Elizabeth May / Stéphane Dion

13/04/07, Jane Taber, Green leader to get free ride from Liberals, (Source).
13/04/07, Jane Taber, Dion, May confirm election deal, (Source).
13/04/07, Statement by the Hon. Stéphane Dion, Leader, Liberal Party of Canada and Elizabeth May, Leader, Green Party of Canada, (Source).
14/04/07, Rex Murphy, Hardly a party you'd call true Grit, (Source).
14/04/07, Lawrence Martin, The May-Dion duet is one worth dancing, (Source).
14/04/07, Editorial, Dion's perplexing deal with the Greens' May, (Source).
14/04/07, Jane Taber, Insiders shocked by Green-Grit deal, (Source).
15/04/07, Brian Laghi, May blasts Layton over lack of party co-operation, (Source).
15/04/07, Comments on the above, (Source).
18/04/07, Brain Laghi, May doesn't belong in leaders debates, NDP say, (Source).


13/04/07, Jane Taber, Green leader to get free ride from Liberals, (Back).

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion, who has vowed to run a positive campaign, has made a deal with Green Party Leader Elizabeth May not to run a candidate against her in the next election, senior Liberals say.

In return, Ms. May will not run a candidate against Mr. Dion in his Montreal riding. It appears that Ms. May has negotiated the better deal, because Mr. Dion's decision considerably improves her chances of beating -- and embarrassing -- one of the Conservatives' most high-profile ministers, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay.

Ms. May announced last month that she would run in the Nova Scotia riding of Central Nova against Mr. MacKay, who has held the seat since 1997. His father, Elmer, also represented the riding and served as a minister in Brian Mulroney's government.

Ms. May's party does not have a seat in the House of Commons. Her choice of riding surprised many, given that it will be a hard seat to win.

The MacKay name is well known in the region, and a MacKay has represented that seat for nearly 40 years with the exception of 1993 to 1997 when it was held by the Liberals. Mr. Mulroney also held it briefly after he was elected Tory leader in 1983.

At the time of Ms. May's announcement it was rumoured that she already had a deal with the Liberals -- the party wouldn't run a candidate against her and she would run around the country and say nice things about Mr. Dion and his Liberals.

Both leaders have similar views on environmental issues. Mr. Dion has also supported Ms. May's bid to participate in the election leadership debate. She is not eligible because she has no representation in the House.

In an interview on CTV's Question Period, where she first announced her candidacy, Ms. May denied there were any backroom deals.

"Well, I don't believe in backroom deals of any kind. If I had a deal, I'd talk about it publicly," she said.

"We don't have any deal. But that's not saying that I haven't talked to many of my friends in this riding who traditionally support the New Democrats and traditionally support the Liberals. And I know that locally there are people who will want to help me win this riding. I'd appreciate the help from any quarter, but at this point I don't have any guarantees or deals of any kind."

Reached by e-mail last night, Ms. May said: "I am SO sorry! I am going to have to say 'no comment' for now. . ."

Meanwhile, news of the Dion deal has angered some veteran Liberals, who believe that Mr. Dion and his strategists are making a big mistake.

The Liberals are a national party and run candidates in every riding, say the detractors. The party is not about cutting side deals with a rival party.

"Not running a candidate in MacKay's riding is truly the stupidest thing that a group of people who wrote the book on stupid things have done yet," said one long-time Liberal.

"Dion still thinks he's at the convention brokering deals. He better realize elections are one ballot."

An announcement is expected as early as today.


13/04/07, Jane Taber, Dion, May confirm election deal, (Back).

OTTAWA — Green Party leader Elizabeth May, who today announced with Stéphane Dion, that she would not be challenged by a Liberal in the next federal election, contacted former Canadian Ambassador to the UN Stephen Lewis last month asking him to set up a meeting between her and NDP leader Jack Layton.

Ms. May, who intends on running against Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay in his Nova Scotia riding of Central Nova, was looking for a country-wide collaborative arrangement involving her party, the NDP and the Liberals.

Mr. Layton refused to take her calls, Ms. May said yesterday, adding that Mr. Lewis is an old friend and she thought he could help. “I have been rebuffed by Jack Layton,” she said.

Mr. Dion, however, said he and Ms. May have decided to put “progress ahead of partisanship” in a bid to push their shared environmental agenda forward.

At a news conference, the two leaders also announced the Green Party candidate against Mr. Dion in his Montreal riding of Saint Laurent.

Mr. Dion said that Canada would be much better off with “Stephane Dion and Elizabeth May as members of Parliament” … than a Canada with “Stephen Harper and Peter MacKay …”

Ms. May said in an interview that the deal she reached with Mr. Dion was not brokered in smoky backrooms or by “minions,” rather, she and Mr. Dion came to the agreement themselves.

But others aren't buying it. The deal has provoked anger from Liberals, Conservatives and the NDP.

Former NDP leader Ed Broadbent, who was aware of the telephone calls between Ms. May and Mr. Lewis, said today that he is “astonished” that she told the news conference that she had not been involved in any backroom deals.

“She was actively soliciting his [Mr. Lewis's] support to work out a kind of collaborative arrangement …”

He said she was using Mr. Lewis as the “conduit” to the NDP to “adopt a strategic relationship of some kind in the coming election.”

Ms. May said yesterday that she did not see this “as a backroom deal.”

She said she is trying to change politics from the old “tribal” system to one of more co-operation that would see more Greens, NDP and Liberals elected to the House of Commons.

Earlier today Mr. Dion called climate change the “most urgent issue facing our society and our government” and accused the Conservatives of doing far too little to tackle the problem.

“Currently, our two parties agree that urgent action is needed. So, too, do the vast majority of Canadians,” he said. “Yet our electoral system could return to government the only political party that does not believe action is required urgently. In fact, its ‘climate action plans' will allow for increasing greenhouse gases, missing our Kyoto target by ever higher amounts of emissions, and stalling international progress to meet the challenge of this global threat.”

Ms. May echoed Mr. Dion's urgency on the environment at a press conference in the Central Nova riding Friday.

“There is no time to waste. Because of our electoral system, I do not have a choice. I have to collaborate,” she said.

Ms. May stressed that the two parties were not merging and there were no side deals to secure an agreement.

She said that although she doesn't agree with all Liberal policies, “Dion is someone in whom I have confidence.”

“If Mr. Dion becomes the prime minister of Canada, I'm certain that he will be acting so as to reach the targets of Kyoto.”

Mr. Dion said a government in which he served as Prime Minister could work well with a Green Caucus of MPs, led by Ms. May, committed to action on climate. Another issue the two leaders believe progress could be made on is electoral reform. As part of the agreement, the Green Party will not run a candidate against Mr. Dion in his Montreal riding of Saint-Laurent – Cartierville.

Human Resources Minister Monte Solberg gave reporters the official Conservative response to the news, saying it reflects poorly on Mr. Dion's leadership abilities.

“The fact that he has to rely on a minor party to try and bolster his own record on the environment says something about his own lack of faith in his leadership abilities,” Mr. Solberg said.

Mr. Layton slammed the secrecy of the move during a press conference in Ottawa earlier Friday.

“I think it's incredible that a matter of such importance is being decided by two leaders in secret,” Mr. Layton said.

“That's not what democracy's about. It's the citizens who ought to make choices about who is going to be representing them.”

Mr. Layton was particularly critical of Ms. May, saying a Green-Liberal alliance denies voters a full range of choices when they head to the polls.

“You kind of expected this from Mr. Dion and the Liberals,” he said.

“It's been the stock and trade of Liberals, back room wheeling and dealing, for years, but I have to say it's disappointing and somewhat surprising that Ms. May, who professes to be someone who stands on principle, would have so quickly slipped in to the muck of back-room wheeling and dealing, denying people choices in an election.”

News of the deal has also angered some veteran Liberals, who believe that Mr. Dion and his strategists are making a big mistake.

The Liberals are a national party and run candidates in every riding, say the detractors. The party is not about cutting side deals with a rival party.

“Not running a candidate in MacKay's riding is truly the stupidest thing that a group of people who wrote the book on stupid things have done yet,” said one long-time Liberal.

“Dion still thinks he's at the convention brokering deals. He better realize elections are one ballot.”

Ms. May announced last month that she would run in the Nova Scotia riding of Central Nova against Mr. MacKay, who has held the seat since 1997. His father, Elmer, also represented the riding and served as a minister in Brian Mulroney's government.

Ms. May's party does not have a seat in the House of Commons. Her choice of riding surprised many, given that it will be a hard seat to win.


13/04/07, Statement by the Hon. Stéphane Dion, Leader, Liberal Party of Canada and Elizabeth May, Leader, Green Party of Canada, (Back).

The planet has reached its limit. The human-caused damage to our natural environment is devastating.

The most urgent issue facing our society and our government, indeed humanity as a whole, is the climate crisis. It has the characteristic of being irreversible, with every single year’s emissions constituting damage that will not dissipate for a century. We are, essentially, stoking the furnace for ongoing climate instability that threatens our children and grandchildren.

Currently, our two parties agree that urgent action is needed. So, too, do the vast majority of Canadians. Yet our electoral system could return to government the only political party that does not believe action is required urgently. In fact, its “climate action plans” will allow for increasing greenhouse gases, missing our Kyoto target by ever higher amounts of emissions, and stalling international progress to meet the challenge of this global threat.

As leaders of political parties, we realize that leadership implies responsibility. We each have a major responsibility to ensure that our respective parties do well in the next election no matter when it comes. Each of our parties will expect us, as Leaders, to fight for our beliefs and for our respective candidates from coast to coast

We also have a responsibility to future generations. To protect our environment, to reduce emissions effectively while strengthening our economy, the composition of Canada’s parliament must change to a House of Commons full of MPs who recognize the serious threat of climate change and who are willing to work together to lessen it.

We have agreed that the country needs a strong signal that puts progress ahead of partisanship. To achieve Kyoto, Canada needs MPs and a government that actually understand the threat of climate change and the need for urgent action. This reality has impelled us to seek limited cooperation. While the need for cooperation may be obvious to the average Canadian, within political parties, one is not supposed to allow even limited cooperation.

We admit we are different from most adversarial, political leaders. We respect each other. We will always put the country and the planet first.

Out of respect for each other and out of our shared commitment to a greener Canada, we are not running candidates in each other’s ridings.

We recognize that a government in which Stéphane Dion served as Prime Minister could work well with a Green Caucus of MPs, led by Elizabeth May, committed to action on climate. On many issues, we would have policy disagreements; on others cooperation would be possible. No matter what the issue, we recognize that, although opponents in the political sphere, we are committed to doing politics differently. That means open and transparent, fair-minded communication. Another issue where we believe progress could be made is in the potential for electoral reform.

Today there are larger issues at stake than the petty partisanship of politics. We are confident that Canadians will appreciate this shared commitment and our efforts to protect our children’s future.


14/04/07, Rex Murphy, Hardly a party you'd call true Grit, (Back).

The signs are everywhere. It's hard days for the federal Liberal Party.

Strong parties don't issue free passes. Stéphane Dion and Elizabeth May are obviously each other's greenest fan, but mutual admiration doesn't usually extend to the political equivalent of a non-compete agreement. Now, whether the Greens run a candidate in every riding in the next election will probably not alter the fate of the Confederation. But for the Liberals to elect (forgive the verb) not to run a candidate in every riding is but the latest signal that the natural governing party is seriously off stride. Real parties don't help their rivals.

Belinda Stronach's leave-taking this week was not in itself a major hit to the Liberals -- it's not as if she'd been there long enough to grow roots. Roses have stayed in bloom longer than Ms. Stronach wore Liberal red.

Her going is a loss, nonetheless.

She was not a great parliamentarian, nor was she going to be. But much of modern politics turns on factors that have nothing to do with the cobwebbed rituals of parliamentary procedure. A lot of it is pure flash and colour. Ms. Stronach never did a star turn in Question Period, and Hansard was not a better read, its pages more beckoning, because of her brief two-party stay in the House of Commons.

But outside the Commons, she was a news magnet. There were flares of pure soap opera and moments of substance. She was not one of the dull grey pack, the Blackberry and briefcase throng, that crowd the Hill. The Liberal Party will be, if nothing else, less interesting without her.

Of course, if the Liberal Party gets much less interesting, there will be calls for an autopsy.

So, here we are, but a few months after the election of Mr. Dion, and his party's biggest name (and its one unquestionable celebrity till Justin Trudeau decides to fully camp under the now deserted spotlight) has picked up her many bright marbles and gone home. Not a good sign.

It's been a real down time for the Liberals since the convention. The party has lost its great "green edge" over the Tories. In the House, it has no fire. It always seems to be reacting to the Tories. Stephen Harper toys with them.

There is sarcasm even in the way he stands up to answer questions.

Mr. Dion, meantime, is exploring highly novel regions of political strategy.

Evidently, he believes having less profile as leader will recommend him to the electorate. It won't.

The Liberals are scattered and confused, they have no coherent message, and Mr. Dion is very dangerously close to cementing an impression that he was not the party's best choice.

That's a fair amount to cram into anyone's knapsack. But, in addition, the recent election in Quebec, whatever else it may be taken to mean, is said to be good news for Mr. Harper and the Tories. Finally, there is also the news that the Conservatives' major drawback -- that voters held some suspicion of a Harper "hidden agenda" -- has largely dissipated.

All initiative seems to be on the government side. Could there be any chain of circumstance and event more propitious for the Harper clan? It's difficult to imagine.

All this being true, why do the polls so consistently hold the Conservatives in minority territory? If, in these conditions, Mr. Harper and the Conservatives cannot register over the meagre 40 per cent necessary for a majority in a multiparty election -- under what possible conditions will they? They do not have much more room to manoeuvre. The party has moved -- by its terms -- as far to the centre on certain issues, the environment most particularly, as it possibly can. Any further and the Conservatives would face revolt in the West or, what is worse, own up to the whole pretense and admit they have been Liberals all along, albeit in better suits. So where do they go from here?

The question is of the very essence for Mr. Harper and his party. Have they exhausted the limits of their electoral appeal? It may be that they have. It may be that our system of national politics is now so fragmented, both by issue and by region, that a majority national response is increasingly elusive for any party.

Barring extraordinary events, then, Mr. Harper, for all his strategic footwork and clever redesign of the Conservative party, may have hit the wall.

He's fished what the pond has to offer, and it's still not enough for a full meal.

The Liberals may be going through a miserable and anxious period right now. They have, however, this interesting consolation: Their anxiety is probably not as intense as Mr. Harper's frustration. He's leading a minority government and the electorate seems determined to keep things that way.


14/04/07, Lawrence Martin, The May-Dion duet is one worth dancing, (Back).

Today, there are larger issues at stake than the petty partisanship of politics.

Stéphane Dion is out to show he is a new kind of political leader. In coming to a non-compete arrangement with Green Party Leader Elizabeth May yesterday, he took a step in that direction.

A lot of cynicism will greet the exercise. The May-Dion duet is fraught with risk for both. Mr. Dion, slow to get off the mark since winning the Liberal crown, will be portrayed as acting in desperation and of moving his party too far to the left. Ms. May will be accused of selling her party out to the Liberals, turning the Greens into junior Grits.

But, particularly for the Liberal Leader, it is a gamble worth taking.

Mr. Dion needed a bold initiative to win back the spotlight on the environment file. A coddling of the party named for the cause does it handsomely. The Conservatives, lax in coming forward with a strong environment plan, will be put on the defensive.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been remarkably apt at setting the agenda, defining Mr. Dion as a limp, old-style Liberal. Now Mr. Dion gets off the mat. While the Green Party has no seats, it has been polling around the 10 per cent mark and Ms. May's unstinting praise for Mr. Dion yesterday can only give him a lift.

Conservatives and New Democrats were quick to criticize the deal, as expected. Would they be singing that song if it was one of their leaders she so lavishly lauded?

Mr. Dion, said Ms. May, is a man who puts principles ahead of politics. On the environment, "We don't have time for games any more," she said. "We have to grow up." Although many political leaders have come forward to say it is high time for a new kind of integrity in politics, they have quickly fallen upon old ways. But while Mr. Dion certainly has his share of shortcomings, it's hard to find anyone who has known him who doubts his integrity and moral fibre. It is the one thing about him that scares the Conservatives. Their own leader, Mr. Harper, is abundantly skilled, but he is strictly old school in his practice of politics, willing to go as low as is necessary to score points on opponents.

It was never more evident than when Mr. Harper, having just fired his own environment minister and having once called Kyoto a money-sucking socialist scheme, he had the gall to run attack ads against Mr. Dion on the file. Rarely has hypocrisy been put on such vivid display.

