HARPER BLINKED

Harper Blinked…

Guess Machiavelli Harper & Co. pulled back from the brink after all. He thought he had an ace up his sleeve: having cancelled the cancellation, he now could make the opposition –the Liberals in particular –look self-serving and hypocritical if they backed off; by claiming that they were only interested in saving their subsidies. When it appeared that the opposition parties were going through with a non-confidence vote regardless, he backed off –buying time by postponing a vote until December 8th –but not before he showed himself for what he is: a cunning, conniving partisan who puts political scheming before the common good, in spite of his protestations to the contrary.

I predict that something like this will happen: The opposition parties, tired of playing political poker with the Harper & co. will pull the plug anyhow, as they should. They will likely have Dion move up his resignation date and then appoint Michael Ignatieff as temporary leader of the coalition, until an election can be held –after the Liberal convention and the resolution of the current economic crisis. After all, though not ideal, Ignatieff is all ready the Deputy Opposition Leader.

Regardless, we cannot afford to play politics as usual during these trying times. We need a concerted, non-political effort to face the tsunami of economic tidal wave about to engulf us.