today or it's a sign that we DESPERATELY need an election. Last time I checked "late next week" is about 10 days prior to September 15, ample time for Harper to get a feel, about half the time he originally needed.
If the Harper team thinks this sort of nonsense is "softening" up the electorate for a fall vote, I think they are in for a rude surprise. Meet me right this minute, or forget it, let's have an election. Opportunistic, cynical, VERY transparent, juvenile, petty, condescending, it all congeals to paint Harper in a very bad light. Yes, manufactured desperation is incredibly attractive and convincing. How are those by-elections internal polls looking Mr. Teneycke? Ouch.
9 comments:
Well they are both transparent. Clearly Dion does not want to meet until after the by-elections.
That said, one wonders how they can call Dion a coward when it is Harper who is clearly too afraid to call an election after the by-elections. As you point out, he is the one creating this so-called crisis, and he has not given any reason at all (let alone a good reason) why he needs to meet with Dion right now.
July 23, 2008:
THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA – It's not exactly election fever, but Canadians appear more ready this year to head to the polls than they did last fall, says Liberal Leader Stephane Dion.
"We have seen over the winter and the spring more and more interest for federal politics," Dion told reporters Wednesday at a hotel in Ottawa's west end.
"And more and more appetite for an election."
Then Dion's green plan drops like a lead balloon,
and holding an election now is a crime against humanity.
LOL.
If there are by elections,
and Dion decides to take the Coservatives down in five months from now,
those ridings will have to have another election having had one five months previously.
Isn't NOT having the by-elections, but rather one general election a huge money saver????
silly little anon/biff - Since Dion is more than prepared to meet with Harper, I am not sure what your point is.
Obviously it is HARPER who is afraid of an election call that is not timed to the maximum benefit of the CPC.
"Isn't NOT having the by-elections, but rather one general election a huge money saver????"
Exactly how much money do you think will be saved by calling them off with 3 days notice?
By "calling them off" I take it you mean:
"having them at the same time as all the others just a few weeks later"
Same polling stations, same ballots, same number of people counting the ballots,
just a bit later.
That's worse than doing it once, and then in a month or two or three doing it all over again???
You may want to brush up on your basic math.......and logic.
Or does relying on basic rules of logic and addition and subtraction make me "silly"....and "little".
You're completely wrong about any money being saved by calling off the byelections with three days notice. For one thing, Elections Canada has to reimburse all the candidates for whatever they spent in the byelection campaign, then all the money spent on printing ballots and hiring poll clerks etc... is wasted - because once a general election is called, everything has to start all over again from scratch with a a new nomination deadline and with new candidates allowed to throw their hats in the ring etc...
Talk about wasting money, what the hell was Harper thinking when he called the Don Valley West byelection for Sept. 22 when he knew he was going to call an election before then? Total waste of tiem and money for everyone.
Harper always wants to look in control. This isn’t a guess - look at how he tries to portray his opponents as weak, indecisive, and look at his word choice (tough on, getting the job done, taking real action...)
So part of this stupid little date challenge is undoubtedly Harper not wanting the Libs to gain momentum from a by-election, but it’s also Fearless trying to call the shots.
Good move on Dion’s part to show he doesn’t jump at Steve’s command - needed to show that after the beating he has been taking from all parties accusing him of propping up Harper’s government.
The latest CON mouthpiece sounds ridiculous and petulant, stamping his foot on behalf of his leader because Dion isn’t going along with the wishes of The Boss.
Had Dion just dropped everything to dash and meet Harper at his schedule, that would have been used against Dion - all talk no action...empty rhetoric, fli-flops on bringing down the government...
Of course Dion wants to wait until after the by-elections. Why not? He is the leader of the Liberal party, leader of the opposition, and that’s part of what he should do - I’d expect the same from any party. Harper wants to avoid the by-elections...makes sense to me. Dion wants them to occur...that makes sense as well...
900ft j
"Then Dion's green plan drops like a lead balloon,
and holding an election now is a crime against humanity."
Yes, that's why Harper is afraid to have the by-elections. Nice logic.
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