Ms. May is revolted by the Prime Minister's environmental record. Her dance with Mr. Dion is no large-scale merger but a co-operative venture wherein the two leaders won't run candidates in each other's ridings and will leave the door open for other forms of co-operation. For her, the big plus comes in the added exposure her little party gets. But she is likely to face more opposition from within the Greens on the deal than Mr. Dion is from Liberals. The danger is that she becomes so closely identified with the Grits that voters will go to the polls saying why vote Green as opposed to the big party. As for not having to face a Liberal in seeking a Nova Scotia seat, it will help, but likely not enough. Conservative Peter MacKay is well ensconced and likely to remain that way.

She drew a comparison yesterday to Ralph Nader and Al Gore running against George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential campaign. Had Green leader Mr. Nader not siphoned off votes from Mr. Gore in Florida and other key states, she noted, there would have been no President Bush. We cannot afford, she said, to have something like this happen in Canada.

Mr. Dion, who won the leadership running from the left of the party, will have to fend off charges that the initiative leaves a larger opening in the centre of the political spectrum for the Conservatives.

While it is true that the Greens like to see themselves as a moderate party, particularly on economic issues, the broader public identity sets them more in NDP territory.

An optic that has one party on the right and three dividing up the vote on the left might be inviting for Mr. Harper. Liberal insiders counter that they have a host of other policies yet to be unveiled that will appeal to their traditional moderate base. As for global warming, they feel, there was simply no choice given the public demand for action. The mini-pact with the Greens puts them where they want to be.


14/04/07, Editorial, Dion's perplexing deal with the Greens' May, (Back).

Stéphane Dion's decision to have the Liberals stand aside in Central Nova is bizarre on so many levels that only one word does it justice: flaky.

The federal Liberal Leader has announced that his party, which won 25 per cent of the vote in the Nova Scotia riding in last year's election, will not run a candidate in order to help the Green Party, which won 2 per cent. Liberal candidate Dan Walsh received 10,349 votes. Green candidate David Orton received 671.

Mr. Dion has told all the Liberal supporters in Central Nova, and in particular the Liberal campaign workers and others who have toiled for years to bring out the Liberal vote, that he has summarily written them out of the script. It is impossible to imagine a more dismissive attitude by a leader toward the people on whom a political party most heavily depends.

He is doing this to further the ambition of Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, who wrote in her party's April 11 newsletter that she is running, in part, because "it is time to have a national leader of a political party in the House of Commons working for the people of Atlantic Canada." Parse that sentence. According to Ms. May, Mr. Dion has not been working in the Commons for the people of Atlantic Canada.

Mr. Dion returned the offhand insult, but directed it at his own party. In a joint statement yesterday issued by the Liberal Party's press office, he and Ms. May said their parties are putting environmental "progress ahead of partisanship" by not running candidates in each other's ridings in the next election. (As if the Greens would have posed a major threat in Mr. Dion's riding, where he won last year with 25,412 votes -- 19,220 ahead of his nearest rival -- and the Green candidate came fourth with 1,810.) Canada, the statement said, needs MPs who "actually understand the threat of climate change." Parse that sentence. The Liberal candidate in Central Nova would not have understood the threat of climate change.

Ms. May also says she is running in Central Nova rather than in Ontario's London North Centre, where she came second to the Liberals in last November's by-election, because she wants the national exposure that will come from running against Conservative Foreign Minister Peter MacKay. In that respect, Mr. Dion has signed on to her campaign team. But before investing so much political capital in another party's leader, did Mr. Dion not stop to ask the obvious question of where the Liberal votes would go if the voters were denied a Liberal candidate? Many might go to the Conservative, Mr. MacKay, who has deep roots in the region (his father Elmer was a long-time MP) and who won 17,134 votes last time out; many might go to the New Democrat, whose party came second with 13,861 votes. Traditional Liberal voters will have no love lost for Mr. Dion's devaluation of their franchise, and are unlikely to follow his cue to vote Green. They may just sit at home on election day.

The joint statement emphasized that "on many issues" the Liberals and the Greens "would have policy disagreements." Indeed they might; for instance, the Greens want to give six months notice of Canada's withdrawal from the North American free-trade agreement and to review its membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Mr. Dion is working to elect a party leader who will agitate for policies with which the Liberals disagree.

Since Mr. Dion is not a stupid man, one must assume that he is blinkered: that he is so single-mindedly pursuing the environmental cause that he is willing to subordinate the interests of his party to that of a party which draws its very name from that cause. Certainly he is not thinking strategically or politically. A leader who has branded himself as an environmental champion for the 21st century would in political terms be foolish to link arms with a political leader who is even more identified with the environment. He seeks to give the Green Leader a platform in the Commons from which she can encourage true believers to desert, among other parties, the Liberals -- assuming, of course, she beats the odds and wins the riding.

Mr. Dion spoke in yesterday's statement of being "committed to doing politics differently." Yes, flaky is different.


14/04/07, Jane Taber, Insiders shocked by Green-Grit deal, (Back).

Decision not to run candidate against May seen by some as a 'goofy,' 'silly' strategy.

Stéphane Dion first approached Green Party Leader Elizabeth May last month with an offer of help, resulting in a controversial deal that has Liberals questioning their leader's judgment.

The deal has also set off the NDP, which is accusing Ms. May of the most cynical kind of backroom politics after she approached former Canadian ambassador to the United Nations Stephen Lewis last month to help her broker an agreement with the New Democrats to work against the Conservatives.

The NDP would not play ball; Leader Jack Layton has refused to take her calls.

Yesterday, Mr. Dion announced that he will not run a candidate against Ms. May in the Nova Scotia riding of Central Nova, giving her a better chance of beating the long-time Conservative incumbent, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay.

In return, Ms. May said her party will not run a candidate against Mr. Dion in his Montreal riding of St. Laurent, leaving some Liberals to joke that their leader can now win his "safe Liberal riding."

The two leaders appeared together on a stage yesterday in Stellarton, N.S., which is in the riding where Ms. May plans to run. Mr. Dion described the deal as "exceptional" and one that he made only because of the Green Leader's environmental position.

"We will offer to Canadians a gesture of co-operation in order to be sure that Canada will put together all its assets as a great nation," he said. "I know that a Canada with Stéphane Dion as a prime minister and Elizabeth May as a member of Parliament . . . will be much better off than a Canada with Stephen Harper and Peter MacKay."

This dramatic deal shocked many Liberals when it was leaked Thursday night, and many party members are shaking their heads, calling it "goofy," "dumb" and "crazy."

Said an MP, who asked not to be identified for fear of repercussions: "I think he's [Mr. Dion] a big albatross around the party's neck. . . . This type of deal-making is very bad for democracy. It's the slippery slope."

Said another veteran Grit: "In Monty Python lexicon -- we are the silly party."

The criticism from senior Liberals also focuses on what this deal says to the grassroots: that the Liberal Party is not a national party any more; that Liberals think they can't win a riding, that they don't care about the local Liberals in Central Nova and that they need the help of other parties to defeat Mr. Harper and the Conservatives.

"What happened to Howard Dean's 308-riding strategy?" asked one Liberal, recalling the much ballyhooed keynote address that the former Democratic governor of Vermont gave at the Liberal Party convention in Montreal last year.

Mr. Dean advised Liberals to "show up everywhere. And work hard everywhere" and never "cede a single voter." At the time, the Liberals cheered his message.

The Tories also got in on the act yesterday.

Human Resources Minister Monte Solberg said the Green/Grit deal "reflects a terrible error in judgment on Stéphane Dion's part."

"But it's part of a pattern. And it further demonstrates that Stéphane Dion is not a leader. If Stéphane Dion's leadership is too weak for Central Nova, then why should it be acceptable for any Canadian?"

Meanwhile, Ms. May is provoking much controversy for her statements that she doesn't do backroom deals. She said that she and Mr. Dion brokered this deal over the telephone.

No "minions" were involved, she said; the deal was not put together in a smoky backroom.

An incensed Ed Broadbent, the former NDP leader known for his political integrity, said yesterday that Ms. May had been trying to broker a deal with the New Democratic Party.

He said that she telephoned Mr. Lewis to ask if he would talk to Mr. Layton about possible co-operation.

"She was actively soliciting his support to work out a kind of collaborative arrangement involving her party," Mr. Broadbent said.

He said that it was assumed that she was asking to develop a strategic relationship of "some kind" for the coming election.

Mr. Lewis, he said, told her politely that he didn't agree with her.

In the last election, the NDP candidate in Central Nova came in second behind Mr. MacKay; the Liberal placed third.

Mr. Broadbent said that the Liberal-Green deal is the "ultimate kind of scheming to reduce electoral choice."

For her part, Ms. May said that Mr. Lewis is an old friend and she contacted him because Mr. Layton was refusing to take her calls.

Her experience with Mr. Dion, however, was much different.

Ms. May said that he called her immediately last month after she announced that she was seeking to run against Mr. MacKay.


15/04/07, Brian Laghi, May blasts Layton over lack of party co-operation, (Back).

Ottawa — Green Party Leader Elizabeth May lashed out yesterday at NDP counterpart Jack Layton for refusing to co-operate with her party in the next election, saying like-minded politicians must overcome partisanship to fix the environment.

Ms. May, who recently agreed with Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion to not run candidates against each other in their respective ridings, said she would like a similar agreement with Mr. Layton, but the NDP Leader won't discuss the idea.

The remarks came on a busy day for the Green Party Leader, who also said she would refuse to sign the nomination papers of a candidate who spoke positively of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center six years ago.

“What the hell is wrong with Jack Layton that he can't answer a phone call?” asked Ms. May on CTV's Question Period yesterday when asked about the electoral agreement with the Liberals.

“I don't understand it. He talks to Stephen Harper all the time; surely our shared values are much closer between the NDP and the Greens.”

Mr. Layton has criticized the agreement between Ms. May and Mr. Dion, characterizing it as backroom “wheeling and dealing” that denies Canadian voters a range of democratic choices.

But Ms. May said yesterday that NDP members and others on the left of the political spectrum have been after her for some time to see whether the Greens and the NDP can overcome partisan politics and do something important for the environment.

“The door, as far as I'm concerned, is still open to discuss if there's some way that, despite our first-past-the-post system, leaders who care about their country and are willing to put the future of their planet first can't find some way to communicate,” she said.

Ms. May plans to run for the Greens in the riding of Central Nova, currently represented by Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay. The NDP ran second in the riding in 2006, the Liberals third and the Greens a distant fourth.

A spokesman for Mr. Layton said yesterday that there were no requests for a telephone call, as far as he knew. Karl Belanger added that there have been efforts to get the two leaders together for the past two weeks or so for a face-to-face meeting, but that their schedules hadn't meshed.

Ms. May acknowledged that she in facing an uphill battle to defeat Mr. MacKay. But she said that it's important to note that the Conservatives have done very little on the environment and that some commentators have suggested that Ms. May should be happy with portions of the Tory policy.

“I felt a clear signal was needed that the Harper Conservatives still represent a grave threat to any future action on climate, as well as on a large number of social policy issues. ...This was more about putting principle ahead of partisanship.”

She added that, under Canada's electoral system — “which Mr. Layton claims he wants to reform” — 660,000 Canadians voted Green in the last election and the party was still shut out of Parliament.

On Friday, former NDP leader Ed Broadbent said Ms. May asked former Ontario NDP leader Stephen Lewis to talk to Mr. Layton. Mr. Lewis disagreed with Ms. May's idea, he said.

Meanwhile, yesterday, Ms. May said in a statement that the views of one of her potential candidates, Kevin Potvin, are antithetical to the party's views and she won't endorse his nomination in the riding of Vancouver Kingsway. In an article in 2002 in an alternative newspaper, Mr. Potvin described the collapse of the two towers as “beautiful.”

On Friday, Mr. Potvin said he took no pleasure in the deaths caused by the attacks. He said he was speaking symbolically in the article.

He said yesterday that the Green Party had better get used to dealing with scandal and that if Green officials think that getting rid of a candidate will end a controversy, they don't know what national politics is like.


15/04/07, Comments on the above, (Back).
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Canadian In Motown from United States writes: That is the most intelligent thing that Layton has ever done.
Posted 15/04/07 at 11:05 PM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
The Amazing Kreskin from Canada writes: May= whack job for trying to run other parties. Join another party if you want to influence it.
Posted 15/04/07 at 11:08 PM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Duncan Munro from Langley BC, Canada writes: If Ms May feels that the NDP has environmentally sound policies and also supports Proportional Representation, why doesn't she simply join the NDP, and try to be nominated as a candidate. Alternatively, she could direct her party to campaign for the NDP, and after the NDP reforms the electoral system, she can resume her Party's independent campaigning. What Ms. May doesn't seem to understand is that the NDP riding associations decide who runs or doesn't run as an NDP candidate, not Jack Layton. Ms May could have asked to speak to the Central Nova NDP association and presented her ideas to them, however, Central Nova has an excellent and popular candidate and it is highly unlikely that they would ask her to step aside, especially as ms May's political leanings are much closer to Tory blue than NDP orange, not to mention green.

Why is Ms May determined to run against Peter Mackay? That's easy to answer, it is to settle an old Tory/Alliance score against MacKay for his perceived betrayal of David Orchard, but what does old Tory grudges have to do with the environment or with the Green Party. It seems to me that Ms May appears to simply be an old Tory, with a grudge...
Posted 15/04/07 at 11:12 PM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Craig Cooper from Toronto, writes: Geez, May, read the third paragraph. Your party attracts people who support terrorism and murder. I don't like the NDP but I do know that they - unlike the Liberals - have principles.
Posted 15/04/07 at 11:12 PM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Phil M from Montreal, Canada writes: Umm, maybe I'm missing something, but what exactly can the Greens offer the NDP? Dion needs to shore up his environmental reputation to attack Harper during a campaign, and attacking Mackay in his home riding can only be good for the Libs. Hopefully the Greens throw the mud and the Liberals have clean hands. Layton just loses environmental votes at a buck a pop. Didn't the last green leader (Harris?) run in Layton's riding when Layton was in a close race to topple the incumbent Liberal? Or am I mixing up two elections?
Posted 15/04/07 at 11:15 PM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
jeff mactavish from edmonton, Canada writes: So she feels that being the leader of an extreme radical fringe party entitles her to a free ride to parliament. And we thought the Liberals were the party of entitlement. Even though I don't agree with any of Layton's policies, I find myself having to at least give him a bit of respect for the way he operates.
Posted 15/04/07 at 11:18 PM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Al Koholic from montreal, Canada writes:

A week ago May was nothing, now she's in the news twice a day.

Good move (burp) move Dion.

.

May your party of thieves self destruct.

.
Posted 15/04/07 at 11:20 PM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Martin Chriton from Waterloo, Canada writes: Wow I can't believe I actually agree with something Layton has done.
Posted 15/04/07 at 11:22 PM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
by jove from Vancouver, Canada writes: The Greenies - full of extremists all with agendas - and it isn't saving the environment. It is the use of the environment as an issue to destroy the economy.

We need a balanced approach where new cleaner technologies are encouraged through incentives to replace the older technologies. We need this implemented by a government that is sensitive and cares about the needs of individuals and families affected.

Not by a rabid bunch of kooks like the Greens - bent on destruction.
Posted 15/04/07 at 11:22 PM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Karol Karolak from Canada writes: Trojan Horse got rolled in just three days ago and Jack Layton is already on a hot seat. This is beautiful; in the spirit of cooperation Elizabeth May catapulted herself as a major force on environmental protection issues. Poor Stephanie Dion must be gloating over Jack Layton’s recent misfortune not realising that he was shamelessly used as a stepping-stone. Poor Jack, after such rebuff he will have no choice but to endorse Dion&8217;s initiative to allow Elizabeth May to participate in televised leader&8217;s debate.
Posted 15/04/07 at 11:24 PM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
spicydoc revamped from Canada writes:

Duncan Munro--

Excellent post.

Ignore the who is PM stuff for a sec.

If there was a vote TODAY to pick an opposition leader, Jack would win.
He is absolutely right to refuse riding-by-riding collusion deals. Either merge as a party or field separate candidates as a party.

Dion fans will love him no matter what. However, many people were of the 'wait-and-see' camp.

Well, I've seen enough.

Until Dion is ousted, this ex-LPC supporter is staying with the CPC.

I would have supported Iggy or Manley if given the chance, but it seems that Harper will remain 'unopposed' for a while.
Posted 15/04/07 at 11:26 PM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
David R from Canada writes: May is going to party shifting if she wins the election. You watch if she does win (and I highly doubt it as the all the pissed off Liberals are not going to vote for her), is going to be so close to Dion that she'll say for its the greater good to switch parties. I feel sorry the greens who elected her party leader and are no going watch their party crash and burn int he election.
Posted 15/04/07 at 11:32 PM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Michael Drainie from Toronto, Canada writes: We may be witnessing a major outbreak of political sanity for which there is no antidote! Canadian party leaders actually acting to avoid another Ralph Nader voting debacle… Amazing! Before the 2000 US federal election Michael Moore asked Ralph Nader to withdraw his Green Party candidacy for fear of stealing votes from Al Gore and thus electing the anti-environmental George W Bush. Just count the messes the world would have avoided if Nader had withdrawn. There are times when leaders need to put principle above partisanship. Now is one of those times Jack because the natural world can&8217;t afford another Ralph Nader.
Posted 15/04/07 at 11:44 PM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Bob Davidson from White Rock, BC, Canada writes: A breathtaking display of naiveté by Elizabeth May. Still not sure what Dion was thinking. Peter MacKay must be quaking in his boots. :)
Posted 15/04/07 at 11:47 PM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
The Maestro from Canada writes: I think Layton correctly sees that elections are about democracy, not engineering leaders into parliament.

