Now it’s getting worse. First came the coalition fiasco — all of which could have been averted had the NDP explicitly offered the possibility of a coalition during the election campaign. Then the Liberals chose the most conservative of leadership candidates, Michael Ignatieff, mostly through attrition and a lack of viable alternatives.

Ignatieff is doing nothing to counter the NDP’s charge that he is basically in support of Stephen Harper’s government. He insisted on no modifications to Harper’s budget. He caved and gave the budget speedy passage when Harper turned up the heat. He supports the Conservatives on the same kind of mandatory minimum sentencing for drug crimes that state after state in the USA is getting rid of as fast as possible, even though it isn’t a confidence measure.

Governments get defeated, not elected, the cynics say, and Ignatieff is a cynic’s cynic.

Last week, Ignatieff sided with the Harperites against British MP George Galloway, whom the government has barred from entering Canada on account of his support for Hamas and Palestine. Although Ignatieff does not support barring Galloway’s entry to Canada, he was just as definitive in condemning him.

“I have never in a long life of listening to George Galloway heard a single sentence out of his mouth that I believed,” said Ignatieff, which points to a glaring difference between the two men. Ignatieff supported the US invasion of Iraq and Galloway was one of its most vocal and prominent critics. The Liberal leader is obviously trying to win back some voters, mostly but by no means exclusively Jewish, that support Harper’s and immigration minister Jason Kenney’s aggressively pro-Israel stance.

Last week, Kenney cut funding, mostly used for immigrant settlement services, to the Canadian Arab Federation. Its president called Kenney and other politicians “professional whores” for their support of Israel. This verbal excess provided Kenney with ample pretext for cutting the funds and playing the pro-Israel card again.

Some say Michael Ignatieff has done so little to develop a personal identity of his own around issues because he expects Harper’s popularity to fall on its own due to hard times. He doesn’t want to create any targets, like his predecessor’s carbon tax, on which he can be attacked. Governments get defeated, not elected, the cynics say, and Ignatieff is a cynic’s cynic.

Some might say Michael Ignatieff’s strategy recalls Dick Morris’ advice to Bill Clinton to “hug the enemy.” Clinton hugged the enemy so hard that he adopted a great many of the disastrous Republican policies that led to today’s big crash.

Last week Harper gave a startlingly partisan speech to the recently-founded Manning Institute for Democracy, Harper slagged Barack Obama’s stimulus plan for taxing the rich and the “toxic coalition brew of Liberals, socialists and separatists.” He also said the global economic crash was the result of people not being conservative enough.

“We are in a global recession principally — and we have to face this — because a lot of people on Wall Street, because of a lot of people in the private sector more generally — homeowners or consumers — pushed or bought into a very unconservative idea: that they could live beyond their means. Regulators may have failed to prevent it, but in the end it was a failure of the private sector to live according to the values we as conservatives know to be true.”

This week Harper is going after the gun registry, which cost the Liberals so much support in rural areas and the West.

Where will Michael Ignatieff go next? At a time when Canadians need inspiration, his current direction is not promising. Even if trends continued and he won a minority government, the policy differences from the current one could be slight.

Ish Theilheimer has been Publisher of the leading, and oldest, independent Canadian online newsmagazine, StraightGoods.ca, since founding it in September 1999. He is also Managing Editor of PublicValues.ca. He lives wth his wife Kathy in Golden Lake, ON, in the Ottawa Valley.

Canadian New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton said in Edmonton Saturday that Canada will need to take an environmentally friendly approach to job creation.

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What is GDP, Gnp, NDP, NI, PI,and disposable personal income. What can you use to calculate these?

Gross domestic produce, gross national product….I dunno ndp. Non domestic product? Sounds aobut right.

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ANNOUNCEMENT ON VALUES VENTURE (1) Values Venture Competition Registration – closed. The official Values Venture Website is:

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If you can’t remember the last time you heard that phrase then you haven’t recently been to either: a) religious cult meeting b) a M/A/R/R/S reunion concert c) an NDP leadership convention. A and B are definitely out for me, …

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What are the differences between the Liberal Party and the NDP in Canada?

They are not really both left wing parties. The liberal party is actually a centrist party. In fact they spend a great deal of time on the fence. They are left leaning on social issues and center or right leaning on fiscal policy. The reason they have governed the country

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After the Liberals and NDP defeat the budget in January, who will lead the Liberals in the March election?

There is a lot of speculation as to what may occur between now and the resumption of Parliament…and anything can happen. If the governement is defeated over the January budget, the coalition will hope that the GG will allow them to form the government.

If the GG chooses to

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Public Transit As A New Taxing Authority

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What will each party (Green, NDP, Liberal, Conservative) do to help the environment and the economy?

If you want to talk about both together, or separately…

Economy- Conservatives
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Tweets from Sunday March 8, 2009
Starbucks is not open on Sunday in Hamilton 11:29 AM Mar 8th
We r lightening force in parliament #Layton
The Libs r the probation officers of parliament but they watch Harper commit the crime
NDP r good at railing on the opposition watch us on CPAC.ca #Layton
Put the middle class at the front of economic policies
Govt get out of the way of corporations abandon the public interest
Jack Layton taking the stage ONDP Tweet us your speech pls any Layton fans 10:38 AM Mar 8th
Happy Intl Women Day! ONDP have elected a female leader 4 next election Andre Horwath we r excited!8:59 AM Mar 8th

Tweets from Saturday March 7, 2008
On my way to Melanheadz! CYA there smoke down SteelTown7:52 PM Mar 7th
Its Horwath! Thank gawd!7:45 PM Mar 7th
Horwath will b the next leader ONDP!! 43% of the vote vs Tabuns 31% by Intl Women’s Day we will have a women leading our part Do U Believe 6:11 PM Mar 7th
Horwath got a 10 point lead after the first ballot. Prue is out w/ 11 gonna take three ballots to figure this out Tabuns n Bisson tied 5:09 PM Mar 7th
The days of fighting Enron cuz we luv Public Power n we won that fight #ONDP11:40 AM Mar 7th
Hampton doing good. The new normal. Bemoaning media coverage of his political career yet they allowed Linda Leatherdale to chair a debate11:37 AM Mar 7th
Waiting 4 Howard Hampton to take the stage. Exit stage left on his terrible years of leadership. #ONDP11:15 AM Mar 7th
Back @ #ONDP convention lotta hang overs! Political talk n coffee10:18 AM Mar 7th

Friday, March 6, 2008
Putting the social into socialist! Seeing what leader has the best party b4 deciding10:01 PM Mar 6th
Socialism for the Rich! Capitalism for the Poor! The Obama ideals7:54 PM Mar 6th
OMG who gave the floor who invited the corporate media to ask questions7:50 PM Mar 6th
Horwath turn at the mic Time To Make Ont Work Again same speech from Toronto7:35 PM Mar 6th
Peter Tabuns giving the room ago.7:24 PM Mar 6th
ONDP leaders debate. Prue will boldly take the party where its never been b47:23 PM Mar 6th
Anyone from ONDP? Find me n Dana Larsen for toking this weekend4:34 PM Mar 6th