Iffy closing in on John Turner

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff is now only two points behind former leader John Turner for second place in the WORST approval ratings for a Liberal leader in history, according to an Angus-Reid poll released yesterday. Ignatieff came in at 16%, just barely behind John Turner's lowest score, which was 14%.

Of course, John Turner's record of 14% was thought to be the all-time low, and stood for some 25 years... until Dion shattered it in May of 2008 with his new record all-time low of just 10%.

Which means Ignatieff is now just a mere six points ahead of Dion's LOWEST EVER score. So much for being the "saviour" of the Liberal Party of Canada. I think Dion's numbers were even better than these during the whole coalition fiasco at the end of 2008, weren't they? Are we on the verge of yet ANOTHER record setting "leader"? With his near constant stumbles, despite the valiant efforts of old pros like Donolo, Ignatieff still can't manage to avoid tripping over the bar... the bar set so low, it's just mere inches above sea level.

And Canadians aren't known for backing a losing horse.

"Let's Make it THREE" - MSM getting the same feeling about Iffy

Anyone remember my "Let's Make it THREE" idea from way back in September? As in, let's make sure Ignatieff is the THIRD Liberal leader to never become Prime Minister, following in the footsteps of Blake and Dion?

Well, the Globe's John Ibbitson, in attendance at the Liberal 150 conference this weekend, is wondering the same thought aloud in today's paper...

The party of Laurier and King and Trudeau is weak. Its fortunes have declined in each of the past three elections – from majority government to minority government to opposition to disaster.

Since Edward Blake in the 19th century, no Liberal leader had failed to become prime minister, until Stéphane Dion. The polls suggest Mr. Ignatieff could become Number Three.

Jane Taber: "Michael Ignatieff enters 'Dion-land'"

OUCH... coming from the Liberal-friendly likes of Jane Taber, that title's gotta sting.

Michael Ignatieff enters 'Dion-land'
Jane Taber

1. From vote debacle to polling woe. Michael Ignatieff’s Liberals are sliding back into Stéphane Dion territory, according to a new EKOS Research poll.

This is not a good set of numbers, especially for the Liberals, pollster Frank Graves says. “After pulling back to parity they seem to be following a slow downward spiral into Dion-land.”

The EKOS poll shows the Conservatives with a clear lead (outside of the margin of error) – 33.3 per cent support of the electorate compared to 27.7 per cent for the Liberals. The NDP have 15.9 per cent; the Bloc is at 9.8 per cent and the Green Party has 10.4 per cent support.

In August, 2008, just before the last federal election was called, Mr. Dion had about 32 per cent support; that number later slid down to 24 per cent during his darkest days.

Dion-land is scary territory for the Liberals and the connotation is even worse. Mr. Ignatieff replaced Mr. Dion in December, 2008, coming in as the party saviour. But with the poor showing in the poll today and the missteps of late (this week’s loss of their own motion on reproductive health), some Liberals may be questioning the leadership change.

Iffy channels Dion through RMR - "We're STILL backing down... and STILL loving it!"

Rick Mercer... his comedy is timeless. Either that, or the Liberals are just as pathetic under their new leader as they were their old one!

Seriously, listen to Rick's speech at the podium...


Now a comparison and contrast between Rick's speech and Iffy's comments yesterday...

Iffy - "This is not a budget that looks ahead to the challenges of our times – and it’s not a budget we can support."

Rick - "The new Conservative Budget is wrong for the economy. It is wrong for Canada. And that is why we as Liberals are left with no choice... BUT TO LET IT PASS!"

Iffy - "We will vote against it, but we’re not going to cause an election. Since Canadians don’t want an election and it’s not in the national interest, we’ll register our opposition responsibly."

Rick - "Hey, if we shoot down this Budget, there's an election... AND WE CAN'T WIN AN ELECTION. We're not even CLOSE to being able to WIN AN ELECTION. That's why we're backing down... AND LOVING IT!"

Man, every single line of the song is as relevant today as it was two years ago! Even the line that goes, "No one can understand our leader speak"!!! Seriously, does anyone understand a thing that comes out of Iffy's (aka - the Arrogant Minded Professor) mouth?

h/t to Wilson for bringing this video back from days gone by.

Thinking of the Dion family tonight

National Newswatch is reporting, via the Montreal Gazette, that former Liberal Leader Stephane Dion's mother has passed away in Quebec City.

They will be in our thoughts and prayers tonight.

A prophetic photo from the "CC Archives"

Was looking for info from an old post of mine, and came across this prophetic pic from October 2007...
Yep, looks like we called that one pretty accurately... although at least Ignatieff waited long enough to let him have one kick at the can. Anyone remember playing "CLUE" when they were a kid?