Besides, I think a three way deal would be better for Layton. If the Liberals and Greens don't run in his riding, the NDP won't contest in their leaders' ridings. That could save the NDP alot of headaches.

Oh but I forgot, that would pervert the democratic way. And that is why Jack is not falling for that.
Posted 15/04/07 at 11:48 PM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Dave a Conservative from Ottawa, Canada writes: My opinion:
1. Dion got used as a pansy once again showing his ineptitude and clear as mud lack of leadership.. Iggy take the reins please!

2. May is a one horse show and she has sold out the 'greens' for some PR in the media. The party will self-destruct with her guiding them into the open arms of Dion.

3. Layton has surprised me. He actually shows some strength as a leader and frankly his stance will only help wavering NDP to come back to the fold. The longer he shows leadership capabilities the stronger the case he can make to Canadians that the NDP is a much better alternative (even if I don't like them! :D) than some of the other pitiful opposition parties at the moment.

4. Harper is staying quiet and he should. Ms May is unelected and at this moment she's really only playing the part of another lobbyist. Her move to do 'whatever it takes to get Harper out' will not sell... that's be shown by two-bit failed US presidential candidates (er.. Howard Brown). Hmmm didn't he speak at the Liberal party convention.. where they picked the fumbler Dion???? Guess some influence rubbed off ;)

5. This will be old news soon enough... now back to the Sens thrashing Pittsburgh!! Woo hoo.
Posted 15/04/07 at 11:52 PM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Jim Cohoon from Chilliwack, Canada writes: Without commenting on the particulars in this story, I certainly applaud any attempt by any political leader of any party to encourage a trend towards more responsible adult cooperative behaviour in politics as opposed to the current adolescent circus based in rigid partisanship and ideological divisiveness. I hope Ms. May proves to be a new kind of leader with a truly responsible non-partisan vision of politics and Canada. At the very least she may help raise the bar in Ottawa regarding political expectations -- a bar that has been too low for too long.
Posted 15/04/07 at 11:53 PM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
guillaume afleck from Canada writes: Michael Drainie ' Before the 2000 US federal election Michael Moore asked Ralph Nader to withdraw his Green Party candidacy for fear of stealing votes from Al Gore and thus electing the anti-environmental George W Bush. Just count the messes the world would have avoided if Nader had withdrawn. There are times when leaders need to put principle above partisanship. Now is one of those times Jack because the natural world can&8217;t afford another Ralph Nader. '

Did you stay up nights worring about a Ross Perot problem where a do-nothing Democrat only got in the White House because republican votes were hived off? Or are you just another lefty partisan where all the streets only run one way?? Your way. Quoting that hypocritical buffoon crockumentarian Michael Moore puts you far down the credibility list.


Posted 15/04/07 at 11:54 PM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Duncan Munro from Langley BC, Canada writes: Michael, this whole tempest is all about electing Ms May and says and does nothing to defeat Harper. On the contrary, the LPC and GPC now seem determined to run two Red/Green candidates in every riding! How will that hurt Harper? Rather than trying to avoid a Nader like situation, Ms May seems determined to create one and with the Leader of the LPC's blessings! Amazing!
Posted 15/04/07 at 11:56 PM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Vern McPherson from Toronto, Canada writes: It's disappointing to see the compartmentalized minds at work here. Since the forum began we've seen all kinds of posters who pigeonhole other posters into certain definitions and make assumptions from their little keyboards that bare no semblence to reality. Politics is changing people and voters are sick of blind partaisnship and closed end party policies that don't fit with what the electorate want. It's the beginning of a new era and the old way of thinking is on the way out. We need coalition, solutions and movement on issues not ideology and polisi/economic theory. Voters are far too sophisticated and communicate far too quickly for the last century's methods. They are far better informed than ever before. Spending their way into a phanton majority if complete folly for the COns just like it will be for libs. Society has far too many urgent problems to solve. We need to get away from hate this and messiah that and get real about solving our issues.

Let me remind you the liberal governemnt did not oppose PC leader Joe Clark in a by-ellection in Kings Hants, another NS riding in 2000. So this is nothing new except it is the forerunner for much more if the same type of co-operation in future.
Posted 15/04/07 at 11:56 PM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Dave a Conservative from Ottawa, Canada writes: Duncan Munro - very well said. Dion by his misstep has demoted the 'federal Libs' to the equivalency of any Green candidate for the future. Ms. May has used Dion to split wavering LPC voters into her camp... you gotta love the irony!
Posted 16/04/07 at 12:01 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
The Maestro from Canada writes: Vern,

a bielection is not the same as a general election. Especially in a riding that will likely go to the leader anyway.

In a general election, people want to feel they actually have a chance to vote for their party.,

Actually, a system of proportional representation would ensure that you could vote for a party/leader, while still voting for the best local candidate.

but interestingly, only the parties with something to gain (the ones with fewer % seats than % votes) seem to support it.
Posted 16/04/07 at 12:06 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Michael Drainie from Toronto, Canada writes: Guilliame Afleck: What problems on the scale of the war in Iraq or 8 years of global warming denial grew out of Bill Clinton’s presidency?
Posted 16/04/07 at 12:08 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Derek Holtom from Swan River, Canada writes: why in the blue heck would layton ever want to help may?
if may's so concerned about splitting votes, it seems to me she should fold her party.
asking others to bend over to bring her up to their level might make sense to one leader (even if his party hates the idea), but layton is the leader of the ndp. he has his own party to worry about.
may and her ideas are truly bizzare.
Posted 16/04/07 at 12:10 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
jim lllll from Canada writes: A Revolting Confession,,,,,
Federal Green party candidate Kevin Potvin on 9/11 :,,,,, 'When I saw the first tower cascade down into that enormous plume of dust and paper, there was a little voice inside me that said, 'Yeah!' When the second tower came down the same way, that little voice said, 'Beautiful! ...
Posted 16/04/07 at 12:14 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
spicydoc revamped from Canada writes:

Back to Liz May--

When she ran in the London by election, she lost, but made a respectable showing that enhanced her party's image.

If she chose a 'green' friendly riding in BC, she may have won on merit alone and been a real hero.

However, even with this bizarre arrangement, she may still lose. And then what??

If all this hoopla results in failure, her career as a credible politician is finished. Is it worth it?

I see no upside to this if May loses. Am I missing something?
Posted 16/04/07 at 12:18 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Robin M. from Canada writes: Vern McPherson from Toronto, Canada - Excellent post. Totally agree...

I find it amazing that most of the usual suspects continually pigeonhole Dion. Imposing their own thoughts here, as if it were gospel.

The NDP and Jack Layton lost a lot of votes to the Greens in the last election... he's not too happy about that.. and is most likely afraid for the job as leader of the NDP should Ms. May garner even more votes in the next election. So Mr. Layton's reaction is not surprising.

Dave a Conservative from Ottawa,

Dave I guess you just don't get it. Dion and May have put aside partisan politics for the good of the country. Yes, Dion took a risk. And it may or may not pay off. But, as leader of the Liberal party, he took a brave first step by offering to cooperate with another leader. and one I hope pays off for both Ms. May and the Liberal Party.
Posted 16/04/07 at 12:19 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
NDP Convert from Toronto, Canada writes: Vern, the Joe Clark case that you mention has been a tradition for some time... but it only counts in by-elections only, and only when one of the major parties elect a new leader who does not yet have a seat in the House. And it only happens when parties find it in their political interest.

As for the talk of 'goodwill'... give me a break. This is POLITICS, people!! When a politican is saying that they are 'sick of blind partisanship', it's a political ploy to get more votes... just as Dion's move is a political ploy that he thinks will get him more vote elsewhere. I don't fault them for doing it, but let's not pretend that it's all for good will! Our political system, flawed as it may be, is also brilliant because it allows for peaceful confrontation and a peaceful change of order. Sure there'll be a lot of yelling in the House of Commons, but that's the way our system is built. To paraphrase Churchill, it's the worst system we have except for every other system.

For some time now I've been telling friends and family what people here are starting to realize: Layton and the NDP are not the nutjobs the media (and some of the posters here) paint them as being. Many years ago I voted Liberal... and yes, I voted Green as well. But if you look at the history of the NDP and the CCF, for every value that we consider 'Canadian', the NDP's always done right even when it was unpopular.
Posted 16/04/07 at 12:20 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Archibald Wilkie Kushner from Canada writes: Most of the posters are missing the point. In Central Nova there is no chance that either a Liberal or an NDP candidate will defeat Mf. MacKay. Those voters, in our first-past-the-post electorial system are effectively disenfranchised. Their votes are wasted so far as anything meaningful is concerned.

From the point of view of Canadian democracy, Ms. May represents a very large number of people. She should have a more visible platform to express her policies. I think that Mr. Dion should be applauded for holding back a Liberal candidate in Central Nova. I would have more respect for Mr Layton if he would do the same.

I am sure that there are a number of seats that the NDP might win were it not for the fact the the Green Party will siphon off their votes. Mr Layton should recognise this and negotiate with Ms May. Surely he should be more concerned with getting more members into parliament than being so misguidedly pure.

From my point of view, in the next election, more deals of this sort should be made so that Mr. Harper does not sneak in with a majority government elected with a minority vote because the Left split the vote.

Archie
Posted 16/04/07 at 12:20 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
jeff mactavish from edmonton, Canada writes: Michael Drainie, you asked

'What problems on the scale of the war in Iraq or 8 years of global warming denial grew out of Bill Clinton’s presidency'

Your answer is actually in your question. The war in Iraq grew out of Clinton's presidency. He had an opportunity to take out Bin Laden but did not do it. We all know what happened next.
Posted 16/04/07 at 12:21 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
The Maestro from Canada writes: Archibald,

please don't mislead Canadians by talking about the greens and NDP splitting the Canadian Left.

There is only one real Left party, that's the NDP. The greens are not left. Aside from the environment, they are nOT progressive at all.
Posted 16/04/07 at 12:25 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Borat K. from Glorious nation of, Kazakhstan writes: Layton eat and breathe politics for 30 years. The May-Dion gambit of sacrificing a pawn will be no taker from King Layton.

May and Dion will both be the losers of this match.

May will have a short term exposure (perhaps negatively), but she and her team won't be guests of media, debates. What for, Dion already has the floor.

Dion will be seen more as a one-trick single-track pony. Willing to lessen democratic values for expediency and failing to consult his Liberal elders.

Harper is smart for staying low, why interject when his opponents are making fools of themselves.
Posted 16/04/07 at 12:26 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Duncan Munro from Langley BC, Canada writes: The upside, if she loses, but the Liberals win... is a seat in the Senate...otherwise she can console herself on the salary paid to her by the GPC. Sorry, but I find May and the Greens to be bizarre, and the last thing they ever discuss... is the environment!

Kevin 'go Osama' Potvin is just the tip of the iceberg, the BC NDP is filled with these right-wing anarchist types who climbed onto the Green bandwagon when it was first formed, and who will be slowly, but painfully and publicly, have to be removed from the GPC by May before she or her party can be credible.
Posted 16/04/07 at 12:30 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Michael Drainie from Toronto, Canada writes: Duncan Munro: May and Dion are encouraging Canadians to think outside the partisan box with regard to climate change. I don’t think we can say that the door is closed on further electoral cooperation. Canadians need to find a way to elect a parliament that sincerely wants to do our share in fighting global warming. The hopeful point of the above article is that Jack Layton may also want to help.
Posted 16/04/07 at 12:30 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
god bless canada from Canada writes: Ms. May plans to run for the Greens in the riding of Central Nova

this is a complete lie she does not to run in a election she wants the other partys to give her this riding . so why does miss may not just join the liberal and run as a liberal she has got the liberal stance down pat. she id entitled to her entitlements, mr dion has lost credability miss may has lost credibilaty.if mr dion keeps this up there will be less than 15 seats in red 0 green, 25 block and 18 ndp for a total 58 so by my count that will be a majority and mr harper will get things done without the other partys holding a minoraty governt back. nothing in canada can be moved ahead in a min goverment as all partys want different things done so nothing its done very fast. when a majoraty govermt comes in things get done faster and we dont have a costly election every 18 monthes
Posted 16/04/07 at 12:32 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Vern McPherson from Toronto, Canada writes: The Maestro from Canada writes ----------------------- Granted Maestro but the precedent is there for deals in ridings all the time. And I don't understand all the guff about who runs in a riding or who doesn't run. Political parties choose who will run in given ridings. Not the voters there. That is a fact. For example if Central Nova Libs were that dissatisfied they might run an independent (that would be really silly IMO because the vote would simply be split further) I maintain they are not that dissatisfied and in the absense of a strong NDP candidate and no vote splitting the seat could very well go to May. May will be a strong suporter of Dion's enviornental policy in Parlaiment. The candidate the COns ran in Willowdale the last 2 elections was a paper candidate at best with absolutely no chance of winning the exactor in a two horse race with 2 bets. The poor fellow is still running. Remember party leaders decides who runs and that is the way it has always been. If anyone is looking for scandal in election deals they need look no farther than the David Emerson debacle which is a black mark on the democratic process that has absolutely no precedent in history in Canada. It was out and out betrayal of voters in that riding. In this case the election hasn'r even been called and the voters know all about who will be running and why. It's up to them to vote for who they will. Emerson's electorate had that choice taken away in the biggest black-handed betrayal ever. And in London the NDP faded to black in the face of voters who took to May and saw value in her candidacy. She didn't win but made a very good showing.
Posted 16/04/07 at 12:33 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
d h from Canada writes: by jove: the Green party is 'full of extremists all with agendas - and it isn't saving the environment. It is the use of the environment as an issue to destroy the economy.'

OK, hyperbole on a list talking about politics is to be expected but really, that is a bizarre comment. Do you really think that people set out to start a national political party, form community groups etc... out of an agenda to 'destroy the economy?' - that's just silly.

Robin M: OK, if by jove is paranoid and maybe insane, you are simply gullible if you believe that 'Dion and May have put aside partisan politics for the good of the country.'

'the good of the country? I think that should read good of the party (each of them). Dion made a deal with May betting on the NDP loosing more votes in this riding than they would. Read the following sentnece very carefully. 'The NDP ran second in the riding in 2006, the Liberals third and the Greens a distant fourth.'

'good of the country?' please, I hope you think harder than this before you vote.
Posted 16/04/07 at 12:36 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Vern McPherson from Toronto, Canada writes: god bless canada from Canada writes: Ms. May plans to run for the Greens in the riding of Central Nova

------------------------------------

Beauty post GB. Keep trying. You are welcome here. Go slower next time.
Posted 16/04/07 at 12:36 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Alexander Dryden from Ottawa, Canada writes: Until such time as the G&M and other MSM (Maurice Strong Media) pamphleteers get around to honestly reporting the facts and background and principles and points of view and relationships of Eliza. Doolittle May (esp. her 'love affair' with Maurice Strong).... what's the point? -- except it gives the G&M and other MSM more mileage in promoting Maurice Strong's newly arrived puppet May, succeeding his failed and so discredited earlier puppets. (Read Mao's Red Book:understanding that Political=Economic Warfare and c.f. Marx.)
Posted 16/04/07 at 12:38 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
b mac from Canada writes: Elizabeth may, like opposition leader Deon are, is losing it. She has a candidate, it was reported in a Vancouver paper, that cheered for the terrorist when the trade centre towers in New York were bombed on 911. He apparently claims the US bombed the towers. Talk about a whacko. Apparently she supports him. Then, as a lawyer, she talks about Global warming as if she was a global warming scientist. Now she has a conspiracy theory regarding income trusts. Then to top it off she apparently doesn't believe in pro choice for woman. Then she denies citizens the right to choose a liberal and green candidate in two ridings. This woman comes across as a bit selfish and a bit crazy imho.
Posted 16/04/07 at 12:38 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
d h from Canada writes: b mac: read the bloody article before you beak-off. May did not support him. In fact she refused to sign his nomination forms.
Posted 16/04/07 at 12:42 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Denis Love from Victoria, Canada writes: Maybe I'm missing something. A woman who has no seat in the house, nor does her party, is telling us that Layton. who has a number of MP's in his party, is bad because he won't strike a deal to not run in some ridings. Layton is correct. A voter should have the option of voting not only for a candidate of choice but the party of the voters choice. I heard Laytom suggesting today that if the parties did a proportional voting system, the greens might actually get a seat. I understand that similar attempts were made by the previous green leader, same results.

