Pro-Harper NDP Hammered in House

Not sure why, but all of sudden Ottawa media and Liberal MPs are finally making a point of outing the NDP for their unprincipled support of Harper in the House, and their constant trashing of the Liberals when they are supposed to be critiquing the government.

Long overdue really, and good to see.

- B

Never does an NDP member stand up in parliament to criticize the Conservative gov't unless they include the Liberals in their excoriation. It's almost getting to be amusing, if it weren't so harmful. Do they not realize how obvious their motives are? Trying to get the left vote by demonizing the Liberals is disgusting, when it means they are helping the Conservatives in the meantime. I have voted NDP in the past, but as long as Layton is there with his ruthless campaign, I will never vote for them and I'll bet there are many others who feel the same way. I certainly hope so.

He's been extremely destructive in the name of promoting the NDP. The end does not justify the means in this circumstance. Especially when we're dealing with someone like Harper.

Layton and his antics. When he was first chosen as the NDP leader, I was very impressed and had high hopes he would increase support for the party but, imo, he has done the opposite and grass-root members are not happy with his support for Harper.

Maybe this is backfiring on Harper somehow. I don't believe in the liberal media, in fact I tend to think it usually tilts Conservative these days. That's why I wonder about motive.

...every time I do hear Layton criticize Harper or anything connected to his government, I always think: "He's your boy, Jack."

Jack and Steve are kinda like Gepetto and Pinocchio, lol.

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Liberal MP Calls for an End to NDP MPs Posing as Conservatives
June 20, 2006
OTTAWA - Opposition MPs are calling for an urgent amendment to the so-called Accountability Act to prevent MPs representing one political party from posing as MPs from another party.
Liberal MP Dominic LeBlanc singled out NDP MP Pat Martin for his bang on Rich Little-like impersonation of an MP from the Conservative caucus.
"If it walks like a Conservative and talks like a Conservative then it must be a Conservative," said the MP who represents the Beauséjour riding in New Brunswick.
"I don't understand why Pat Martin hasn't officially joined his new playmates in the Conservative caucus. He routinely fawns over his Tory idols during Question Period, almost begging to have opposition questions tossed his way."
Mr. Martin who was elected as a New Democrat in the Manitoba riding of Winnipeg Centre is fast becoming the most notorious MP on Parliament Hill.
The widely read Hill Times this week bestowed the honor of Worst Question Period Performance on Mr. Martin for his cotton ball-like questions and the praise he gushes at his pals on the Conservative front benches while attacking the Official Opposition.
"When it comes to Question Period, he (Martin) seems to forget that the opposition's job is to hold the government to account – the current government, that is, and not the previous one," the Hill Times reported.
"Tossing rhetorical softballs to grateful ministers on past and present Liberal controversies is supposed to be the job of government backbenchers, not NDP MPs."
The Globe and Mail reported this week that Mr. Martin secretly met with key Tories and hatched a handshake deal to support the Accountability Act after publicly attacking the Conservative legislation previously for its many shortcomings.
Mr. Martin was also quick to jump to the defence this week of Ottawa Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre after the juvenile politician used crude arm gestures in the House of Commons and uttered vulgar language at a Commons committee meeting.
LeBlanc said the accountability legislation needs to be amended immediately in light of Mr. Martin's siding with his Conservative cousins to kill a Liberal amendment that would have prevented MPs from crossing the floor to join another political party.
"It's now clear why Mr. Martin killed this amendment," said LeBlanc.
"He's still weighing the perks of joining the Conservative caucus such as free rides with his new best friends aboard government Challenger jets to attend Stanley Cup games on the taxpayer dime."

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I'd like to see, too.

I don't have a url. I think it may be a news release from Dominick Leblanc.

I think it's an amusing way to get their point across about the NDP backing the neocons.

- B

Could be the media is bored and doesn't have any 'good' conflicts to report -- or at least one's that don't hem in the Liberal's policy regarding certain issues, like Kyoto (remember that big issue!). So the NDP, which is the weakest link, is the pile-on guy at the moment...they deserve it of course...but whether they deserve it more than the Liberals under Bill Graham or the BQ under old Gilles, is probably unfair.

But I have notice from what little TV news I see (CBC, CTV mostly) that Layton isn't getting the soundbites and coverage anymore--definitely true on CBC radio.

But if the NDP move closer to the Tories--they haven't given themselves much choice as they clearly just a half a year ago, moved closer to the Liberals and that didn't work for them at all...so what is the public or even the average NDPer suppose think...they basically have a loser for a leader and no hope of jettisoning the guy before the next election. They're fucked.

Besides--why the cheap partisanship...the liberals had no problem with the NDP when they were sounding like Liberals last year and supported the horrible and corrupt Martin government...I thought that was more shocking than their current attempts to get some traction on Tory issues out west like gun control--a liberal policy that the NDP shamelessly supported inspite of the fact it cost them big out on the Prairies.

Maybe the liberals can enlighten us as to what exactly are the tough stands against Harper lately? To this observer, the 'tory-like' label can be applied across the board

...don't waste their time bitching about a third party. They ignore it, and present policies that appeal the third party's supporters, and claim how scary the second party is. It worked for Chretien, and it worked for Martin in 2004. Of course it's not something that will work forever if you stand for nothing but mush and corruption, but it is something that will work to bleed of a significant portion of the third party's support. It even worked to a certain extent in 2006, as some polls were indicating that the NDP would get more like 19-20 percent, and that the Liberals would get more like 27-28 percent. Of course if Liberal politicians are going to bitch and complain about the NDP attacking them, they're going to look petty and amateurish. And when they loose even more seats to the Conservatives, and a few more to the NDP too, then who will they copmlain about? Or will they realize, like some of the smarter leadership contenders, that the Canadian public was tired of their antics and that they need to renew themselves. Oh sure, some of the hardcore partisans will love bills demanding that "NDP MP's stop acting like Conservative MP's", but they're irrelevent.