In his speech to the House of Commons tabling his no confidence motion, Michael Ignatieff enumerated all the reasons that the Liberals, and one assumes the BQ, have rightly lost confidence in the Conservatives and Stephen Harper.
Here they all are:
1. Conservatives lost control of the public finances of our country.
2.It jeopardizes our capacity to provide adequate health care for Canadians in the future. It jeopardizes our capacity to help seniors and guarantee a secure retirement for our fellow citizens. It jeopardizes our capacity to help the unemployed.
3. Conservative ridings have benefited disproportionately from this stimulus expenditure and we have the figures to prove it.
4. When we actually look at the stimulus funding that we can see on the ground, 12 per cent has gone out the door.
5.The government has used taxpayers' money and spent six times more promoting its own inaction plan than it has to promote the public health of Canadians and warn them about the dangers of H1N1.
6.We are still waiting for the vaccine.
7. Across the country there are cancer and heart patients waiting for nuclear medicine and diagnostics because twice on the government's watch over four years it has failed to supply an adequate amount of nuclear isotopes for the Canadian medical profession.
8. There has been no attempt to defend Canadian jobs and Canadian technologies.
9. It has failed to protect Canadians abroad.
10. the government, over four long years, has steadily diminished Canada's influence and weight overseas.
11. Who will actually listen to Canada on the climate change issue? We have had three ministers of the environment, three plans and no action. We have lost all credibility on this issue in the international area. Who would vote for Canada?
12. Who in China or India will take seriously Canadian entrepreneurship, Canadian technology, Canadian products if the Prime Minister of Canada cannot even bother to show up to lead trade missions to open those markets to our Canadian entrepreneurs?
13. The government works on one plan and one plan only, starve the beast, lower expectations of government so far until Canadians cease to have any expectations of the federal government whatsoever. This is an unworthy way to govern this country, and we stand against it.
14. All adversaries are enemies, all methods are fair and all public money is available for partisan purposes. This is unworthy of the political traditions of this country.
15. We actually receive lessons from the public. We do not give them to the public. We do not use an election to teach left wing judges a lesson. We do not use elections to teach women who help other women through the cycle of domestic abuse a lesson. We want to use elections to bring Canadians together, to arouse them to a higher purpose.
16. We believe we are looking for a government that actually thinks it can be leaders, not followers, in the great drama, the great challenge of global climate change.
17. We are looking for a government that believes in the compassion and creativity of Canadians and wants to stand with them, not against them, and build a great country together.
18. We are looking for a government that believes in telling Canadians the truth, a government that believes that growth does not just happen with a market miracle.
And Jack Layton abstains, implying confidence in the government? Recommend this Post at Progressive Bloggers If you liked this post, please vote for my blog at Canadian Blogosphere
Your post was apparently so clear that the normal, "I spit on Iggy's political grave" crowd laid low. Guess they knew their normal drive-by smear wouldn't quite compete with a cogent arguments.
ReplyDeleteToo bad the national media decided it was best to just ignore the whole thing, mesmerized by shiny objects on the fringe.
Great summary.
"Conservatives lost control of the public finances of our country"? Does that actually mean anything to you?
ReplyDelete"It has failed to protect Canadians abroad" - Do you not remember what Steven Harper did to bring Canadians back from Lebanon during the Israel-Lebanon war?
My friend, if you're going to attack Steven Harper, be realistic in that we still live in real world where you can't always perform magic. But if you want to be honest in your critique you can criticize the Ontario Liberal government for their corruption scandals or the Federal Liberal government for wanting to form a coalition with 2 other parties that share very little ideologically with them.
My friend Shady, losing control of the public finances means being completely unable to be able to tell the public how big the deficit is going to be. The Tory projections are a joke. They still thought last fall that we'd have a modest surplus. Give me a break.
ReplyDeleteAs for protecting Canadians, Harper did bring Canadians back, granted. However, that's one instance that needs to be compared with the cases of Mohammud, Kohail, Khadr and others.
As for criticizing the Liberals, first of all I don't know about any "Federal Liberal government" at the moment. Must have passed me by.
More important thought, that they wanted to form a coalition is no criticism. It shows the Liberals willingness to consider all avenues of making Parliament work, unlike the governing hyper partisans.
I've always wanted to ask a liberal about what you just brought up. Why do you care so much about Khadr? Do you not believe in something called treason? Why do we want a terrorist back in our neighborhoods?
ReplyDeletePlease answer me honestly about this: Do you think that guy would hesitate for a second to fly a little plane into your house in order for him to go to heaven? I think not.
My liberal friend, we've got to be able to call evil for what it is before it's too late.
I agree. I'm not necessarily going to go on a hunger strike for freeing Khadr. I'm saying that bring him home, give him a fair trial, and see what the outcome is.
ReplyDelete