Out our way Dr. Brioney Penn a well known environmentalist , who is attempting to enter politics is running for the Liberals not the Greens in a riding that the Greens did well before. We won't mention the fellow who was trying to get the green nod, in vancouver who actually praised the guys who ran into the twin tower in New York. A great bunch of politicians those greens
Posted 16/04/07 at 12:44 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
The Maestro from Canada writes: wouldn't it be interesting if the liberal support went to the NDP and May and McKay were both relegated to the dustbins of history?

To good to be true, but we can dream....
Posted 16/04/07 at 12:44 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
r b from Calgary, Canada writes: Where was the left wing outrage over the inequities of the first past the post system when Bob Rae undertook to overhaul Ontario with a majority government formed with scarcely 30% of the popular vote?

Funny how perspective changes when it is your ox that is being gored.

Actually a very simple fix: make the Senate a proportionally representative body, 10 senators each province, senators selected from party lists in accordance with popular vote in that province: Example, if BC votes 40 % Lib, 30% PC 20% NDP, 10% green - then 4 Libbies, 3 PC's 2 NDP'er, 1 Greenie .

Great fun would happen for fractional votes - if 34% libbie, 28% PC and so on - voters would then be asked what body parts would be whacked off the fractional representative from the given party (1 leg = 10% off of a given candidate for example, ears = 2% each, testicles = 25 % but decreasing according to age and , ahem, vitality, etc.).
Posted 16/04/07 at 12:45 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Duncan Munro from Langley BC, Canada writes: If the GPC wanted to take a truly principled stand, they would work to elect New Democrats and after a system of proportional representation is implemented, they could resume independent campaigning. However, it is not in Jack Layton's power to make backroom deals to force NDP candidates to step down in favour of the leader of other parties. The Greens tried this trick in BC in the last election and we told them to take a hike...we told them we will implement PR if we can, so they should support us so we can implement it when in office, however, in the last federal election the NDP had the greenest platform, as judged by independent organizations such as the Sierra Club and we supported PR, but the GPC ran just the same. For the NDP to support the GPC we would have to move to the right and become less 'green' and this just doesn't make much sense.
Posted 16/04/07 at 12:45 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
The Maestro from Canada writes: Well said, Duncan Munroe
Posted 16/04/07 at 12:58 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Duncan Munro from Langley BC, Canada writes: r b, I know the NDP favours abolishing the Senate, and I favour that policy but an elected, PR Senate as you suggest would make sense, although I would favour a two ballot system, where one ballot is cast for the local candidate and the other ballot would be for the Senate, and would be a vote for a party.
Posted 16/04/07 at 1:01 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Duncan Munro from Langley BC, Canada writes: Further on the Senate, the constitution stipulates a minimum number of senators for some provinces, so equal representation by province could not work, nor should PEI get as many senators as Alberta, or Ontario.
Posted 16/04/07 at 1:06 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Rick Clarke from Edmonton, Canada writes: Michael Drainie from Toronto, Canada writes: Guilliame Afleck: What problems on the scale of the war in Iraq or 8 years of global warming denial grew out of Bill Clinton’s presidency?

Monica's stained dress ;)
Posted 16/04/07 at 1:09 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Dave a Conservative from Ottawa, Canada writes: Robin M. - 'Dion and Ms. May are putting aside partisan political differences'...

Sure, Dion and May just 'happened' to meet in a backroom and without any 'political' influences they made the agreement. You might check your meds ;)

May just pulled off a scoop on Dion and it's pure, strategic politics Robin. May has also given the rest of the LPC the very reason and justification to rid themselves of an inept leader. Trudeau, Chretien or Martin would never have done something as foolish as this. This isn't putting politics aside, it is May attempting to eliminate any vote splitting to get elected (uhm last time I checked that's politics!).

Dion has sold out the LPC to the Greens and unless the LPC gets rid of this liability, the next election will only hurt the Libs more.
Posted 16/04/07 at 1:26 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
myna johnstone from ganges,bcltspring, Canada writes: Do you conservatives remember the deal between Peter MacKay and David Orchard? Who is David Orchard now supporting? Why?
One other comment:why did the Greens form a party? In BC Paul George and Adrianne Carr worked long and hard on forestry issues. Now loggers are understanding what they were trying to do. We are getting some sustainable logging. During the Clayoquot protests some old time NDPers tore up their membership cards. The NDP has people who have worked forever on issues. Nathan Cullen of the NDP has been acknowledged by MPs from all parties as a fabulous negotiator on the environment. Lets not be too narrow minded in our comments. We need to work together and go beyond stupid party heckling and vote in people with intelligence and good records of work on issues.
Both Dion and May are brilliant. We need them in the house. I believe Elizabeth May deserves to be acclaimed. My solution until we get a different voting system is a coalition of green,liberal and Ndp.
Posted 16/04/07 at 1:26 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Mike M from Toronto, Canada writes: How is this putting aside partisan politics - this is an example of partisan politics. Partisan refers to anything that is done along party lines - here, parties (Liberal and Green) are aligning to try and wrest power from another party (Conservative). Just because they agree/disagree with your thoughts doesn't make these actions any less partisan.

There are many ways to resolve this 'issue' that are less partisan instead of this manner: have the individual ridings work together to resolve the issue - after all, they're the ones that are interested here. Have no party affiliation in those ridings and allow the independent candidate to decide, post-election, which party they would like to be involved with, and I don't know, allowing all your party members to vote freely. Cripes, in the US, which we all like to say is anti-democratic, there is a lot more voting outside of party lines than what is done in Canada.
Posted 16/04/07 at 1:27 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Mike M from Toronto, Canada writes: Guillaume - you are aware that Clinton bombed Afghanistan, aren't you? That was in response to a bombing of an embassy (in Africa nonetheless). How can you say that government would have acted any differently - Bush simply continued the same progression that the Democrats had started.
Posted 16/04/07 at 1:29 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Mike M from Toronto, Canada writes: Myna - if Elizabeth May deserves to be acclaimed, then surely she'll get enough support in her riding to get voted in. If she can't garner enough support in a riding, then how on Earth does she deserve to be acclaimed? No other leader, in a general election, is ever acclaimed. And in by-elections, the reason that leaders are generally unchallenged is because their own sitting members usually step down to allow the election (in other words, the balance of power in government is unchanged).
Posted 16/04/07 at 1:32 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Karol Karolak from Canada writes: Astronomers and political experts are trying to determine exact orbit of Elizabeth May Comet.

In its close to Earth passage Belinda Stronach Comet wrecked Tie Domi's marrige, spurned Peter McKay and blessed Canada with Same Sex Marriage.

In just three days after appearing on the northern sky Elizabeth May Comet reduced LPC to silly party status, made Dion look like an idiot once again, and put into question Jack Layton's commitment to environmental protection.

Just to be on a safe side Harper and Conservatives named one of their trusted men to head Canadian Space Program and cooperate with NASA, brand new Deep Impact Probes must be in the works, cheers.
Posted 16/04/07 at 1:33 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Rick Clarke from Edmonton, Canada writes: Karol Karolak; hahahahahaha
Posted 16/04/07 at 1:50 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
sun vann from nelson, bc, Canada writes: B Mac - the USA was involved in a conspiracy relating to 9/11 - that's 'common knowledge' now - go to: angelsfortruth.com
Posted 16/04/07 at 1:51 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Trish Taylor from Canada writes: “I don't understand it. He talks to Stephen Harper all the time; surely our shared values are much closer between the NDP and the Greens.” So...after soliciting the NDP heavily and the NDP refusing her advances, May then strikes a deal with the Liberals instead? Does it actually matter to May what the policies are of the party she aligns with as long as she gets her seat in the House of Commons? I went to the Green Party website and downloaded their current Policy handbook. It's rife with comments about the Liberals. Particuarly this one on their environmental approach: While most countries in Europe are well on their way to meeting their Kyoto targets, the Liberal government lacks the political courage to introduce long-lasting policies that will meet Canada's Kyoto commitments. So when did May decide that the Liberal party suddenly has the courage? Certainly it wasn't under Dion previously. Or did this courage suddenly become apparent when Dion offered to pull the Liberal candidate in exchange for May selling out to endorse the Liberal Party's environmental platform? Yet another comment from the Green's Policy book: In many sectors of our economy, the Liberal's pandering to big business and the lack of adequate antitrust laws over the past decade has led to the concentration of decision-making at the top of the ladder. This trend has served to stifle innovation, job creation, Canadian competitiveness and productivity while increasing the health and environmental risks associated with pollution and industrial waste. So...the Green Party's PLATFORM states that Liberal policies increase environmental risks associated with pollution and industrial waste. So what does their leader do? Decide to support them in exchange for a free ride into the House of Commons. Maybe Liz should have rewritten the Platform before selling out her party with this move. Oops...too late. May's credibility now = zero.
Posted 16/04/07 at 1:59 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
W M from Canada writes: I love the way supporters of other parties feel that they have the right to tell Elizabeth May how to run her own party. And as for this being cooked up behind closed doors, Elizabeth May was talking about the idea on TV at least as long as two months ago.

Freedom and democracy means that the leader of each party has the right to make her own calls and then let the electors decide whether they agree; it does not mean that Jack Layton or Ed Broadbent get to dictate what she does. And, make no mistake the NDP's hysterical reaction to this IS all about partisanship. Over the last three years Jack Layton has demonstrated repeatedly that personal ambition (delusions of glory is probably a more accurate description) and partisanship are never far from his mind.

Elizabeth May is right. Jack Layton has to decide whether he cares more about this principles or chasing his technical dreams of personal glory. Message to Jack: You are NEVER going to be Prime Minister, so it might be better to simply focus on not making an a$$ of yourself.
Posted 16/04/07 at 2:04 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Derek Nardone from Vaughan, Canada writes: This isn't an example of non-partisanship because they've flat out said their taking on Central Nova to specifically knock off MacKay. If they were trying to create a spirit of cooperation, getting a green into the house, a new form of politics ... blah, blah, blah. Dion would have given her one of his many safe Liberal seats. All of you who are advocating there is precedent for this are wrong. In every case you bring up (Clark, Day, etc) these are leaders who had parties in the house and are deemed legitimate. And for those who think May did so great in London North Centre, don't forget that riding included the University of Western Ontario, a bucket of student protest votes, that she wont find among disenfranchised liberals in rural Nova Scotia.
Posted 16/04/07 at 2:11 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
W M from Canada writes: Mike M from Toronto - you can put your shirt back on. Elizabeth May is not going to be acclaimed. This has nothing to do with acclamation. No one is suggesting that Peter Mackay will or should step aside to let her run. If Elizabeth May was looking for an easy way to get a seat, she would not have chosen to run against Peter Mackay. I have heard her on TV a few times and, if you give her a listen, I think you will find that she is not a typical politician. She really does seem to care more about doing what she believes to be the right thing than about partisan politics as usual. Don't forget that she was also one of the people who was involved in selecting Conservative Brian Mulroney to receive an award for being the greenest prime minister in Canadian history. If she cared more about partisan politics than speaking the truth, it would be hard to explain why she would do that, n'est pas?
Posted 16/04/07 at 2:14 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
W M from Canada writes: Re. my earlier comment, make that Jack Layton's 'technicolor dreams'; not 'technical dreams'.
Posted 16/04/07 at 2:15 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Trish Taylor from Canada writes: W M: Elizabeth May is right to ask the leaders to put partisan policies aside to ensure that we have a solid environmental policy in place. However, when did this require that ridings be rigged to give the Green Party and it's leader a free ride into the House of Commons? I would rather have seen her use more savvy and run in a riding where she's more likely to get a seat and retain her impartiality and then be able to stand up in the House of Commons and be able to question ANY party on their environmental policies and encourage ALL parties to work together to come up with a sustainable and sensible environment policy. This makes much more sense to me than endorsing a particular party in exchange for a seat in the House of Commons and not being able to criticize their policies in exchange. Layton is correct to not withdraw the NDP candidate in Central Nova. The NDP already have what they consider to be a solid environmental policy. Why would they capitulate to the Green Party? Perhaps it's Elizabeth May who should stop being partisan and work with ALL the parties instead of the one who will save her failing to get a seat because of her decision to run in a riding she never should have chosen in the first place.
Posted 16/04/07 at 2:17 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Duncan Munro from Langley BC, Canada writes: W M, what you Greens can't seem to understand is that it is not up to Jack Layton to decide if an NDP Riding association gets to nominate and run a candidate. This is a grassroots decision which must be made by the riding itself. It is not Jack Layton dictating to Ms May, rather it is Ms may trying to dictate to Jack and the NDP in Central Nova, as who their candidate will be, Ms May seems to assume that Jack has the same dictatorial powers as herself in how the NDP is run. The NDP is a democratic organization, and Jack is our elected leader but he is not a dictator.

If Ms May wants to help the environment she will stand aside and support the NDP, which has a better chance of winning in Central Nova and in the rest of Canada, than the GPC and has a GREENER platform, but that is up to Ms May to decide, and the NDP is certainly not telling her what to do.
Posted 16/04/07 at 2:17 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Arthur Meighen from Perth-on-Tay, Canada writes: Democracy is such a silly, messy and inefficient thing; Fraulein May is the only national leader out there smart enough to know it. Her message is clear: we must abolish elections altogether and hand her party all 308 seats, to create the Green Reich That Will Last A Thousand Years (TM). Of course, she'll need to burn down the Reichstag (oops, Parliament) first. I look forward to learning the details of her upcoming Night of the Long, Non-Plastic, Environmentally-Friendly Knives. Herr MacKay must be stopped at all costs, before he can enact his nefarious plan to nuke the gay whales. Heil Greens!
Posted 16/04/07 at 2:20 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Mike M from Toronto, Canada writes: W M - read the post that I was referring to. myna johnstone specifically said, 'I believe Elizabeth May deserves to be acclaimed.'

Additionally, I have previously had no problems with May or the Greens - in fact, I was actually considering this to be the first election that I was going to vote for the Greens. However, this move is not something that I am fond of at all - I know have no idea if a vote to support the Green party is actually a vote to support the Liberal party or not. There is plenty that I disagree with in the Liberal party and they are now pretty much the last party that I would consider voting for (prior to this stunt, my consideration was:

tie for first: Conservative/Green
second (way behind): Liberal
third: NDP

So, please, do not dismiss someone that disagrees with May as someone who doesn't understand the Green party or was not previously willing to support them.
Posted 16/04/07 at 2:26 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Duncan Munro from Langley BC, Canada writes: Myrna, Clayoquot was a difficult and divisive issue for the BC NDP but it was resolved in a fair, equitable fashion that preserved the forest. Out of Clayoquot came the BC Forest Practices Act, the most environmentally sound logging code in the world, which was implemented by the BC NDP, to protect the entire province's forests. When the Socred-Con-Libs were elected in 2001, they promptly tore it up. The BCGP then helped Gordo stay in office in 2005, to do even more damage to the environment. The BCGP has done more damage to the environment supporting Gordo Campbell, than the NDP ever did while in office. You talk about the environment, but it is just a front to put your right wing pals into office. Adrian Carr, the BCGP leader ran a distant third in that election as did every other BCGP candidate, and with the likes of Kevin Potvin permeating the BCGP it is no wonder, and believe me there are lots more like him out there.

BTW, the BCGP and Ms Carr promoted a form of PR where, she and she alone would control the list of BCGP candidates...talk about democracy!
Posted 16/04/07 at 2:28 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Trish Taylor from Canada writes: WM writes: 'No one is suggesting that Peter Mackay will or should step aside to let her run. If Elizabeth May was looking for an easy way to get a seat, she would not have chosen to run against Peter Mackay. ' Au contraire, W M. If Elizabeth May was not looking for an easier way to get a seat, she would not have made the deal with Dion, thereby kneecapping her ability to criticize Liberal environmental policies if they deserve it. I also heard Elizabeth May on Question Period today griping about Harper running a Conservative candidate in her London riding and she then went on to state that there is a precedent for the other parties to not run a candidate when the Leader of another party decides to run in a riding, intimating that she should be given a free ride. She tried to get the NDP party to make the same deal as she subsequently made with the Liberals. And now May says Layton is not playing fair either by not submitting to her requests for collusion in the riding. I'm waiting for May to say that Harper is not playing fair by allowing Peter MacKay to run in Central Nova!! ... which she stopped just short of saying on Question Period. I would suggest to you that May feels she should be given a free ride by ALL parties as she obviously feels that the Green Party is our environmental saviour. I'm beginning to wonder.
Posted 16/04/07 at 2:30 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Michael Sharp from Poointhesea City, Canada writes:

Isn't this just the best?

Hammer and tong, tooth and nail, ying and yang.

May and may not.

Dion and didn't.

Gawd, I love this country.