"The murderer was Professor Iffy, with the knife, in the House of Commons... I WAS RIGHT, I WIN!!!"

OH SNAP! It's the Iggy Shrug!!!

From the "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!" file... looks like Iffy's metamorphasis into "Dion II" is now complete!

This unbelievable photo, capturing for the history books the final moment of the transformation process, was snapped at a press conference where Iffy was announcing that he's in support of the Tories HST implementation bill... whereas in true Dion-ian fashion, he was previously against it. (or at least MAY have been against it... we're not quite sure, as he was somewhat "Iffy" and "Dithered" on this issue too...)

Dion's "Green Shift" officially dead

Michael Ignatieff has announced that the Liberal's "Green Shift" Carbon Tax scheme, Stephane Dion's (err, wasn't it Iffy's idea in the first place?) electoral albatros, has now been offically "deep sixed".

(or, electorally speaking, I guess you could say it's been "Deep Twenty-Sixed"... as in 26%, their final numbers from the 2008 election)

It's a real irony though, that the Liberals are announcing a greater and more firm commitment to the Kyoto protocol this week of all weeks. With "Climategate" in full swing, due to the monumental e-mail leak that occured from some of the purpotrators in the climate change fraud, and calls for investigations and resignations in the US, Britain, the EU Parliament and New Zealand.

I mean, even CNN is finally starting to pay attention... and it only took them five days.

Lots of video on Sort of Political.

An INSANELY through summary of some damaging items contained within the leaked e-mails here at Bishop Hill in the UK.

And one final link to , who's posted the most damaging stuff so far from within the e-mail stream... discussions directly related to the intention to delete data should a FOI request be submitted by Drs. Steve McIntyre and Ross McKitrick. Interestingly enough, when such a request WAS eventually submitted, what did they say? "Oops, looks like we don't have the data anymore." I'm thinking a lawsuit and jailtime would be approriate for those guys at the CRU...

IFFY officially in sub-Dion territory

YIKES... IFFY is now below Dion's 2008 election numbers, at 24%, according to the latest Ipsos Reid poll.

Michael Ignatieff's Liberals garnered 24 per cent of support among respondents, a drop of one percentage point from late October.

The Liberals' steady descent has them almost at the same depths as in December of last year, when former leader Stephane Dion's call for a coalition government sat uneasily with a majority of Canadians. A poll taken Dec. 3 suggested the Liberals' support had dipped to 23 per cent.

Just one more percent to go until he's below Dion's WORST ever numbers... the level I predicted he'd drop to back in September.

Yes indeed folks, the honeymoon is OVER.

UPDATE: OH MY... and down go the numbers even further. First, an Angus-Reid poll I missed that put them down at 23%, (matching my prediction from September, h/t to a commenter for that) and now, Dion's wife Janine Krieber has launched a blistering attack on Michael Ignatieff and the current state of the Liberal Party. OUCH!!! AND FURTHER DOWN THEY GO!!!

It's been a year and one week since I last wrote on my blog. Ah! "la présidente" is lazy. But we have to take action now.

The Liberal Party is falling apart, and will not recover. Like all liberal parties in Europe, it will become a weakling at the mercy of ephemeral coalitions. By refusing the historic coalition that would have placed it at the helm of the left, it will be punished by history.

Anyway, I became convinced of it the moment that Paul Martin treated Jean Chrétien so cavalierly. The party died at that moment. If the Toronto elites had been more in tune, humble and realist, Stéphane would have been willing to take all the time and absord all the hits needed to rebuild the party. But they couldn't swallow the 26%, and now we are at 23%.

The time for choices is now. I don't want to see the Conservatives continue to change my country. They are, slowly, like any dictatorship, changing the world. Torture doesn't exist, corruption is a fabrication. Do we really have the right leader to discuss these questions? Can someone really write these insanities and lead us to believe that he simply changed his mind? In order to justify violence, he must have engaged in serious thought. Otherwise, it's very dangerous. How can we be sure that he won't change his mind one more time?

The party grassroots had understood all of that, and the average citizen is starting to understand it too. Ignatieff's supporters have not done their homework. They did not read his books, consult his colleagues. They were satisfied that he could be charming at cocktails. Some of them are outraged now. I am hearing: Why did no one say it? We told you loud and clear, you didn't listen.

I am starting a serious reflection. I will not give my voice to a party that will end up in the trashcan of history. I am looking around me, and certain things are attractive. Like a dedicated party that doesn't challenge its leader at every hiccup in the polls. A party where the rule would be the principle of pleasure, and not assassination. A party where work ethic and competence would be respected and where smiles would be real.

