Wednesday, March 26, 2008

"Show What He's Made Of"

I would characterize this Quebec MP's comments as healthy advice, that sets the right tone:
“Now's the time for him to show what he's made of,” she said in an interview. “I am not in favour of a putsch. He is my leader, he is the person elected by the members of the party and I respect that. But he has things to do, and he has to do them quickly.”

“When there are people who are ready to run, who have experience, who are Liberals and known to us, we absolutely have to go and get them,” Ms. Folco said. “And when they're ready to run, we have to accept their candidacy.”

Ms. Folco said she expects Mr. Dion to set clear deadlines for nominating candidates, fundraising and organization.

“That's what we expect from a leader,” she said. “The reality is we absolutely have to put more energy, more effort than we have up until now.”

Folco also took a shot at Céline Hervieux-Payette, but her candor is mostly constructive. This is Dion's moment to take the bull by the horns, act swiftly and with authority. If Dion responds with urgency, then people will rally. Fast track some candidates, get the ball rolling, give people a sense on the ground that there is direction.

Dion needs to be hands one, surrogates behind his leadership. I have no problem with "time to show what you're made of", Dion can rise to the challenge, that's what leaders do in a crisis. If Dion conveys a sense of urgency, then some of the disconnect will wane. I believe Folco's comments are more about opportunity than unproductive criticism. More pep talk, than sour grapes.

12 comments:

Steve V said...

I know Folco was expelled from the shadow cabinet, for her statements last fall, wherein she basically said what Dion himself acknowledged. That said, her words make perfect sense from here.

Karen said...

Hmmm. I'm still digesting all of this but honestly, we've only heard from Ignatieff supporters.

There is something wrong here.

Steve V said...

"I'm still digesting all of this but honestly, we've only heard from Ignatieff supporters."

Knb, that might just be a function that more Quebec Liberals were Iggy supporters ;) I think it's great advice, get in there and get dirty. It's what is required, no question in my mind.

Anthony said...

well is it anybody else's fault nobody else is speaking to reporters?

what folco said is perfectly correct. the party needs to get its ass into gear. people are not motivated by the present situation, and that may have to do with the pissing contest at the PLCQ board of directors.

alot of people like seeing their name in the papers these days.

James Curran said...

Actually, KNB has a point. And, rumour has it that Iggy has been in Montreal for the past 2 or 3 days. Stephane is there today as well.

Leadership was over and done with 15 months ago. Time for these whiners to move on. None of them are bulletproof and their seats aren't as safe as they make them to be.

Anonymous said...

You are totally right Jim. There are no more safe Liberal seats in Quebec since that night of December 2nd 2006.

English Canada chose Stephane, Quebec overwhelmingly said no. Around 80%. We had an idea of the train-wreck that was coming. We knew Stephane, that's exactly why 80% of Quebec delegates voted against him on final ballot. English Canadians didn't know him and couldn't understand him, they voted for him because he could put Quebec back to its place.

RuralSandi said...

Maybe Folco's the one who should be heading the Quebec liberals here - she makes sense.

Time for these people to think about their political beliefs instead of the childish angry games they are playing.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm. I'm still digesting all of this but honestly, we've only heard from Ignatieff supporters.

Sorry, your pushing a “guilty by association angle” that is completely false.

It just so happens up to 85% of total Quebec delegates (MP’s, ex-officios etc.) went to Ignatieff on the final ballot.

This by no means implies that Ignatieff, the M.P, has any hand in this so called rebellion.

You all need to stop the innuendo and just understand that the Quebec wing of the party is so deflated at this point, that its easy for a few bad apples to cause a disturbance and the media jumps all over it.

There is one person smiling at this situation, and that is Bob Rae :)

-ITC

Karen said...

ITC, with respect, I wasn't linking Ignatieff himself to this, simply pointing out that all those who have complained supported him.

They don't seem to have ever accepted the fact that Dion won.

Personally I don't think Ignatieff would be foolish enough to be involved in something like this.

Ti-Guy said...

English Canadians didn't know him and couldn't understand him, they voted for him because he could put Quebec back to its place.

...*rolls eyes*

It's embarrassing for a lot of francophones like myself to see how deeply uninformed Quebeckers can be of the rest the rest of Canada.

Jim said...

This actually does have the smell of Iggy all over it. Why would that POS Coderre turn down the Quebec job? Because he is Iggy's boy, not Dion's. Now Falco is prodding Dion to step up, or?

I think Iggy has to act kinda fast, I am sure the he knows once that ex-NDP socialist turd, Bob Rae, get some face time in the Commons, he will be much more attractive to mainstream Libs. Rae is a good orator and will be a feisty MP. I am sure that in Iggy's mind it is terrible that there hasn't been an election yet...now he is gonna have to compete with Rae all over again.

Nope, better to have a coup and crush Dion before too much time is given to Rae to suck all you Libs into voting for his sorry socialist ass in the next convention.

Yep, this has Iggy all over it as well as that of his most sycophantic foot soldier, Denis (Hizbullah) Coderre.

The next few weeks will be heaven for the right leaning political junkie. :)

Steve V said...

On a side note, I thought Dion was quite good in his Quebec press conference today. I especially liked the "discipline" part.