Thank God Harper has the reins.
Posted 16/04/07 at 2:57 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Mister Fartleberry from Toronto, Canada writes: Is this alliance to stop her other Liberal pal McGuinty from investing in reactors? Or is she looking for some gratis campaign insults from P. MacKay? Whatever the reason, the Red-Green party proves how fundamentally bad the party leadership process is. I look forward to the next Paris Celine commercials. What a pair of wonks. (IMHO)
Posted 16/04/07 at 3:57 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Broad Vacant from St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada writes: It's curious that few are commenting on the obvious point that the NDP candidate has done very well in this riding, garnering 33 per cent of the vote in the last election. IOW, there is a very real chance that they could take this riding. Why, in these circumstances, would the NDP step aside? The various conspiracy theories propounded here make little sense. The only real explanation for all of this is simpler: May made a poor decision. If she wanted the NDP to step aside, shouldn't she have chosen a riding they didn't have their eyes on? If she wanted a deal with the NDP, shouldn't the backroom conversations have taken place BEFORE she made her announcement? This, combined with the Green's usual motley assortment of candidates (the guy in Vancouver is the thin edge ...) simply points to a party that is amateurish, poorly organised, and unable to find coherence beyond its core issue (and even there there's lots to be said).
Posted 16/04/07 at 5:23 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
G. Sam from Canada writes: Why does the media even listen to that loud mouthed, fang faced, old broad!
Posted 16/04/07 at 5:47 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Pat Piccirillo from Niagara falls Ontario, Canada writes: To get to the ' Central Issue in this strange ' DION ' MAY ' lunacy ?,. Deals are made in the Commons in a Governmet Minority Situation,by ELECTED members of Parliament, I am very suprised by two individuals
action. Especially Mr. Dion who is supposed to be experienced in how our DEMECRACY works. Ms. MAY is the worst kind of manipulative individual to TRY TO GET ELECTED AT ANY COST, the voters decide who gets elected !! I will repeat my self : THE VOTERS DECIDE WHO GETS ELECTED !!!!
Posted 16/04/07 at 5:56 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Michael Powers from Smiths Falls, Canada writes: Ms.May spent some of her precious TV air time denying that she had made a backroom deal with Dion - her rationelle was that she did it by cell phone. Semantics aside, it was an old style 'backroom deal' and was extremely distasteful to many voters. I do not understand why she feels that Jack Layton should drop everything and answer phone calls from her, just because she wants to play games. She is the credible leader of a bunch of wing nuts that have one issue, nothing more than that. During her interview on 'Question Period' yesterday, she came across as a person that was extremely self centered and very impressed by her own importance. Some how, despite her vast experience, she has not learned that others do not share her ideals or are not willing to drop everything to listen to her. The sooner that she is gone from the political scene, the sooner we can get on with important issues and stop playing crass little games.
Posted 16/04/07 at 6:13 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Dave Medich from Windsor, Canada writes:

Kudos to Layton for not joining 'Dumb & Dumber' and becoming the '3 Stooges'. May is a flake just like Dion and it will be reflected in the next polls that come out. By still flogging 'Kyoto', they're out of touch with 'normal' Canadians who want slow, steady progress on the environment instead of massive destruction of the economy for little to no gain. It's probably hard for Conservatives to hold their tongues and not burst out laughing at the self-destruction of the Greens and Liberals by their own incompetent leaders. It's manna from heaven.

.
Posted 16/04/07 at 6:15 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Clem Brown from Metcalfe, On., Canada writes: Who let May out of her locker? Thank God for 'Caller I.D.'
Posted 16/04/07 at 6:57 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Har Har from Canada writes: Jaclk Layton is the number one threat to Canada today. The NDP is a virus destroying our political system. If the Greens and the NDP aren't getting along, good for the Greens!
Posted 16/04/07 at 7:04 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Time Out from Canada writes: Duncan Munro from Langley BC, Canada writes: 'If Ms May feels that the NDP has environmentally sound policies and also supports Proportional Representation, why doesn't she simply join the NDP, and try to be nominated as a candidate.' Because Durgan, rats leave a sinking ship, they don't jump on them.
Posted 16/04/07 at 7:08 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Not the Alliance from In my opinion, the Harper Gov't is still Incompetent, Canada writes: I'd like to announce a new record for Harper 'conservative' posters. An article involving Layton, and not one of them has referred to Layton as 'Taliban Jack' .... and it's already after 7:00 am!! Well done Harper 'conservative' posters!!!!

I guess with the Harper 'conservative' budget, it should be obvious that Jack Layton is now a 'made man', and has therefore been declared untouchable by the Harper 'conservative' Ministry of Propaganda.
Posted 16/04/07 at 7:12 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Not the Alliance from In my opinion, the Harper Gov't is still Incompetent, Canada writes: No nickname for May yet from the Harper 'conservatives'. I guess the Ministry of Propaganda was running at half staff during the weekend.
Posted 16/04/07 at 7:15 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Not the Alliance from In my opinion, the Harper Gov't is still Incompetent, Canada writes: I always thought that Layton and Harper would be best friends.
Posted 16/04/07 at 7:20 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Not the Alliance from In my opinion, the Harper Gov't is still Incompetent, Canada writes: Sorry, my last post was in error. I totally forgot about Duceppe and the Bloc. So sorry Jack Layton, you're not Harper's 'best' friend. Second best....
Posted 16/04/07 at 7:22 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Rob Brown from writes: Elizabeth May is upset because other parties (except the Liberals) won't endorse her. What gift is it that she thinks she has that makes her so exceptional that she should be given a free ride? She has proven to be the worst kind of politician -those that are willing to make back room deals that benefit only themselves. I see two good things, however, resulting from this. First, she has shown the voting public that she is nothing more than a nut job leading an equally irrelevant party and secondly, has exposed Dion to be so politically inept that he and the Liberals have very little chance to form the next government.
Posted 16/04/07 at 7:25 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
fedup taxpayer from ottawa, Canada writes: I think the Libs, Dippers and Greenies should unite and form the MoonBat party. Like minded lefty loonies.
Posted 16/04/07 at 7:30 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Vern McPherson from Toronto, Canada writes: Michael Sharp from Poointhesea City, Canada writes:
Isn't this just the best?Hammer and tong, tooth and nail, ying and yang.May and may not.Dion and didn't.
Gawd, I love this country.Thank God Harper has the reins.

--------------------------------------

Sorry Michael Harper doesn't have the reins. He's hanging on to a few hairs of the mane trying to drag himself out of the horses as. .

34% and he has the reins ? That's laughable.
Posted 16/04/07 at 7:42 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Vern McPherson from Toronto, Canada writes: It seems the COns are afraid of this little alliance between the greens and the libs in one single riding. It also seems they are in the dark as to what is really happening here. All thay can do so far is to attack. The reality is they might just get left sukcing the hind teat here. That wouldn't surprise me because they are a drudgingly stund, dolty lot to begin with a messia for a leader. They ought to have uiforms ( not just green ties since they discovered enviornment last month), to go along with their uni-track trip through life. If little stevie left politics today the moon wouldn't be made of green cheese anymore.

Oh my my my .........what do I do !!!!!
Posted 16/04/07 at 7:49 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Gerry Pankhurst from westport ontario, Canada writes: Aun Bea isn't even a member of parliament and at the rate she is going, she probably never will be. Why does she get all this press coverage?
Posted 16/04/07 at 7:50 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Vern McPherson from Toronto, Canada writes: fedup taxpayer from ottawa, Canada writes: I think the Libs, Dippers and Greenies should unite and form the MoonBat party. Like minded lefty loonies.

------------------------------------------------------------

If you are a fed up taxpayer pal then you should crawl out from under your rock and dump harper if he is YOUR LEADER. You just witnessed him throwing 50 billion of YOUR TAX money at the nanny state you hate so much. You got lied to pal. How does it feel ?
Posted 16/04/07 at 7:51 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Not the Alliance from In my opinion, the Harper Gov't is still Incompetent, Canada writes: Still no nickname for May. I guess Harper 'conservative' posters are waiting for instructions....
Posted 16/04/07 at 7:55 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Catherine Wilkie from Canada writes: Canadians are concerned about the environment and the future that we are leaving for our children. Political partisanship is not often talked about by the youth of the nation. The Dion/May decision illustrates a fresh way of squaring off with the concerns shared by the majority and the demands of a changing climate.
Many posters here are discussing the political stripes of the decision. May/Dion are offering a forward looking plan that will address the challenges.
Good for them. Our future and environment deserve sincerity.
Posted 16/04/07 at 7:55 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Nick McLean from Halifax, writes: THis may have actually been a clever move by Dion. If the Greens capture a seat--they also get a place in the debate. If they get a place in the debate, they have a national forum. The Greens take more votes away from the NDP than other parties. (Even though they are not a left wing party) A weakened NDP will allow the liberals to reposition themselves as the natural alternatives to the CPC.
Jack Layton has no incentive to cooperate with the Greens as he wants the NDP to become the natural alternative to the Tories--like the Labour party in Britain. This is why the NDP is working with the Tories to get legislation passed and why most NDP attacks focus on the liberals.
There is some realpoliticking going on here and May may be the only leader who is not interested in playing the game.
Posted 16/04/07 at 7:58 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Terry Quinn from Canada writes: Dion has addressed the way of the future in federal politics and the conservatives and their right wing won't like it bcause the possibility of a coalition of the so called left will further destroy them.

Dion is thinking way ahead of Harper and his firewalls, nasty politics and divisiveness, etc.
Posted 16/04/07 at 8:01 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Dave Medich from Windsor, Canada writes: Today's G&M Poll:

'Which party will benefit most from the Green-Liberal agreement made by leaders Elizabeth May and Stephane Dion?'

Conservatives - 65%
Liberals - 26%
Green -4%

Celine is the gift that just keeps on giving. Throw in the flakes from the Greens and it's like Christmas, a birthday and winning the lottery all rolled into one for the Cons and the NDP. Thanks, Celine.

.
Posted 16/04/07 at 8:03 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Stephanie Robinson from Ottawa, Canada writes: hElizabeth May and Stephane Dion think that by trying to assure two seats in the Commons they can 'save the planet.'
Nonsense! The planet is bigger than even their two egos combined.
Posted 16/04/07 at 8:27 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Don Adams from Canada writes: Like scenes from Dumb and Dumber :-) The Old Grey Mare who ain't what she wants to be and Mr. Canada wannabe teaming up together? Comic relief. Seriously, you Lib supporters would be far better off to throw your voices at the Party to get rid of Dion.... BEFORE the election, and try to get your party re-positioned. The way it's going, so many centrist Lib supporters switching to the Cons, Dion leading what's left LEFT.... hey a merger in the works? NDP & what's left of the Libs? With a dash of green beanie thrown in for gooud luck?

The Cons are just leeping quiet, laughing to themselves, letting the Libs implode, and Dion flopping around like a fish out of water, losing more and more public respect every day. Truly laughable.
Posted 16/04/07 at 8:28 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
K W from Canada writes: I also watched Ms.May on QP and had quite the little chuckle over her assertions that the other party's should stand aside and let her run un-opposed. I do acknowledge that it is done during by-elections for new leaders of parties with seats in the HofC. The greens do not have any seats in the HofC, now thats an important point. I considered voting for them, even went to all the trouble of reading their platform on their website,but that pretty well scared me off, they are a one trick pony with some pretty scary ideas concerning most of the other points that are included in running the country. I truly suggest those in the room advocating for Ms. May go have a quick gander at the Party Platform listed on their website.
Posted 16/04/07 at 8:29 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Vern McPherson from Toronto, Canada writes: Gerry Pankhurst from westport ontario, Canada writes: Aun Bea isn't even a member of parliament and at the rate she is going, she probably never will be. Why does she get all this press coverage?

--------------------------

There's goofy pinkhurt again. Aunt Bea ?
What would you call Rob Anders ? Uncle Adolph ?

Or Myron Thompson ? You figure a name for Myron. The thought of his fat as. stinking up Parlianmemt doing nothing for years is disgusting while quality individuals like May are willing to serve citizens with vigor, energy and inteligence.

Your brown nose must be worn down to a point by now pinkhurt.
Posted 16/04/07 at 8:29 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
whirlwind annie from Canada writes: Why not unite the left? After all the Western Concept Party, Reform, Alliance, Progressive conservative, etc. formed the NEW conservative party. Oh how short are memories!
Posted 16/04/07 at 8:34 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
dan p from toronto, Canada writes: I must admit that I'm surprised by the poor judgement displayed by Dion. Although he has stumbled quite a bit since becoming leader he had done nothing to this point that comes even remotely close to this gaffe. By denying the Liberals a candidate in Central Nova he has demonstrated that the party is not serious about knocking off the Conservatives. His 'star' candidates (Kennedy excluded) are all attempting to win safe Liberal strongholds. May has nothing to lose as her party has no traction nor money and continue to rely on the protest vote. She should have run in Victoria where she would have had a decent chance to win a seat. The Globe Poll appears correct with 65% indicating that the CPC are the big winners in this deal. Now Ray Heard has already called for Dion's head publicly and other Liberals are quietly grumbling that this was a terrible decision (the one unnamed MP using the Monty Python 'silly party' was priceless) Finally, in spite of all this I think the government needs to continue governing and not attempt to engineer their own defeat. Regardless of people's preferences on this site Harper received a minority mandate and he should try and govern as long as possible. Let's have less rhetoric and get back to work. My prediction is that if Harper can get through 2007 and make it to spring of 2008 all but the most strident detractors will give grudging credit where it is due and he'll have at least a stronger minority government or a bare majority should the house fall on the Flaherty 2008 budget.
Posted 16/04/07 at 8:36 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Don Adams from Canada writes: Real smart idea whirlwind annie. Unite the left. The Greens, Dippers and Libs all into one far left party. That'd mean the center Libs would leave, have no home, so would go to the Cons. We'd be left with a Centrist party and a leftist party. Since most Canadians vote center, that'd leave the left in perpetual opposition with perhaps 25% of the seats in Parliament.... if they were lucky. NOT a good idea for Canada though.
Posted 16/04/07 at 8:40 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
K W from Canada writes: Vern, Please explain to me how having Ms. May commit political hari kari in Central Nova is going to help the Green Party. Unless the NDP withdraws their member in the next general election then it will accomplish nothing, try and be honest here, do you really see enough support bleeding from the NDP and the former liberal voters going to Ms. May to put her over the top on a home town boy. Sorry, I do not see that happening.
Posted 16/04/07 at 8:45 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Steve Hennessey from whitby, Canada writes: I hope that when May loses in the next election she will go away. When she talks of like minded views is she referring to her ultra right wing republican view on abortion? Could Layton support that? If she was in the USA (her birth country) she'd be more on the lines of Patrick Buchanan for some of her politcal views. Clearly Canadians don't vote for one trick ponies. Has May contacted the marijauna party and the communist party of Canada as well? Why do we always end up with these American rejects? If they don't like the country where they were born and raised in why not try to change the policies there, rather than come to a foreign country to them. What made them so afraid to fight for such causes where they were from? If your home country never wanted to listen to your whacko ideas what makes you think Canadians do? So please Ms May when you lose don't go away mad, just go away.
Posted 16/04/07 at 8:48 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
anu bose from ottawa, Canada writes: The msot intelligent move that Jack Layton has ever made spurning May!
Posted 16/04/07 at 8:49 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Catherine Wilkie from Canada writes: The nation shouldn't be afraid of a fresh way of politics. Dion/May are offering Canadians and the environment an opportunity for a frank dialogue about a subject that the majority of Canadians are very concerned about.
More than that, we are being offered a different way of seeing our politicians. Two politicians, of a different stripe, that actually respect one another. Listen to one another. Imagine.
Counter that with the bullying, drive-by smears of the Conservatives and Canadians will have an opportunity to choose a positive way forward. Counter that with the aim taxpayer's money at votes and Canadians will have a new way of viewing politics.
Canadians may once again be able to respect politicians, trust the word of politicians, and move the nation forward in what is promising to be a time of adaption.

Posted 16/04/07 at 8:53 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Donald S. Holmes from Atwood ON, Canada writes: Who, or what the hell is Elizabeth May?

