Jack Layton stretches before his morning jog.
First off, I appreciate the partisan strategic significance of putting the "squeeze" on the Liberals. Given the polls, the circumstance, the Liberals are hardly itching for an election. In fact, I suspect we would do almost anything to avoid going to the polls at this moment in time. With the obvious, well obvious, the NDP braintrust returns to an old strategy, that requires historical amnesia, but hey why not?:
Mr. Layton argued there was “no way” Prime Minister Stephen Harper would allow his government to fall ahead of next month's G8 and G20 summits, and so would be forced to negotiate with a united opposition.
“The opposition has the opportunity to do some tough bargaining with Mr. Harper right now,” Mr. Layton told The Canadian Press.
“But for that to happen, Mr. Ignatieff has got to be a real Opposition leader.”
Mr. Layton accused the Liberal Leader of lacking “back-bone” in light of fears that defeating the bill would bring down Harper's minority Conservative government and trigger an election Canadians don't want.
Oh, the "backbone" attack. Particularly hurtful, given that Layton turned into a squid last fall, the MOMENT he lost his Liberal security blanket. It seems "backbone" is a meandering condition, when one has it, others don't, and vice versa. Again, kudos on the aggressive strategy, but nobody should delude themselves into actually arguing on principle, or citing the specifics as though a genuine manifestation.
The funniest part for me, Layton contradicts himself, telling the Liberals not to fear forcing an election, but then telling us all Harper wouldn't dare call one, given the calendar. Is that a paper tiger? Bascially, Layton himself admits the push here is predicated on no election, so the silly taunting is all the more unnecessary, not to mention a bit shallow.
I'm not sure I agree that Harper wouldn't force an election over the issue, so be careful, because we know what happened last time push REALLY came to shove:
"Fall election unlikely as NDP props up Tories"
Let's go orange!