Maybe I'm not dreaming.

"La présidente."

IFFY's IN SUB-DION TERRITORY

With the most recent EKOS numbers having been released by the CBC this morning (hardly a bastion of Tory support), one thing should be kept in mind... IFFY IS NOW POLLING BELOW DION's 2008 NUMBERS.

That's right folks... Ignatieff is polling BELOW the numbers that Dion ended up with in the 2008 election... the election that Liberals consider to be their worst result EVER.

I guess the question isn't "How low can he go?" anymore... it's "How long can he hang on?"

And just in case and Liberals don't fully understand the ramifications of what's going on here... we just pulled ahead of you (or at least tied with the MOE) in QUEBEC, 22.2% vs. 21.0%.

What's really fun though is reading ITQ's take on the situation. She's a funny gal you know.

My prediction? If there are gonna be floor crossers jumping ship, it's gonna be soon.

"Let's Make it Three!" Redux - Liberals quietly wondering the same thing!

Looks like I'm not alone in thinking that Michael Ignatieff may end up being the third Liberal leader in history to fail in his quest to become Prime Minister... or at least that's what James Travers of the Toronto Star is reporting (see 5th paragraph)

"Relief at not having to face an irritable electorate is not the prevailing Liberal emotion at week’s end. Rising instead is the premonition that, for the first time in party history, a second successive leader may not become prime minister."

That's right my fellow Conservatives, let's make their worst nightmare come true...

"LET'S MAKE IT THREE WITH A MAJORITY!"

But in order to do that, we need to get our act together, put our money where our mouths are, and pick off some of the key strategic seats in places like Ontario.

I've put together a list of a couple of the close ones we can snatch in the next election, and of those I could find, I've provided the info you'll need to make a "MAKE IT THREE" donation...

London North Centre - one of only TWO seats left for the Liberals in Southwestern Ontario
Think about cutting them a cheque and sending it to:
London North Centre
Conservative Association
P.O. Box 27113
60 North Centre Road
London ON
N5X 3X5

Guelph - Lost by less than a 2000 vote margin, the other last bastion of Liberal "entitlement" in SW Ontario.
IF YOU CAN ONLY DONATE TO JUST ONE OF THESE RIDINGS, PICK THESE GUYS! I had the privilege of working with them in the 2008 campaign, and they've got a great team that is committed to turning this riding BLUE! There's a link to PayPal on their page, or you can send a cheque by mail to this address:
Conservative Party of Canada
Guelph Electoral District
P.O. Box 21029
Guelph, ON
N1G 4T3

Mississauga South - Would be nice to take out Paul "Committee Chair" Szabo, eh?
Online donation form HERE

Ajax-Pickering - Mark Holland's, where our new star Chris Alexander has decided to run!
Send a cheque to:
PO Box 31060
Westney Heights Postal Office
Ajax, ON
L1T 3V2

Brampton Springdale - we almost knocked off Ruby Dallah last time, but with "Nannygate" dogging her this time around, her riding is VERY poachable.
Online donations HERE

Brampton West - Donations by cheque to:
Brampton West Conservative Association
7700 Hurontario ST
Brampton, ON
L6Y 4M3

Don Valley West - We lost by under 3000 votes in the heart of Toronto!
Website out of date, no mailing address or contact info... COME ON GUYS!

York Centre - Just 2200 votes
Donate online HERE

Eglington-Lawrence - Joe Volpe, and just 2300 votes!
No online presence... maybe they need a donation of time from one of my dear readers to get that up and running?

Do the math... if we can pick off these ones, the "low hanging fruit" in Ontario, WE ONLY NEED A FEW MORE FOR A MAJORITY!!! Assuming we're going to take back Edmonton-Centre, so long as we keep what we have, WE ONLY NEED TWO MORE TO MAKE IT TO THE MAGIC 155!

I think we can find a couple more out West or on the East Coast, don't you?

Will Dion run again?

Just putting the question out there, simply because I haven't heard one way or another... does anyone know if former Liberal Leader Stephane Dion intends to run again?

Iggy: The gift that keeps on giving

Do my eyes deceive me, or did Iggy just give us his version of "The Shrug"? From today's Globe & Mail online...

"Do you think it's easy forcing elections?"
Look familiar?

"Do you think it's easy teaching him leadership?"

Anyone remember this pic?

Looks like I was just a year early in my prediction...

The Seventy Five vs. US... The 5,205,334

Today, in a backroom on Parliament Hill, a group of 75 people got together and decided who Canada's Prime Minister would be.