Is it such a slow news year that all our media people have to give so much time to a nobody?
Posted 16/04/07 at 9:00 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Sandy Danchuk from Saskatoon, Canada writes: i really like Ms May; she is a strong woman and is capable of much more than she is given credit for. Yeah, politics is a messy business and women will make a difference.
Posted 16/04/07 at 9:02 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Guillaume Afleck from Happy Town, Canada writes: Michael Drainie from Toronto, Canada writes: 'Guilliame Afleck: What problems on the scale of the war in Iraq or 8 years of global warming denial grew out of Bill Clinton’s presidency? ' (You should be ashamed to use the term 'denial', it is abhorent, go read about Auschwitz-Birkenau, Bergen Belsen, Dachau, Treblinka, or any of the others and compare denying that reality to a discussion about the earth's climate record. You are beyond disgusting to use that term) How about the unchecked continued ascendency and growth of Osama Bin Laden and the Al Qaeda network which created continually bigger problems and lead directly to 9-11/London Tube/Madrid? How about the non-enforcement of UN resolutions that led to the continued enslavement and suffering of the Iraqi people with no end, due partly to democrat friendly thieves and the UN oil for palaces program? That's just for two, the failure to lead the country at all or consider the country's best interests are teh general theme. How democrats champion this guy still baffles me? What did he do in eight years except not be a Bush? That seems to be enough for you. Sad. The topic is Vote splitting. I agree that Canada should get it's left wing parties together, no problem, but do it the honest and straight forward way. But you're in for a surprise when you find how many Canadians would actually vote for a fully left wing party in 2007/8/9/ whatever. Low and getting lower, I suggest, and without a demographic blip of bright eyed naifs to think that Stalin wasn't so bad and Castro is just misunderstood, they don't stand a chance in hell! BTW - less that half of votes for the libz are 'left', please don't post Libz NDP Bloc = majority. It just ain't so.
Posted 16/04/07 at 9:03 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
K W from Canada writes: Cathrine, what is fresh about this, Mr. Dion need a Greenish political figure with high public viability to say he was not that bad a Environment Minister. Ms.May needs help in a riding where she made a huge mistake running in. It reeks of politics. I mean how stupid do they think we are. It was not that long ago that Ms. May was calling the Liberals a disaster on the environmental file. What a short memory Mr. Dion has, what a rich file of sound bites for the CPC and NDP to use against them both.
Posted 16/04/07 at 9:04 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
You (David Wilson, from Niteroi, Brazil) wrote: Layton and the l-l-l-Lewis's and the NBP (New Baptist Party) are dinosaurs, they have had decades and decades to sort the NDP into something credible and have only suceeded in plum UN jobs and hand wringing

Elizabeth May is going to 'shock and awe' during this next election, new paradigm indeed, try humming a few bars of 'this train', that ought'a do it
Posted 16/04/07 at 9:10 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
D Preston from Canada writes: The left is its own worst enemy(although being green is not necessarily left). We voted the Liberals to power because of the disarray in the Conservative Party. The Reform/Conservatives looked on with envy at the Liberals successive governments. The NDP has some good ideas but not enough to garner my vote. The Green Party is a one-trick-pony and will not get my vote. Yikes, I'm left with Dion or Harper. Where's my rope; I need to end the pain.

Ultimately the NDP and Green Party must come to a common ground or both whither away. The 660,000 who voted Green in the last election will not continue to waste their vote election after election. The NDP and Green Party need to learn from the Reform/Conservatives to unite or die. Then maybe I'd vote for them.
Posted 16/04/07 at 9:11 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Catherine Wilkie from Canada writes: K W from Canada: Dion/May are offering the environment/Canadians a hope for the future of the envirnoment. They are showing, with this move, that they are sincere about addressing the issues of climate change and setting the nation on a future of sustainability and offering sound, reasoned approaches to the issue, rather that a reaction from climate change deniers.
Mr. Dion has proven that he is capable of making decision that are based on taking the tough road. The clarity act. He is proving that he is offering decisions based on reality and principles. Counter that with the political expediency of the Conservatives.
Posted 16/04/07 at 9:14 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Larry King Jr. from Sarnia, Canada writes: Who in the h_ll does Elizabeth may think she is? Just because she has Stephan Dion wrapped around her little finger doesn't mean that other politicians will capitualte to her demands. Three cheers for Jack Layton for holding his ground.
Posted 16/04/07 at 9:31 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Stude Ham from Outremont, Canada writes: Hey May!!! Don't you know that Jack Layton is Harper's biggest booster? The NDP having lost all of its reasons for existing has pretty much become the footstools of the conservatives.
Posted 16/04/07 at 9:33 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Dave Medich from Windsor, Canada writes:

The agreement between Celine and Maynot only proves that by putting their two brains together makes them twice as dumb.

.
Posted 16/04/07 at 9:33 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Don Adams from Canada writes: Catherine, where did Dion get his much vaunted Clarity Act from in the first place? Harper. As for Dion and May offering Canadians hope? Hope for what? More collaboration to take away the votes of people in different ridings? That's all the Central Nova move was.... a move that dis-enfranchised Liberal voters in Central Nova. Is this your idea of the right thing to do right across Canada? All it's done for Central Nova is pushed the majority of Libs into the arms of either the Cons or the Dippers. Yes, Dion is making decisions based on Principles (his) but certainly not Reality. Only Idealistically. The reality of his stance ( which, if you'll remember, was 'AGAINST Kyoto when he was in the Cretian Gov't) is this stance will cost Canada money.... money that will flow OUT of the counrty, whereas Harper's stance is to make much needed changes, but to keep the money IN canada.
Posted 16/04/07 at 9:34 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Vern McPherson from Toronto, Canada writes: To: K W from Canada writes: Well KW let me asnwer this way. Voters have been willing to flex in CN over the last few elections. It seems voters there will support the right candidate despite the party involved, i.e., move support here and there. At times the NDP candidate has garnered second place votes and when a high profile PC with strong credibility wasn't available the riding elected a Liberal after Elmer MacKay retired. The name MacKay is still very strong there because Elmer had the riding sewn up for years. He had very strong local connections. 2 former NS PC Premiers were also from the local area. Organizations were meshed federally and provincialy and worked effectively. Plus Elmer did a pretty good job of taking care of his constituents at least those who suppoorted him - which was the majority. But I think the riding is changing now because issues are changing. The enviornment is very important. Employment is important because a big plant just closed up and the Conservatives could do nothing to change it. PC's or COns. COns just discovered the enviornment a month or so ago. Perter MacKay's old response to the enviornment was like Rob Anders' - Do you want to work ? Then shut up about the enviornemnt and the scientists are all crazy. Now suddenly he is a protagonist and these voters are astute enough to see this. The off-shore deal is also important and MacKay and Harper missed the boat on that. Plus a degree of dissatisfaction was reflected in the last election with MacKay over the Belinda stuff. His plurality was reduced markedly. The Belinda stuff certainly didn't help him. And this electorate knows May for quite some time and now will get to know her much better during the next few months along with what she really stands for on the enviornment and the economy. The announced NDP candidate is 61 years old for goodness sakes. I am sure she is a wonderful person but ..... I don't like her chances. One more NDP MP means nothing to anyone anywhere.
Posted 16/04/07 at 9:35 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
sean bob from Ozark, Canada writes: As we're sung to sleep by philosophies
That save the trees and kill the children.
Posted 16/04/07 at 9:36 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Vern McPherson from Toronto, Canada writes: KW to continue, I will admit when I heard May would run in CN I didn't like her chances at all and I said so here. But now after thinking about it and analyzing it a little and with deal she has cooked up with Dion I don't mind reversing my previous view. Frankly I think she will have far more impact on issues in Parliament than Peter MacKay ever has or ever will. Peter would make a real good home town lawyer - maybe a real good big city lawyer if that is what he wants. We'll see.
Posted 16/04/07 at 9:41 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
You (David Wilson, from Niteroi, Brazil) wrote: D Preston says, 'Ultimately the NDP and Green Party must come to a common ground or both whither away.' ... well ... no (would that be Sargeant Preston of the NWMP? :-) there is a third possibility actually, the NDP could wither away and the Green Party could flourish, even triumph - 'moribund' is the word that comes to mind when I think of the NDP, the party that is and the dilettante clique at the top of it, not the members, and even though the members are most likely k-k-k-Canadian I expect they have the wit to quit, eh?
Posted 16/04/07 at 9:49 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
cam M from Calgary, Canada writes: to by jove fr. Vancouver--well said. Ms May is turning into a whinner just as he buddy Dion. She is behaving like a spoiled kid.
Posted 16/04/07 at 9:54 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Kay Ay from East of To., Canada writes: Wow, I had to read quite a few posts b/f I got to anyone I could relate to.
Jack Layton can't ignore the Green Party b/c they will take his votes.
Dion & May are changing things up and the only one left for PM Harper to play with is the Bloc.
Seems a little odd that PM Harper would be spending so much time & energy on a party that only represents ONE province.
Perhaps after Elizabeth defeats Peter (yes, very positive thinking) he could try Provincial politics since everyone in NS loves him (NOT!!).
Posted 16/04/07 at 9:54 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
A Canuck from Ottawa, Canada writes: I am starting to warm up to Mr Layton.
Posted 16/04/07 at 9:55 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Catherine Wilkie from Canada writes: Don Adams: This is about choice. Dion/May have chosen to show a unity to address the issue of climate change. They have chosen to put the environment first. Ms. May may win the riding or not. However, the nation will benefit from the dialogue and the importance of the environment from her being there.
Compare that with the Conservatives appointing an unelected senator. Or, the David Emerson debaucle. That was politics at its most cynical. Or the staged drive by smear, by PM Harper, of another Honourable Member of Parliament. The list of these cynical approaches to manipulating the choice of Canadians, the electorate are routine exercised by the Conservatives.
I will take the fresh views of Dion/May. They are give the riding the option of voting clearly, for the environment. But then, I respect the will of the people. I don't believe it should be maniupulated or bought for political gain.
Posted 16/04/07 at 9:57 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Crusty Curmudgeon from Ottawa, Canada writes:

Has anyone ever noticed that the definition of co-operation to a politician is doing it the way that the whiniest politicians wants it done?
Posted 16/04/07 at 9:57 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Vern McPherson from Toronto, Canada writes: Stude Ham from Outremont, Canada writes: Don't you know that Jack Layton is Harper's biggest booster? The NDP having lost all of its reasons for existing has pretty much become the footstools of the conservatives. ----------------------------- Stude, I think that is pretty accurate. Harper sucked him in real good. IMO, Layton is done like dindins. The way to deal with Harper is to redicule him, anger him, which is not that difficult. And hold his as. to the fire on issues, truth and campaign promises he has blatently broken to his own people, his supporters for the expedient yet impossible majority. Nanny state nanny state - and he throws 50 billion of taxpayer's money at it in an unprecedented spending spree. Increased the size of government by 25 % in a year after howling for a decade government was too large. Making promises to religionists he could never keep. Making promises to provinces he had no intention of keeping. Making promises to veterans he had no intention of keeping. Making promises to seniors he had no intentiion of keeping. Making no promises on the enviornment but he suddenly discovers it one dark cold night in February 2007. Harper is a failure and a bigger failure in the making. Harper hasn't cut taxes by 100 billion. He hasn't brought the country from hopless Mulroney PC gigantic deficit to year after year of budget surplus. He hasn't created conditions where employment is at it's hightest in decades and unemployment is at it's lowest ever. He hasn't reduced debt from 65% of GDP to under 30%. He hasn't paid off 75 billion of debt. All he has done in the last year or so is criticize silly liberals and given the winning parts handed to him on a silver platter can't yet even increase his support beyond 34 %. Harper is a failure. Someone needs to tell him and the electorate just that.
Posted 16/04/07 at 10:00 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Alfons Materna from Dogs Nest, Canada writes: It's all about Elizabeth, isn't it!

E. May is not left.
The Greens are not left.
If you want left and good environment policy vote NDP.
Simple, eh?
Posted 16/04/07 at 10:01 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
garlick toast from mill village, Canada writes: harper isn't saying anything because he's hanging mackay out to dry.mackay is a nincompoop who inherited his seat from his daddy and proceeded to sell the prog.con.party to harper for future considerations.how sleazy is that?
Posted 16/04/07 at 10:06 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
agent sixtynine from Calgary, Canada writes: Jack Layton has some pretty funny ideas but at least we can say that he has integrity. More than anyone can say about the likes of Mr. Dion and Ms. May.
One more thing, Mr. Potvin is a sick freak.
Posted 16/04/07 at 10:06 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
cam M from Calgary, Canada writes: Catherine--Kyoto,the Dion style will cost tax payers million buying credits from other countries and gaining little.Clean Air,the Harper style will keep the money here in Canada where it belongs and will gain results. Its time we did thing the CANADIAN WAY!
Posted 16/04/07 at 10:07 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
david waye from Halifax, Canada writes: Dion and May made a deal and now May wants Latton to make the same deal. She wants everybody not to run against her so she can come in second. Dion comes out of this the winner, for now anyway. It would seem that he is worried about his own riding and knew that the Liberals would not win against McKay. He will likely win his riding and May looses to McKay. And it would not make any difference if The NDP stepped down and let her be the only one running against Mckay. The Liberals and The Green Party have no right making deals. The voters should have the right to say who goes to Ottawa.
Posted 16/04/07 at 10:07 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Fran Irwin from Medicine Hat, Canada writes: Catherine Wilkie from Canada and several others expressing rational and fair thought here - great posts! As leaders of two National parties, each with strong environmental platforms, Dion and May have correctly defined the environment as one of two election issues in the forefront for Canadians (the other being Afghanistan). As to the whining of the NDP and Monte Solberg (for the New Government) that this is a backroom deal and so undemocratic - how rich for either to throw that mud. Jack Layton has negotiated many backroom deals, first with Martin over a Liberal budget rewrite, and then most recently with Harper to save his bacon on the so-called 'Clean Air Act' which was such a disaster it deserved to die and quick death, and was not even required to make the necessary changes in regulations at any rate. Monte of course seems to have his typical penchant for re-writing history - do the names Emerson and Fortier ring a bell, or how about Anders in Calgary who overrode his Riding Associations protests to get the nomination with the help of the PMO? Point being - politics is all about negotiations, I usually judge by the outcomes and the principals behind these cooperative ventures. I hope, for May, that she is successful in winning a seat in Parliament, and for both the Greens and the Liberals that the environment is kept as a key litmus test for the next Prime Minister - thus defeating Harper. As to the parliamentary tradition of the ruling party not running against a new Party Leader: Vern McPherson from Toronto, Canada writes 'Let me remind you the liberal government did not oppose PC leader Joe Clark in a by-election in Kings Hants, another NS riding in 2000. So this is nothing new except it is the forerunner for much more if the same type of co-operation in future.' I would also add Stockwell Day to the list - the Liberal did not run against him in Kelowna when he was seeking that seat as new Leader of the Alliance.
Posted 16/04/07 at 10:09 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Adebisi TheGamer from Canada writes: Dear Ms. May,

Jack Layton is not an employee. And as far as I know, he does not represent your riding. He is not obligated to return your call.

And, as a FORMER Green Party supporter, I would encourage you to end your quest to negotiate seats instead of winning them through honesty.

And shame on Dione for supporting your efforts, and shame on his party for not rising up against him for it.
Posted 16/04/07 at 10:12 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Terry Quinn from Canada writes: Don Adams....'clarity act came from Harper'
surely you jest and if not you have proof of that. You're as much a history rewriter as Harpercrite wants to be.Read his NCC stuff in detail and tell me he invented the clarity act. BS.

When you all see Dion's end game here you will be astonished and sufficiently admonished..of course you won't be able to justify the right wing drivel any longer
Posted 16/04/07 at 10:13 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Rick Czarnota from Calgary, writes: Poor Ms. May. Only the Liberals are willing to conspire to rig the next federal election.

Any respect I had for Ms. May is gone. How she can claim to be the leader of a national party, and yet have to work out side deals to avoid running against all of the other parties is beyond me. Truly pathetic. She certainly doesn't deserve a seat at any leadership debates.
Posted 16/04/07 at 10:14 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Greg Smith from Canada, Canada writes: MS MAY HAS COMPLETELY DESTROYED HER AND THE GREEN PARTY’S CREDIBLY BY ALIGNING HERSELF WITH THE LIBERAL PARTY AND A LEADER WHO DID ABSOLUTELY NOTHING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT DURING THEIR 13 YEARS IN POWER.

IN FACT, UNDER LIBERAL RULE CANADA HAS GOTTEN SO FAR OFF TRACT ON KYOTO THAT JUST ABOUT EVERYBODY AGREES THAT THE GOALS ARE NOW UNATTAINABLE (in the short term), INCLUDING MR. DION.
Posted 16/04/07 at 10:14 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Terry Quinn from Canada writes: David Waye...dion's riding is one of the safest Liberal seats in Canada. If it was worrisome to the Liberals I suspect Harpercrite would run Fortier there since he does need a seat.
Posted 16/04/07 at 10:16 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Not the Alliance from In my opinion, The Harper Gov't is Still Incompetent, Canada writes: I don't know what's more amusing. Imagining Layton sitting by his ringing phone with his hands over his ears pleading for Harper to 'Make it stop!!!!' OR reading all these posts from the usual Harper 'conservatives' where you can imagine them using their backspace keys to erase their automatic 'Taliban' Jack references.

