AC, in the last 100 years, there have only been two instances of a GG taking action against a PM’s advice — once here and once in Australia. Here, the PM got his way anyhow; in Australia, the GG (Kerr) ended up a pariah and went into voluntary exile.

Further, say the GG said no and Harper immediately resigned as PM. It’s far from clear that any of the other party leaders could govern, especially since the Conservatives would already be in no mood to play nice. We would go to the polls anyway and the entire affair would be reduced to a farce.

So even if a GG taking unilateral action doesn’t make you feel queasy, it makes no sense from a pragmatic standpoint.

So it appears that the left is once again content to propagate a meme that is factually incorrect:

“Harper’s breaking the fixed election law”. One doesn’t need a lawyer and a magnifying glass to figure out that Harper’s more than within the law,

no, one only has to read it plainly, and then honestly describe what one has read.

Given that all here are capable of basic reading comprehension, it appears the answer lies with the honesty part.

It’s amazing how fear and loathing (in this case mostly fear – of a near certain Harper victory and a substantial possibility of a Harper majority) causes the partisan liberal to not only lose objectivity, but the ability to be honest as well.

Everyone is assuming this will be a five week campaign. But will it be ?

Paul Martin made the last campaign run seven weeks. The Liberal spin doctors at the time said that the more people see of Stephen Harper, the more they will dislike him.

Hmmmm, could Harper be thinking the same thing about people seeing a lot of Dion ? And do the Libs have enough money, planned events, platform ideas, etc. to make it through seven weeks ?

Also, Tom Flanagan in “Harper’s Team” noted that one big headache in preparing the last election was that they had to prepare two campaigns–a short one and a long one.

What is it with these Liberal leaders, always scared to face the electorate. Martin had the look of a first-time sky-diver on the eve of last election and Dion looks like he wants to do anything but go on the hustings this go-round. For Mr. Dion the time is apparently never quite right to go to the people.

Memo to Liberal delegates for the next leadership convention coming soon): next time pick someone who has the intestinal fortitude to actually go out to the public and try to get a mandate to govern. If I was canvassing for the Liberals I think I’d have a brown bag over my head to cover by shame.

Kody, I think the point is that a strong showing for Dion would give Dion momentum that Harper doesn’t wish to lend him.

Andrew,

to build on that,

I think the point is that the Liberals ONLY WANT liberal strongholds to hold elections right now.

Those ridings will go to a vote very soon, but so will all the other ridings, which is what the Liberals fear.

There are good reasons for the Liberals to want to stay safely in their bubble.

But Harper just popped it, and they’re going to have to face reality – they’re going to lose:

two seats in BC,
one in Manitoba,
eleven in Ontario,
twelve in Quebec, and
three in Atlantic Canada.

For a majority.

I’m at a loss to figure out where these people who are predicting a Harper win come from. Either they’re simply trolls, or just plain simple.

They keep forgetting that the only way Harper got this smallest minority government ever was in the middle of the Liberals being embroiled in two scandals. One from Adscam and the other the NDP initiated investigation into Ralph Goodale. They got this minority government with the benefit of a Liberal campaign that only started half-way through, and was lackluster are that point. And they got this minority as a newly minted combined party that had no baggage attached to it.

I honestly don’t see how people think that these soft supporters, who basically decided to give the Conservatives a trial run to spank the Liberals, are still feeling the same way after RCMP raids into conservative headquarters, talk of conservatives trying to rob taxpayers through in-and-out financing, talk of bribing cancer-ridden MPs to try to get votes, an increasingly gloomy economic outlook, actively pursuing the opposite of what was promised with elected Senators and Michael Fortier, actively engaging in the opposite of what was promised with softwood lumber, the revealing of their “dirty tricks to stall parliament” book, and perhaps soon, going against what they themselves campaigned on about their fixed-election law.

That’s a lot of brand new baggage the party’s taken on. Does anybody have any reason why that soft support would vote for Harper again in spite of all that?

“Does anybody have any reason why that soft support would vote for Harper again in spite of all that?”

In two words: Stéphane Dion.

If the Liberals lose 11 seats in Ontario, I’ll eat my hat. That’s just a RIDICULOUS thing to assume. If anything, the Liberals are more popular in Ontario than they were in the last election, not less. They may not gain seats, but to LOSE 11 seats they’d actually have to send Dion around the province begging people not to vote Liberal.

As for the supposedly huge problem with the Green Shift “tax increase”, I think it’s only a problem if voters do what the CPC tells them to and simply ignore the large income tax REDUCTIONS that are also a part of the Green Shift plan. The word SHIFT is there for a reason you know. It’s a plan to SHIFT the tax burden AWAY from income, and on to pollution causing activities. It’s really not that complicated, unless you’re a conservative.

Dot/Anon: The “Kool-Aid” reference is more likely to Ken Kesey’s Merry Prankster’s. Read Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test for the fun background.

The new Crop poll which came out this morning explains why Gilles Duceppe and Stéphane Dion are heading for the hills and leaving their cell phones at home do they’re incommunicado:

Cons 31
Bloc 30
Libs 20
NDP 14

That’s right folks, the Conservatives have overtaken the Bloc in popular support in Quebec.

How is Stéphane Dion doing in his hometown of Quebec City? Libs at 14%, I’m told that the dislike for him there is palpable.

Pundits in Quebec are saying that Duceppe is Dion’s only hope to stop the Conservative wave developping there. It appears they’re already co-operating together. The old federal Liberal/separatist symbiotic relationship rears its ugly head.

Consider me dumbfounded! In my wildest dreams, I never believed that Harper would go to such lengths to avoid the by-elections.

That being said, if we Canadians allow him to get away with this at the polls, we deserve everything that is sure to come our way as a result.

LindaL, stop lying.

First, equating the Liberals of today with the Liberals of 3 governments ago is akin to someone equating the Conservatives of today with the Reform Party.

Second, if you read the plan rather than just the Conservative talking points, you’d know that the Green Shift imposes no tax on gasoline for transportation, for one. Of course there’s going to be overhead, but you’re talking like there isn’t any overhead now, despite there being changes made to the tax code every year.

Third, the price will go up on those items that create a lot of unwanted pollution, true enough. Fortunately, we have the choice whether to purchase those or not, and the tax will encourage companies to find ways to avoid polluting so that they don’t have to pay it and can give us lower prices.

Fourth, compare it to the Conservative or NDP plans. Their plans will also raise the price on everything, it’s just that theirs don’t come with any income tax break. Given the choice of having to pay more and getting an income tax cut, or just having to pay more, which would you prefer?

So stop lying and do some research so we can talk intelligently about the problems with the Green Shift (and there certainly are some, but they’re not the ones you’re going on about)