I predict a yes vote on Bill C-391 that kills the gun registry from Nathan Cullen, Dennis Bevington, Charlie Angus, Niki Ashton, and Carol Hughes will cost the New Democratic Party a minimum of $250,000 in donations, 4 percentage points in the polls and at least three of the afforementioned MPs their seats in the House of Commons.

Update: New Democrat MPs are fooling themselves if they believe there will be no repercussions from a yes vote.

If any NDP member votes for this bill, and is not expelled from caucus, then I’m afraid it’s over between us.

The Liberals want us to believe they’re ready to run the country. That would be the same Liberals who allowed the fourth place New Democrats to hold them hostage for nearly four years until they noticed that the New Democrats didn’t have bullets in their gun–or even a gun for that matter–and finally worked up the courage to make their getaway…um, yesterday. Right. The Liberals haven’t even demonstrated that they’re ready to be the opposition let alone lead the nation. So stuff a sock in it you silly prats.

Now for the parable portion of our show courtesy of Aesop.

A traveler hired an ass to convey him to a distant place. The day being intensely hot and the sun shining in its strength, the traveler stopped to rest and sought shelter in the shadow of the ass. As this afforded only protection for one and as the traveler and the owner of the ass both claimed it, a violent dispute arose between them as to which of them had the right to the shadow. The owner maintained that he had let the ass only, and not his shadow. The traveler asserted that he had, with the hire of the ass, hired the shadow also. The quarrel proceeded from words to blows and while the men fought, the ass galloped off.

Grits and dippers can argue over who is the traveler and who is the owner in this fable but I think we can all agree on who is the ass.

I have a question for all the fence sitters who believe the NDP should help the Liberals bring down the Conservative government. What makes you think the Liberals would be any better for us dippers than the Conservatives are?

Lets say we do have another election and by some minor miracle, Ignatieff’s Liberals do manage to eke out a minority of their own. It won’t change the fact that the Liberals stood against us when they voted in favour of extending our military involvement in the Afghanistan war, not once, but twice. It won’t change the fact that the Liberals stood against us when they voted against anti-scab legislation. Nor will it change the fact that the Liberals stood against us by voting for a free trade deal with Colombia; the worst abuser of human rights in the Western hemisphere.

And what have the Liberals offered us. Will Ignatieff help us reign in the blight caused by the exploitation of the Alberta Tar Sands? Nope, in fact he calls it “awe inspiring”. Will the Liberals roll back or delay massive corporate tax cuts. Nope, not even to deal with the massive deficit the Conservatives have created. Will Ignatieff help us stem the steady privatization of our public healthcare system. Nope, Ignatieff believes, “more private delivery could yield needed cost-efficiencies.” Will the Liberals help us protect worker pensions. Nope, in fact they think protecting worker pensions is “irresponsibility of the highest order.”

So what have the Liberals offered us other than their butts in our face, naked contempt and partisan games meant to embarrass us. Nothing and how can they when Ignatieff has made it clear he’d sooner stab out his eyes than work with the NDP.

So ask not what we can do for the Liberals. Ask what the Liberals can do for us. Until they answer that question I see no compelling reason for us climb aboard their ill conceived plan to replace one governing party that disregards what is important to us with another that will continue doing the same.

Since my last post was pretty depressing for my fellow dippers I thought I’d try and cheer them up with some good news. Former NDP campaign chief Brian Topp is now writing for the Globe and Mail. The addition of Topp brings the total number of partisan New Democrats writing for a major media publication to…um, one. Lets hope Brian can manage to crank out thirty columns per day.

…searching for representation.

I won’t be voting in the next federal election because we do not have proportional representation…
Screw the antiquated First-Past-the-Post voting system.

Is anyone at NDP HQ listening?

Wow, I never would have believed it if it hadn’t come out of his own mouth.

Layton said his party, unlike the Liberals, is determined to make Parliament work and will not oppose the government for the sake of opposing. He refused to get drawn into threats about defeating the government if Harper ignores opposition priorities, preferring to wait and see.

I’m now forced to admit the liberal bloggers are right. Layton is tucking his tail between his legs and running away from…What’s that. Layton actually said that on March 24, 2006. Nevermind then. I guess Layton hasn’t changed his tune in nearly 4 years and the libfloggers are just getting dumber every day.

Barring a reversion to form by the Liberals or a sudden willingness by Harper to make a deal it looks like we’re going to be heading to the polls in the very near future. The NDP most likely has their campaign already hashed out, but on the off chance that they don’t or at least have room for a few more items I’d like to propose that these should be given space on the campaign trail.