Truly hilarious. Say, do any of you Harper 'conservatives' remember what you stand for these days???
Posted 16/04/07 at 10:21 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Mail Man from Toronto, Canada writes: After the the surge of the ADQ in Quebec, anything is now possible. With all the dumb moves that Dion is making (then snubbing his nose at the other opinions in his party), we should not be surprised if the NDP form the next official opposition to the CPC.
I no longer recognize the Liberal Party of Canada. Dion has completely abandoned the center, leaving the CPC as the new centrist party, and now Dion is 'rubbing shoulders' with every leftists, extremists, and low life fringes that he can find. I don't blame Belinda and the fourteen others fleeing this out of control 'Titanic'.
Posted 16/04/07 at 10:22 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Chris H from To, Canada writes: Ms May should grow up. She decided to take on Peter McKay - and now she is angry that she cannot count on Jack Layton to make it easier for her to win votes. Jack Layton is under no obligation to assist her in this endeavour. Let's just hope he doesn't lose heart and cave in as we get closer to the election.
Posted 16/04/07 at 10:23 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Don Adams from Canada writes: Cathee, Cathee, I was beginning to have hopes for you. Oh well. You can be a one trick pony all you want I guess. There far more pressing problems in Canada than the environment issue. Yes, it's important, but REALISTIC people realize NOTHING will be really accomplished untill the worst polluters come on board, and that's just not going to happen any time soon. So yes, we do what we can REASONABLY do, keep the issue before these other Countries, but spent more of our time and money here in Canada, correcting wrongs. eg. air pollution in our cities, youth crime, immigration, religious 'rights' (Constitutional change needed here) convicted felons 'rights' (constitutional change needed here), cleaning up our waterways, (cities and Towns STILL dumping waste into rivers and lakes) infrastructure, paying down the debt, changing the Health Care system, ..... the list goes on and on. I just don't understand hhow anyone in their right mind can think that sending money OUT of the Country will help correct environment problems here IN the country, especially with Countries like China and India putting more and more pollution into the atmosphere that it will undermine anything the Countries pushing FOR KYOTO could do. What a collassal waste of money.... for pure idealism!
Posted 16/04/07 at 10:24 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
DON BARTA from Canada writes: Lots of commentary from the tinfoil hat fraternity - The bottom line is that the people qualified to run the country are too smart to get into politics.......
Posted 16/04/07 at 10:34 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
MJ Patchouli from Regina, Canada writes: These comments show how entrenched Canadians are in partisan-thinking!

I think the world of Dion -- he's a thinker with a vision, not just drooling over power like Harper -- and his vision of Canada is far more in line with my own.

What is so hard about doing things a different way? May is a breath of fresh air in Canadian politics and I hope she beats Petey in Central Nova. She is not taking the easy way: she's making important statements -- even symbolically -- and she and Mr Dion agree that the air we breathe, the water we drink, the land we live on, is more important than politics.

Try to think differently; it will be better for us all.

And Layton -- could it be any clearer how desperate he's becoming with the Greens in hot pursuit? I found him squirmingly uncomfortable on CPAC last week, all twisted up like a pretzel.

Keep on posting, Vern and Catherine and Myrna and WM: fellow Canucks need to hear your voices loud and clear: for once, it's not just about power...
Posted 16/04/07 at 10:35 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Catherine Wilkie from Canada writes: Don Adams: I read your comment about Canadians need to be concerned about concern for the environment being on in-house. The argument doesn't hold water. Also, why would Minister Baird be talking with the Americans about a concerted effort to stop cross-border pollution?
Masked under the Conservative made-in-Canada solution is an attitude that our money should be spent to exclusively benefit Canadians. As a developed nation, we have exerted our influence on the global environment and now we are acting smug and self-righteous with the developing nations.
But more than that, why are we in Afghanistan? Should we not also exercise a made in Canada solution to terrorism?
Conservatives are exercising not leadership and poor policy. They are not even consistent thinkers.
Dion/May offer intelligent, reasoned thought on the environment. Looking forward to the election and debate over issues that are based on measured thought...not political expediency and spending taxpayer's money on garnering Conservative votes.
Posted 16/04/07 at 10:36 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Rain SCM from Vancouver, Canada writes: At least the Greens know when to draw the line when supporting a nomination for their party, namely nominees that call the collapse of the two towers beautiful. A qualification for Osama bin Layton's NDP is to be anti-Israel (Semite?) and pro-Taliban. This coming from someone that has voted NDP (pre-terrorist aoplogist starting with the crook Svend), Liberal and Progressive Conservative (not the recent batch of theocratic NeoCons) because as Canadians we are supposed to elect local representatives that best represent our personal views and philosophy and has impressed us with their vision of the future of Canada, their committment to the citizens of their riding and their accomplishments, not the leader of the party.
Posted 16/04/07 at 10:36 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Edwin Green from Trenton NS, Canada writes: I am in Peter MC kay riding WHAT IS WRONG WITH LIZZIE MAY IS HER HEAD SCREWED ON RIGHT DONT THINK SHE WANTS TO WIN this is like is like trying to walk through fire ha ha ha some leader
Posted 16/04/07 at 10:42 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Don Adams from Canada writes: MJ Patchouli. You are quite right when you state 'the air we breathe, the water we drink, the land we live on, is more important than politics' So why are you endorsing Mya and Dion? They're not concerned with the things you just stated.... they're concerned about enforcing Kyoto.... sending millions of dollars OUT of the country, when those millions could be spend IN the country, cleaning up the things you mentioned. Yes, we DO need to do more than Harper's Claen Air Act calls for, and SHOULD be pushing the Cons, but to do it through KYOTO is a waste of dollars that could be better spent elsewhere. And most THINKING and REASONING Canadians agree. Dion and May are simply playing politics! So why would you support them?
Posted 16/04/07 at 10:42 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
V ADS from North Vancouver, Canada writes: It's spring, and the Kyoto lovers want to make it a threesome. Yuk.

The only good news to come out of this spring madness is that Tin-Ear Lizzie can no longer whine that she deserves to be in the debates because the Greens "have a candidate in every riding."

Not anymore they don't.
Posted 16/04/07 at 10:49 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Dave Medich from Windsor, Canada writes:

I never thought I'd see the day that Layton would appear more Prime Ministerial than either Dion or May. They're like two unsuspecting nerds on a bad reality show ready to be booted to an island. It's actually sad to see the once proud Liberal party relegated to the lunatic fringe. Still, it was inevitable when they outsmarted themselves by picking a loser like Dion to lead them to oblivion.

.
Posted 16/04/07 at 10:50 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
cam M from Calgary, Canada writes: Catherine---We are in Afghanistan because PAUL MARTIN put our
troops there!
Posted 16/04/07 at 10:52 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Don Adams from Canada writes: Oh boy Catheeeeee, you really have gone off the deep end into idealism haven't you? Why shouldn't Baird be talking to the Americans? A whole lot of the pollutants Canadians breath come from the US. As far as being a developed nation, surely we have the smarts to realize we CAN'T influence the Chinese and the Indians activities? Our puny 30 odd million against their hundreds of millions? Really? :-) We KNOW these countries are just going to continue in their ways, and what we as a puny little nation MIGHT do by working on the world stage and sending off our dollars just isn't going to have any effect on the overall problem, so we should just send money anyway, because we're a developed nation and they're not? Feel guilt, hurt ourselves because we're developed and they're not? Catheeeee, isn't that hair shirt you're wearing getting itchy? That type thinking is pure idealistic lefty drivel.
Posted 16/04/07 at 10:55 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Catherine Wilkie from Canada writes: cam M: Paul Martin isn't the Liberal leader. More than that, the mission is not the one that was agreed upon.
We deserve a dialogue on Afghanistan. We deserve consistent thought.

Catherine Wilkie from Canada writes: Don Adams: Your thinking is inconsistent. You are consistent with your attempt to discredit opposing views.
Thankfully, Canadians are finally being offered a choice.

Rick Czarnota from Calgary, writes: Catherine Wilkie from Canada writes: Dion/May offer intelligent, reasoned thought on the environment. Sorry Catherine but I disagree. Dion's environmental plan is about as focused as Harper's and it will cost Canada more. During a visit to Alberta in late January Dion talked about using tax incentives to encourage industry to invest in new technology and unequivocally stated he would not support a carbon tax. That echoed the environmental plan that he campaigned on to become leader of the Liberals. In less than a month Dion had reversed his position and now not only champions a carbon tax, but is foolish enough to want to implement one starting in 2008...8 months away. This clearly demonstrates that Dion has absolutely no clue as to the reality of doing work in industry. 8 months is barely enough time to install a slug catcher let alone equipment that will reduce GHG emissions. May is not better. Completely out of touch with what it actually takes and the timelines to retrofit existing plants. Retrofitting 1 oil refinery can take up to 4 years. You can barely get the engineering done in 8 months and that is if you want to have a shoddy design. Neither Dion nor May has a comprehensive environmental plan and neither environmental plan addresses air pollution...merely GHGs. CO2 does not create smog nor does it affect air quality that affects conditions such as asthma. Of course that is if you think Dion and the Liberals would actually do anything they say. Given the Liberals track record I don't see them doing anything.

Catherine Wilkie from Canada writes: Rick Czarnota: I bow to your knowledge about the oil sands. I don't know. I do believe that industry/manufacturing/business will need incentives to change their behaviour. Human nature , indeed.
I do feel that the Dion/May alliance will improve the dialogue and put the environment forefront. The Conservatives have also proven that their focus can be purchased and their honesty can be replaced with political gain.
So, the fresh approach of May/Dion is interesting.

Justin Campbell from Ottawa, Canada writes: I don't really understand why so many people are being so hostile toward Ms. May. She's the leader of a national party that has the support of 10% of the voting public, and yet has zero representation in Parliament. Negotiation with other parties seems pretty reasonable to me.

Don Adams from Canada writes: V Ads..... :-) same thing about the Libs..... they're no longer a National party if they won't run a candidate in Central Nova. They've become, with this move, just another one interest, special interest group. No wonder Liberal supporters are changing their minds in droves and deciding they're sure not voting Liberal. This might or might not translate into Cons votes, but doesn't matter. With Libs no longer voting, just gives that much greater chance of Harper getting a majority. No wonder he's not saying much about it :-)

Catheeeee, remember, it's not real smart to do a 180' turn in the middle of the 401 at rush hour. Yes, we need a debate on Afganistan, but not before an election. As it stands, we're committed for a certain length of time, and that committment SHOULD be reviewed, but at the right time, and this isn't it.

David Griffith from Nova Scotia, writes: I'm not a big Layton fan, or an NDP fan, but I have to say that Layton has joined Harper as emerging from all of this as a leader, and not stopping to the desperate cynical backroom dealings and antidemocratic behavior of May and Dion. This Red Green comedy show has only hurt both parties by alienating and disenfranchising thir grass roots members while making their leaders look like desperate amateurs. Prime Minister Harper is smiling, and Jack is pleased that at least can say he has a party who at least knows who its leader is on any given day. The voters in MacKay's (and Dion's) riding must be very pi$$ed off with how so-called leaders are playing them as pawns in chess.

M Phillips from Canada writes: Don Adams from Canada writes: Yes, we need a debate on Afganistan, but not before an election.

Don, I support the mission in Afghanistan but not necessarily the Cons. I would prefer the Cons, for that matter any elected with a majority party, to agree that if they achieve a majority they will allow a free vote on any future extensions or major changes to the mission in Afghanistan. Now is not the right time since we are committed and must fulfill our obligation.

Rick McNaulty from Calgary, Canada writes: Hello Catherine Wilkie - Be careful what you hope for. You stated you look forward to the leaders debate next election. Hahahahahahahahahaha

Real Canadians look forward to the leaders debate as well Catherine when your Liberal clown is shown to be the fool he and his masters are. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Why does the Liberals Party steal real Canadians money for their own use?

Tim Dowell from Ottawa, Canada writes: Catherine Wilkie from Canada writes: Nice Kool Aid today?

You are stating that May and Citizen Dion are taking progressive steps towards putting the environment over politics. I just wonder why Citizen Dion did not take that same approach when he was environment minister. I think May and the "Citizen" are using the environment for political gains. Unfortunately I don't think enough of us are stupid enough to buy it.

David Griffith from Nova Scotia, writes: Catherine Wilkie from Canada writes: Don Adams: Your thinking is inconsistent. You are consistent with your attempt to discredit opposing views.
Thankfully, Canadians are finally being offered a choice.
----
Indeed. A choice between a government that's done more for the environment in a year than the Libs did in over a decade, and an extremist one-trick pony party that is really no more than an arm of the Sierra Club. Given those choices, it isn't difficult to see why Harper is seen as the overwhelming favorite as PM, and the Conservatives as the party of choice to lead Canada.l

Duncan Munro from Langley BC, Canada writes: Vern, so the GPCs position is that Cdns over 60 are no longer able to contribute to society? First we have the CPC hacks basically saying that they are against motherhood, and now the GPC hacks say they are against older Canadians!!! What's next, I wonder?

Why doesn't the GPC just admit that May is trying to settle a score from her days in the PCPC and is using the GPC to do it.
Posted 16/04/07 at 11:19 AM EDT | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
Rick McNaulty from Calgary, Canada writes: Why can't we get some BC enviro-babe for the Green leader?

Instead we get some ugly loud mouthed lawyer.

Don Adams from Canada writes: Rick, excellent post. Now lets take it another step, into industry. It takes time and money to change. Can it be done? Yes, given time. Catheeeeee, should a Company, who is publicly owned by shareholders, who invest their money in order to MAKE money ( otherwise why invest) be FORCED to make quick switches that will COST them, thus not allowing them to make profits for perhaps 5 - 10 years in order to pay for these changes? Will the shareholders accept this or try to draw their money out to invest elsewhere, thus forcing the company to borrow money, thus incuring more debt, becoming more unprofitable, thus a lower share price, and even MORE people bailing out? This is what can happen if changes are made too quickly. This is what you want?

Arec Bardwin from Alberta, Canada writes: Actually a good move by Taliban Jack. What does it say about May/Dion when the looney left NDP won't even talk to you.

Vern McPherson from Toronto, Canada writes: david waye from Halifax, Canada writes: The Liberals and The Green Party have no right making deals. The voters should have the right to say who goes to Ottawa.

----------------

Well David have them run an independent in CN. There is real freedom. Furthermore, to say two parties have no right to make deals is bullcrap. It's done all the time. At least the voters in CN know where they stand. In Vancouver wherever, with Emerson ran and was elected as a Liberal, the next day he magically ascended into harper heaven and was suddenly transformed into a COns. Harper didn't give voters the choice you treasure so. He betrayed the heck out of them AFTER THE ELECTION !! Just like he betrayed his core supporters with his nanny state, suckhol., liberal budget. How many more masks can he wear ?

Guillaume Afleck from Happy Town, Canada writes: Terry Quinn from Canada writes: Don Adams...."clarity act came from Harper"
"surely you jest and if not you have proof of that. You're as much a history rewriter as Harpercrite wants to be.Read his NCC stuff in detail and tell me he invented the clarity act. BS. "

He did Quinn, every idea in the clarity act - clear answer on a clear question, etc, was suggested in writing by Harper years before Dion.

"[The Clarity Act] was spawned by the 1995 Quebec referendum and ongoing independence movement in that province. In 1996, the initial attempt to pass a similar bill by then Reform MP Stephen Harper did not pass first reading. Known as Bill C-341, or the Quebec Contingency Act, it served as a model for the subsequent Clarity Act passed in 2000."

Ranald Walton from Hamilton, Canada writes: More confirmation that Dion was May's second choice.

If the NDP had met her "price", I guess it would have been Dion getting "blasted" and Layton would have been the environmental saviour.

Rank and file Greens and Liberals must be angry over this disgraceful episode.

Vern McPherson from Toronto, Canada writes: Don Adams from Canada writes: V Ads..... :-) same thing about the Libs..... they're no longer a National party if they won't run a candidate in Central Nova. They've become, with this move, just another one interest, special interest group. No wonder Liberal supporters are changing their minds in droves and deciding they're sure not voting Liberal. This might or might not translate into Cons votes, but doesn't matter. With Libs no longer voting, just gives that much greater chance of Harper getting a majority. No wonder he's not saying much about it :-) Catheeeee, remember, it's not real smart to do a 180' turn in the middle of the 401 at rush hour. Yes, we need a debate on Afganistan, but not before an election. As it stands, we're committed for a certain length of time, and that committment SHOULD be reviewed, but at the right time, and this isn't it. ------------------------------------ What a load of nonsense donnie. Why don't you give it up ? Liberals changing their minds in droves ? Who told you that cheerleader ? Everythingyou say here is drivel. And debate is wrong before an election ? That sounds like the illustrious Kim Campbell who didn't want to debate anything important before an election. See what that got her ? AAAHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHH No debate until after the election ????? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Trillian Rand from Canada writes: While I entirely agree we need more cooperation between political parties, especially when it leads to a common good, I cannot condone election fixing, an act that benefits one political party to the disadvantage of the electorate.