They decided to overturn the decision of the 5,205,334 people who selected Stephen Harper as their Prime Minister. These 75 individuals said that those 5,205,334 Canadians had made the wrong decision, and decided to instead assert their will upon the people of Canada.

Their names are...

Andrews, Scott - Avalon, Newfoundland and Labrador
Bagnell, Larry - Yukon, Yukon
Bains, Navdeep - Mississauga—Brampton South, Ontario
Bélanger, Mauril - Ottawa—Vanier, Ontario
Bennett, Carolyn - St. Paul's, Ontario
Bevilacqua, Maurizio - Vaughan, Ontario
Brison, Scott - Kings—Hants, Nova Scotia
Byrne, Gerry - Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, Newfoundland and Labrador
Cannis, John - Scarborough Centre, Ontario
Coady, Siobhan - St. John's South—Mount Pearl, Newfoundland and Labrador
Coderre, Denis - Bourassa, Québec
Cotler, Irwin - Mount Royal, Québec
Crombie, Bonnie - Mississauga—Streetsville, Ontario
Cuzner, Rodger - Cape Breton—Canso, Nova Scotia
D'Amours, Jean-Claude - Madawaska—Restigouche, New Brunswick
Dhaliwal, Sukh - Newton—North Delta, British Columbia
Dhalla, Ruby - Brampton—Springdale, Ontario
Dosanjh, Ujjal - Vancouver South, British Columbia
Dryden, Ken - York Centre, Ontario
Duncan, Kirsty - Etobicoke North, Ontario
Easter, Wayne - Malpeque, Prince Edward Island
Eyking, Mark - Sydney—Victoria, Nova Scotia
Folco, Raymonde - Laval—Les Îles, Québec
Foote, Judy - Random—Burin—St. George's, Newfoundland and Labrador
Fry, Hedy - Vancouver Centre, British Columbia
Garneau, Marc - Westmount—Ville-Marie, Québec
Goodale, Ralph - Wascana, Saskatchewan
Guarnieri, Albina - Mississauga East—Cooksville, Ontario
Hall Findlay, Martha - Willowdale, Ontario
Holland, Mark - Ajax—Pickering, Ontario
Ignatieff, Michael - Etobicoke—Lakeshore, Ontario
Jennings, Marlene - Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, Québec
Kania, Andrew - Brampton West, Ontario
Karygiannis, Jim - Scarborough—Agincourt, Ontario
Kennedy, Gerard - Parkdale—High Park, Ontario
LeBlanc, Dominic - Beauséjour, New Brunswick
Lee, Derek - Scarborough—Rouge River, Ontario
MacAulay, Lawrence - Cardigan, Prince Edward Island
Malhi, Gurbax - Bramalea—Gore—Malton, Ontario
Martin, Keith - Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, British Columbia
McCallum, John - Markham—Unionville, Ontario
McGuinty, David - Ottawa South, Ontario
McKay, John - Scarborough—Guildwood, Ontario
McTeague, Dan - Pickering—Scarborough East, Ontario
Mendes, Alexandra - Brossard—La Prairie, Québec
Minna, Maria - Beaches—East York, Ontario
Murphy, Brian - Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, New Brunswick
Murphy, Shawn - Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
Murray, Joyce - Vancouver Quadra, British Columbia
Neville, Anita - Winnipeg South Centre, Manitoba
Oliphant, Robert - Don Valley West, Ontario
Pacetti, Massimo - Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, Québec
Patry, Bernard - Pierrefonds—Dollard, Québec
Pearson, Glen - London North Centre, Ontario
Proulx, Marcel - Hull—Aylmer, Québec
Rae, Bob - Toronto Centre, Ontario
Ratansi, Yasmin - Don Valley East, Ontario
Regan, Geoff - Halifax West, Nova Scotia
Rodriguez, Pablo - Honoré-Mercier, Québec
Rota, Anthony - Nipissing—Timiskaming, Ontario
Russell, Todd - Labrador, Newfoundland and Labrador
Savage, Michael - Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia
Scarpaleggia, Francis - Lac-Saint-Louis, Québec
Sgro, Judy - York West, Ontario
Silva, Mario - Davenport, Ontario
Simms, Scott - Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, Newfoundland and Labrador
Simson, Michelle - Scarborough Southwest, Ontario
Szabo, Paul - Mississauga South, Ontario
Tonks, Alan - York South—Weston, Ontario
Trudeau, Justin - Papineau, Québec
Valeriote, Francis - Guelph, Ontario
Volpe, Joseph - Eglinton—Lawrence, Ontario
Wilfert, Bryon - Richmond Hill, Ontario
Wrzesnewskyj, Borys - Etobicoke Centre, Ontario
Zarac, Lise - LaSalle—Émard, Québec

You might recognize their names... they're the Members of Parliament for the Liberal Party of Canada. And today they decided that they wanted to install Stephane Dion as the Prime Minister, instead.