Ending Corporal Punishment Against Children
I’ve already noted that Canada is lagging behind in abolishing corporal punishment against children by their parents. 24 other nations have already fully abolished the archaic practice of allowing parents to legally commit acts of violence against their children and Canada should too.

Proportional Representation
While it’s undoubtedly true that there doesn’t exist the appetite for this type of change yet, PR is one of the few issues that can be considered red meat for the NDP base. Given the recent polling numbers, the NDP base could sorely use some red meat. Besides, there are more than a few unaligned progressive votes that could be picked up by making this an issue in the upcoming election.

Government Run Supplemental Health Insurance
With corporations tightening their belts and union membership on the decline, fewer and fewer Canadians have or can afford supplemental health insurance that covers items such as dental and vision care or prescription drugs. The NDP should propose implementing a government run insurance program that covers these medical expenses and allows employers and individuals to opt in for a fee. It’s been repeatedly proven that publicly administered healthcare has lower administration fees so a government administered plan would allow employers that still offer supplemental health insurance as a benefit to reduce costs. It would also allow individuals not covered by their employer to purchase this coverage at an affordable price giving them more choice in their healthcare coverage. As well, it would introduce more competition into the private health insurance market where healthcare costs are rising the fastest.

We elect parties to represent out interests in Parliament and to implement a specific agenda. This can be extremely difficult for a party to accomplish when not enough voters elect them to form a government so they must constantly be listening for opportunity’s knock.

For the NDP, opportunity began knocking the moment Ignatieff’s Liberals signaled they would no longer support Harper’s minority Conservative government and presented itself in the form of a simple transaction; exchanging support for implementation of some part of NDP’s agenda. Were Jack Layton to ignore this opportunity it would be nothing less than a betrayal to the 2.5 million voters that elected the NDP to implement their agenda.

Liberals don’t understand that and have repeatedly allowed opportunity to wander away. 79 times the Liberal Party was given the opportunity to implement a part of their agenda in exchange for supporting the Harper Conservatives and 79 times the Liberals Party wasted that opportunity. Now they are mocking the NDP for not following in their foolish footsteps and are claiming that opening the door to opportunity’s knock is itself an act of betrayal.

I can’t understand how the Liberal Party has allowed themselves to become so deaf to opportunity’s knock but I do understand this. Jack Layton and the NDP are not fools. They can hear opportunity knocking and will earn the faith of every Canadian who voted for them by answering the door.

I have a simple question for all the libfloggers that are hopped up on Iggy’s goofy juice. If the NDP do manage to wring some concessions out of Harper on issues such as increased pensions, more assistance for the unemployed and reigning in outrageous banking fees in exchange for their support, are you really going to claim it’s bad for the country?

Popular support in the 2000 federal election:
Liberals: 40.85%
New Democrats: 8.51%
The grit/dipper spread: 32.34%

Popular support in the 2008 federal election:
Liberals: 26.26% (a decline of 14.59%)
New Democrats: 18.18% (an increase of 9.67%)
The grit/dipper spread: 8.08% (a decline of 24.26%)

Halifax `09 kicked off with a bong yesterday when dopehead Dana Larsen was savagely beaten by Brad Lavigne and then expelled from the convention floor for attempting to circumvent the democratic process with a vote buying scheme. Angry twittering ensued.

Meanwhile, in another corner of #Hfx09, young dippers laid bare the faulty premise that they’re sad and sour faced marxists by partying like it was 1899.

On a lighter note, I am looking forward to the “Halifax Harbour Hootenany” tonight, as well as the many other social events planned over the course of the weekend.

You scamps! Just be sure to follow proper NDP approved hootenany guidelines.

1) Always wear a CSA approved personal floatation device when hootenanying near water.
2) Never under any circumstances feed a dipper after midnight.
3) When hootenaniers start misquoting Karl Marx immediately check to see if the hootenany punch has been spiked or Dana Larsen is in the crowd.

May I have your attention: the publicly available policy resolutions have been leaked! Savage beatings from Brad Lavigne to ensue.

Brad Lavigne: “Mr. Layton has written a book about investing in Canadians and their communities. Mr. Ignatieff has written books defending torture.”

David Akin:

Oh not this canard again. Of course Liberals think the MSM is dead-set against them. The Conservatives think the same thing. If anyone’s got reason to complain it’s the NDP! They just get plain ignored by the MSM.

Since the media tends to ignore or at least give short shrift to what’s going on in the world of the dippers, I thought I’d start a weekly roundup (or possibly a one time thing) of what the federal and provincial NDP is up to these days.