It's 75 vs. 5,205,334... and right now, it looks like the 75 are going to win.

Canada and Zimbabwe... just about the only difference now is the temperature.

Why bother winning an election...

...when you can just steal one after the fact?

Introducing Prime Minister Dion, who will go down in history as the first undemocratic, backroom installed Prime Minister in our history.

Welcome to Zimbabwe my friends... where elections really don't matter.

Let your voice be heard... AGAIN, since they obviously didn't hear you on October 14th. www.rallyforcanada.ca

Dion on the NDP: "No coalition... PERIOD"

"We cannot have a coalition with a Party that has a platform that would be damaging for the economy. PERIOD." - Stephane Dion, Sept. 24, 2008

Dion was forced to make that statement, in part, due to questions about "Uniting the left" as proposed by the Guelph Liberal candidate, now Member of Parliament, Frank Valeriote: (you'll notice that Frank didn't advocate working with the Separatists back then... interesting how times have changed, eh?)

h/t once again to Janke

Dion to hang on as interim Liberal leader!

Live from CPAC... Dion is sticking around!

Is he trying to pull a 1980 style Trudeau rebirth? Humm... perhaps a true Conservative "poision pill" in the budget?

Liberals in serious financial trouble after last night

Will post my post-election thoughts later tonight, but I wanted to throw some numbers out there for everyone to consider.

$6,751,781.40(*). That's how much the annual subsidy the Liberal Party will get after posting their lowest numbers in nearly a generation, with just 3,629,990 votes, down 849,425 votes from their 2006 total of 4,479,415.

Contrast that with the $9,681,921.24 the Tories stand to get annualy on top of their own fundraising efforts, which stood somewhere in the neighbourhood of $8,479,902.53 for just the first two quarters of this year alone. Assume that they'll be hauling in somewhere in the $20-$30 million range for the next three years, with no outstanding debts, unlike their Liberal opponents.

You see, the Liberals still have outstanding leadership debts. They had to borrow $2,000,000 earlier in the year just to maintain solvency, at a punishing interest rate of 9%. And thanks to the hints before the campaign from now defeated Liberal MP Garth Turner, we know that this Liberal campaign was heavily financed, likely via loans with a significant interest rate. It will be very interesting to compare the 2008 annual returns in the spring.

What does this all mean? It means exactly what I said it would before the campaign... Mr. Harper has his defacto majority, as the Liberal Party of Canada will be bending over backwards to find ways to avoid triggering an election for at least the next three years.

There will be rumblings that Dion must go, but in the end, I think they'll let him stick around for the time being. They'll use the time to rebuild, to revamp their financial situation, and when things get closer, they'll find a way to have Mr. Dion graciously step down, without causing serious infighting. They'll run a low key and low cost leadership race, crown a new leader, then spend a year raising his (or her) profile in preperation for an election... sometime in 2011 or 2012.

Warren called this one a long time ago when he said something along the lines of, in refering to Mr. Harper, "This guy's going to be Prime Minister for a long time".

* NOTES: I've heard that the per vote funding will be $1.86 per vote after the inflation adjustment from $1.75 in the last election

UPDATE: I see the National Post's Don Martin has similar thoughts on how long this parliament will last.

Liberal leader Stephane Dion CHOKES

What the...??? Oh... my... goodness...



It was a very simple question... "What exactly has Harper done wrong, and what would you have done instead?" It's the very same question he's been hammering Prime Minister Harper on for the last three days. I'm sorry Liberals, but he should have had this answer down cold. With the way he's been attacking Harper on it, saying he hasn't done enough to protect the Canadian economy, you guys should have been well prepared with an answer to this question, and Mr. Dion should have been able to point out Harper's errors without blinking.

For the record, some Liberals are trying to twist this around and accuse people of making fun of Mr. Dion's hearing problem. Based on Mr. Dion's own questions back to the questioner, you can clearly see that his hearing has nothing whatsoever to do with what happened here... he heard the question, but simply did not get it.

CTV's Tom Clark just confirmed that Liberals on the campaign said it was NOT related to his hearing. And he also confirmed that the Liberals are crying foul, and they're even threatening CTV for broadcasting this clip.

Ahh yes, Liberals once again defending the Independence of the media. How quickly things change when the shoe is on the other foot.