Federal
On Monday, MP Paul Dewar introduced a motion at the House of Commons Foreign Affairs and International Development committee calling for Abousfian Abdelrazik to give testimony before the committee. This was clearly a backdoor attempt to get the stranded Canadian citizen back into the country. The motion passed with the support of the Liberals and Bloc while the Conservatives abstainedran away. It was a clever move by the NDP but in the end, despite being the will of the people as expressed through their elected representatives, it will fail to achieve its intended outcome as the Conservatives once again display their contempt for our democracy by ignoring it.

Out in British Columbia, Bill Siksay became the latest federal NDP MP to endorse changing the province’s electoral system to STV.

British Columbia
The BC NDP headed into the final stretch of their election campaign this week with the polls showing them anywhere from 2 to 17 points behind the incumbent Liberals. While being behind in every poll might seem like bad news for the BC NDP, under our antiquated FPTP electoral system they still have a shot at winning a majority.

Saskatchewan
Unlike the federal Liberals, the Saskatchewan NDP are in the midst of a real leadership campaign. For what’s going on with that, including the Lingenfelter membership controversy, I’ll simply direct you to Accidental Deliberations who has been following the campaign since day one.

Manitoba
Wankers!

Manitoba’s NDP government refused a proposal to fully fund sex reassignment surgeries for trans people, Xtra.ca has learned. The policy would have brought the province in line with British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec by covering the costs of hormone therapy as well as procedures like chest reconstruction and clitoral release.

The proposal, brought forward by the province’s Ministry of Healthy Living, was created after consultation with queer community members. It was approved by top bureaucrats but rejected by NDP cabinet ministers at a Treasury Board meeting earlier this year.

Ontario
The new leader of Ontario’s NDP spent the week speaking out against McGuinty’s harmonized sales tax (HST) [more here] while MPP Cheri DiNovo spent the week looking like an ass.

Nova Scotia
The NDP teamed up with the Liberals to vote against the Conservative budget setting the stage for an election–that is the NDP’s to lose–on June 9th. The NDP came out swinging with a 10 year plan to help farmers expand their businesses and a plan to keep the province’s emergency rooms open.

I see it’s once again time for the quarterly “Layton is finished” reports from our enlightened punderatti. Since these journalistic wankers–who ignore the NDP until it’s time to write their quarterly “Layton is finished” report–have clearly just dusted off copies of their last Layton obituary I think I’ll follow their lead and do the same.

Sorry, Jack, but I for one have had just about as much as I can take of your success. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.

Via BigCityLib, an interview with Layton’s national campaign director Brian Topp.

Adam Radwanski: In the blogosphere, at least, there’s been some speculation on the prospect of the NDP pushing for the Conservatives to look seriously at electoral reform. Is that grounded in anything?

Brian Topp: Democratic reform is a real issue, no doubt about that. An electoral system that awards an MP for every 22,000 Bloc voters and not a single MP to 900,000-plus Green voters is not serving the country well. And then there are the issues around responsible government profiled in December. That said, I think it’s a safe bet the New Democrats will be much more focused on what the economic crisis is doing to Canadian families - and on what the national government can do to help them.

As an NDP supporter I could get behind this.

There is talk flying around the web right now suggesting NDP Leader Jack Layton has made a deal with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The rumour goes that Layton will support Harper against any moves to topple his government in exchange for a referendum on Proportional Representation, which would lead to more NDP seats in the house.

The question that has frequently come up today with regard to such a deal is why would conservatives get behind it. The answer is simple. Harper’s coalition of reformers and red tories is fracturing once again. Proportional representation would allow these two factions to separate and pursue their own agendas without losing a disproportionate number of seats like they would under the current first past the post system. The right half of the political spectrum would essentially then have the same dynamic as the left with the red tories battling the liberals in the centre while the reformers pulled to the right in the same way the new democrats now pull to the left. Without the reformer baggage the red tories would then have a far greater chance of pulling support over to them from the liberals.

More from Robert Silver who thinks it’s a smart issue for Layton and the NDP to push right now.

Taliban Steve.

The Conservative government says its policies are line with those of Barack Obama’s on talking with the Taliban.

In the end they always come around to the NDP’s way of thinking.

The wager:

David: but perhaps you could be tempted into placing a friendly wager.
Me: Sure. What do you have in mind?
David: The bet Scott Ross agreed to (but is now ignoring… sigh) is the that the loser has to put a banner at the top of their blog pointing to the winner’s blog for 2 weeks.
Me: Alright. So when Layton is still the leader of the NDP a year from now you’ll be doing some free advertising for my site on your blog.

The challenge:

Care to get in on the action? I don’t mind getting lots of exposure from foolish liberals.

Any there any other foolish liberals out there that want to give me some free advertising on their blog?