The proof of validity for any political party is to win an election. Without that, all you have is a popular movement. Instead of trying to stack the deck in her favour by limiting the competition, Ms May should be concentrating on the more difficult task of convincing the Canadian electorate that she and her party deserve to have seats in the House of Commons.

If the Green Party has policies that are acceptable to the Canadian Public, if Ms May appears to be a credible leader, she will have no problem convincing Canadian voters to elect her or members of her party. By choosing to load the dice in her favour by convincing other parties to stand aside for her, she leaves the suggestion that the only way she can win is by guile.

If she wins her seat, she will forever have to operate under the suspicion that she couldn't make it on her own. Every time she supports a Liberal motion, people will nod and wink. when we are becoming more and more uneasy with the present political situation in this country. Ms May had a chance to show us she and the Green Party could present reasonable policy in an honourable way. This deal nullifies that opportunity and we all lose by it.

Don Adams from Canada writes: OHMIGOD! Vern, I suggested the Libs in Central Nova should run their candidate as an Independent back when the story of the deal first broke. YOU, agreeing with ME? Will wonders never cease? :-)

Vern McPherson from Toronto, Canada writes: Donnie there is no lack of freedom for voters anywhere when they disagree with the party candidate. The part always chooses the candidate anyway. If there are that many stupid voters in CN then let them run an independent. Not independent liberal just independent. YOu will remember the fuss in Lakeshoore when certain factions didn't like Ignatief. Well they turned out to be a non issue. He won handily there. There is always dissent. But to say liberals are changing their minds in droves like you did is complete fantasy.

And by the way there were several other issues where we agreed, Remember ?? I just don't have much use for your fantasy and messianic harper follower menatality that's all. It's annoying as heck.

daffy duck from Canada writes: the grassroots conservatives and the ndp have their direct democratic views in common, the ndp and the liberals have their nanny states ambitions in common, the liberals and the greens have politicking and power ambitions with a mutual opponent -mackay- in common, duceppe and the the conservatives have the idea that ottawa shouldn't be taking our money in the first place, let alone throwing its weight around in provincial jurisdiction -like property and firearms- and telling provinces how they should run themselves. harper on the otherhand, has been straight up saying, he'll work with whomever, as the situation dictates. i think the may/celine deal has been pegged by jack layton perfectly. its undemocratic, denies ppl in that riding their rightful choices and so thwarting democracy. if anything i would never vote green now, even though i had considered it in the past. miss may has got to go if the greens are going to ever be a real party.

Vern McPherson from Toronto, Canada writes: Quoted from the joint release from DIon and May.

" Out of respect for each other and out of our shared commitment to a greener Canada, we are not running candidates in each other’s ridings.

We recognize that a government in which Stéphane Dion served as Prime Minister could work well with a Green Caucus of MPs, led by Elizabeth May, committed to action on climate. On many issues, we would have policy disagreements; on others cooperation would be possible. No matter what the issue, we recognize that, although opponents in the political sphere, we are committed to doing politics differently. That means open and transparent, fair-minded communication. Another issue where we believe progress could be made is in the potential for electoral reform.

Today there are larger issues at stake than the petty partisanship of politics. We are confident that Canadians will appreciate this shared commitment and our efforts to protect our children’s future."

Martin Schotte from Parksville, Canada writes: Now an admission by the leader of our Official Opposition, Mr.Dion, that the presence of varied partisan representation is preferred to overwhelming numbers of a plurality winning party. His preferred outcome [ my conclusion drawn from his arrangement with Green party leader].
Mr.Dion recognizes this in opposition to those who believe in a theory of; Natural Governing Party status for some.
This is the basis of governance in any democratic society,votes of equal value to all. A process to attain this democatic ideal is still lacking.
May all supporters of representative democratic governance be encouraged, not merely supporters of GPC, and CPC by Mr.Dion clear thinking.With the Clarity Act to his credit and this new approach by him, which must be Canadian political first there remains hope for patriotic Canadians.

Don Adams from Canada writes: Daffy, the Greens will never be a real party.... they mouth other ideas for the economy, crime etc., check out their website, but their hearts aren't really there..... their main interest is one thing and one thing only.... environment. We just don't need May in the leadership debates either, because she's anything BUT a leader.

We NEED two good CENTRIST parties concerned about CANADA as well as the environment, and unfortunately we only have one..... The Cons. Hopefully, after the election, the Libs can do something about turning their party around, but it's going to take years, perhaps even the formation of a NEW slightly left of center party.

Normand LaBine from Winnipeg, Canada writes: Now this is treason! The BLOC runs as a National, Federal Party that only Quebeckers can vote on. The Greens, a US Franchised Party in many countries, wants exculsive manoeuvering in a riding, where the US Ex-pat leader, not even an MP, doesn't own a stick of furniture, let alone know the region intimately! Just to run her chosen target out of Dodge! And she's complaining that another Party isn't playing her ball game?

Take your rant back home! What's really wrong is that any Liberal soldiers or their families won't be able to vote for their candidate, but their over in Afghanistan fighting to augment our Democratic System! What Democratic System? It's just a Warlord game!

Rick McNaulty from Calgary, Canada writes: Vern when the vote is over and counted, real Canadians with real children will have picked the winning candidate, both in Central Nova and across this great nation.

Simply Red from Canada writes: Layton and his gang have outlived their usefullness. Canadians need to know that if they don't have a childecare accord, funding to teach illiterate adults to read, the Kelowna Accord, money for tuition reduction, the Atlantic Accord, money for climate change research... it's all because Layton and pals brought down the Martin government 'cause they thought they would win a few more seats. It was pure party politics.
The NDP did win a handful more seats, but at what cost to Canadians? A Harper government has scuttled these programs, taken "equality" of the stated goals for women's programs....
Jack Layton has some 'splainin' to do, and he should be taking calls from Elizabeth May, and anybody who can advance the agenda of Progressive Canadians.
I'm tired of the sancitimonious NDP, which has NEVER had to actually produce results -- and in fact, scuttled a progressive plan for this country. If Layton's horrified by Harper, if he's upset by climate change, he should look in the mirror -- because he put him there.
Is he too thick to see the train that's headed down the tracks???

Not the Alliance from In my opinion, The Harper Gov't is Still Incompetent, Canada writes: Daffy Duck - How does Harper/Flaherty's budget gibe with anything in your post? Answer - it doesn't. The only accurate statement in your post was that Harper will work with anyone "as the situation dictates". Meaning - Harper will work with anybody, and will reverse any principle in order to maintain and increase his power.

And you have to hand it to Harper. He knows his supporters, and knows that he has them trained to bark and drool on command. He even makes them do backflips and then beg for more. I guess this isn't really a "nanny state" mentality - more like obedience school.

Simply Red from Canada writes: David Griffith from NS -- did you not read the paper today? The federal funding for investigation of climate change has RUN OUT. The federal government hasn't given any more.
How does this back up your contention that the Conservative party has done anything to help the environment?

Vern McPherson from Toronto, Canada writes: Don Adams from Canada writes: Rick, excellent post. Now lets take it another step, into industry. It takes time and money to change. Can it be done? Yes, given time. Catheeeeee, should a Company, who is publicly owned by shareholders, who invest their money in order to MAKE money ( otherwise why invest) be FORCED to make quick switches that will COST them, thus not allowing them to make profits for perhaps 5 - 10 years in order to pay for these changes? Will the shareholders accept this or try to draw their money out to invest elsewhere, thus forcing the company to borrow money, thus incuring more debt, becoming more unprofitable, thus a lower share price, and even MORE people bailing out? This is what can happen if changes are made too quickly. This is what you want? ---------------- Donnie the issue is how to make changes that are profitable and helpful. Not to stiffle change with paltitudes and obfuscation. Proposals so far by the COns are not workable. We need more immediate action not something for 2050. Even if it is a small start it must start. Graduated controls or whatever you call them which permit increases in emmissions while setting restrictions only per barrel is no good. It's a sell out to lazy big oil and pandering to lazy businesses who don't care about this issue. Only ones who care are the entrepeneurs who see money to be made here as we clean up our act. Besides the electorate is demanding faster movement than 2050 on this stuff.

Hou Dat Mann from Willowdale Ontario, Canada writes: Taliban Jack's lack of cooperation is a long standing affair. Don't you recall his proclaimed innocence of living in rent-reduced public housing with Olivia for so many years. He should have been ashamed, but, as with most politicians, he never was. Once he and she were detected they moved on. Their punishment...not too much I guess...they have been sent to Ottawa as officials elected by their loony left-wing friends. Memories are short lived, are they not?

Hugh Campbell from Canada writes: David Griffith: "a government that's done more for the environment in a year than the Libs did in over a decade"

All Harper and his wolf pack have done is stop the few programs the Liberals had launched, then rename and restart a couple of them one year later ... Orwellian 'newspeak' at its finest.

Wall Flower from Ottawa, Canada writes: I am seriously stunned at the reaction to May and Dion's announcement. I personally thought it was a brilliant idea and quite the breath of fresh air. The message is clear, if Canadians are serious about taking on climate change, Harper cannot remain in power.

I'm sorry but that is as inspiring as it gets and clearly shows that Dion is a different kind of politician. He clearly has nothing to gain from this other than establishing a new way of doing politics in Canada.

Dennis Petruk from Canada writes: This is what you get when an environmental activist gets her hands on running a political party.
To hell with democracy.
To hell with morals.
To hell with disenfrancishing voters.
To hell with keeping your beliefs in tact.
Having no shame.
Have I missed anything?
Oh yeh, to hell with our economy and Canadian jobs.
Oh sorry, that was May AND Dion.

always right from Canada writes: Vern, you forgot your meds again!

Andrina ILIFFE from Penticton, Canada writes: Ms May and Mr Dion have denied residents of two ridings the opportunity to vote for the party of their choice, this is not democracy at it's best. The election is not about a single issue, in this case the environment, and therefore cannot be reduced to agreeing not to run a candidate in an opponent's riding. Mr. Layton is right not to consider such an agreement. Besides which, the NDP, both ferderally and provincially, has a far better history of policy and recommendation on how to protect and sustain the environment than the Green Party, something people need to inform themselves of when considering which party deserves their vote at the next election.

Wall Flower from Ottawa, Canada writes: Dennis, I'm sorry but can you explain how not running a lib candidate in central nova is resulting in a loss of canadian job and a tanking economy?

I won't even bother asking about the lack of morality because I am clearly speaking to a rightwinger but that last one really has me confused.

Wall Flower from Ottawa, Canada writes: Andrina, did it occur to you that partisan politics is not the best way to tackle climate change or any other policy for that matter?

Guillaume Afleck from Happy Town, Canada writes: Simply Red from Canada writes: David Griffith from NS -- "did you not read the paper today? The federal funding for investigation of climate change has RUN OUT. "

You mean they stopped taking temperatures?
I get mine everyday, taken pretty frequently.

Oh you mean they stopped fabricating propaganda for true believers? Well, OK then, money well saved!
People will make up arbitarary doomsday scenarios for free!
That is one sure thing, continuous thread in the recorded hostory of mankind. "The end is nigh!"

Duncan Munro from Langley BC, Canada writes: The supporters of "BodyBag" Harper and "Gomery" Martin can rail against Jack Layton all they want, but Canadian know that when it comes to real issues they can count on the NDP to deliver. The Tory's idea of environmental consciousness is to promote V-8 SUVs that run on non-existent ethanol, while the Liberals, ignored the whole issue of the environment for 13 years with Dion as Environment minister, and now have entered into a coalition with the Greens, except that they will be running two Red-Green candidates in every riding...a sure guarantee of success...and typical Liberal thinking!

What a hoot. Harper and O'conner talk about 15 year long wars, while the Libs and Greens decide to share the vote. yes, Jack Layton has been taken aback. The old line parties are committing suicide right before his eyes and he doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. One thing that is certain is that there will be a lot more New Democrats in the next Parliament.

Don Adams from Canada writes: Always right...... vern never takes his meds. If he did, he might become normal :-)

marlene stobbart from mill bay, Canada writes: It strikes me that Mrs. May is attempting to take full advantage of a situation for which Mr. Dion seemingly in rather inept as the liberal leader. Perhaps, he should be green - as she is!
The party members are so busy sniping and fighting for any type of advantage they have once again forgotten why they are there. People are fed up - really fed up because governing seems to be a game financed by the people's money - with the cost of living drastically escalating. It's frightening for the young people who are working hard to have a decent life and while experiencing good earnings find they are falling further behind yearly. Why has that never really become a major keypoint?
One more comment, "When the Berlin wall went down the threats of communism and socialism threat were no longer a reality. The Americans do not have the social safety net which Canadians enjoy - how long do we have before it disappears?

Wall Flower from Ottawa, Canada writes: Marlene, I find it interesting that you would look down on May and Dion's arrangement yet complain about partisanship in the same sentence. Is this not an example of two party leaders putting partisanship aside to focus on what they believe is an extremely important problem for Canadians?

Duncan Munro from Langley BC, Canada writes: An example of the NDP in action:
http://www.ndp.ca/page/5091

Catherine Wilkie from Canada writes: Don Adams: I was going to square off with some of the comments you made, however others have done so, solidly.
Don't be so quick to discount the green of our industry/manufacturing and business community. They are sound thinkers and community members.
Good leadership is a start. The Dion/May approach is a beginning to focus the view on the environment and let the 'other folks' deny, or wiggle in the wind.

mike sty from Canada writes: Simply Red from Canada

rite on. If more people read what was actually being done (or not being done) buy this gang of Harper goons, they would realize that Baird is a hot air bag spewing lies to mislead.
Cutting funding to scientists for research in global warming and climate change is the true story behind their clean air act.

rite

Duncan Munro from Langley BC, Canada writes: Catherine, the NDP has accomplished more with the Clean Air act in one short parliament than the Liberals ever did under Dion as Environment minister. The NDP has always been greener than the Greens and much more socially progressive. Why support a "social reactionary" like Ms may when the NDP is so much more environmentally conscious and committed to a fair and balanced society.

Why do you want to help May re-fight old Tory grudges. It is time to move on and away from the old line parties. Join the NDP and get things done!

Dwayne Kerr from Canada writes: The NDP are a tragedy...this country coult have had universal day care but the NDP chose to get their Conservative buddies in power.
The NDP can only criticize even when they had the balance of power and Canadians could have seen dire need social issues addressed.
the NDP have not done squat for those in need in this country they are pompous and self righteous and nothing more

Dave Medich from Windsor, Canada writes: Poll update:

"Which party will benefit most from the Green-Liberal agreement made by leaders Elizabeth May and Stephane Dion?"

Conservatives - 54%
NDP - 21%
Liberals - 21%
Green - 4%

Wow! "Dumb & Dumber" outsmarted themselves again. Those numbers will probably be close to the next poll that comes out. Crash!

Duncan Munro from Langley BC, Canada writes: Dwayne, so which Red-Green candidate will you be voting for in your riding? And please don't tell me you will be voting for both...although I won't be at all surprised!

Rick Czarnota from Calgary, writes: Dwayne Kerr from Canada writes: The NDP are a tragedy...this country coult have had universal day care but the NDP chose to get their Conservative buddies in power.

Dwayne...what makes you think taxpayers should be obligated to pay for people's daycare? Honestly...having a cheap place to drop your kids off for the day is not the taxpayers problem or obligation.

Terry F from Edmonton, Canada writes: Yesterday on Question Period, May said something that made my jaw drop. While she was in mid-rant she said that climate change was irreversible. I'm sure that I'm not the only one who heard it. If May admits that climate change is irreversible, then why is she trying to reverse the impossible?

Interesting to see all of these Liberal supporters talking about how Canada needs a new way of working amongst the parties yet just over a year ago everything was hunky-dorey. Pure desperation.

Catherine Wilkie from Canada writes: Duncan Munro: The NDP have tried to be too clever, by half. They turned their back to their support base by engineering the last federal election with support of the Conservatives. I think that Mr. Layton's previous past allegiance with the Conservative gov't has tainted his view of the political landscape. They are angry about Buzz Hargrove and seems to be more reactive about the Liberal party than they are critical of the Conservative party.

Confucius say from Toronto, Canada writes: My guess is that at least 50% of the green votes were nothing more than protest votes. With her unprincipled move with Dion, May has just toasted all of those votes.

Regardless of Central Nova's results in the next election, I wonder what Dion's next move will be -
a) May wins - how would she hold her seat?
b) May doesn't win - does the LPC give her another chance (i.e. abandon Central Nova altogether?)

It would not surprise me to find out that out of the 24% of the votes that the LPC are sacrificing in CN, more than 30% are blue liberals that will get picked up by McKay, meaning he should win close to 48% of the votes in CN. The NDP will probably pickup 35% to push them to about 40%. Under a best case scenario, the most GPC will pickup is 15% of the votes.


18/04/07, Brain Laghi, May doesn't belong in leaders debates, NDP say, (Back).

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May should not be allowed to take part in the leaders' debates in the next federal election campaign, two New Democratic Party MPs said yesterday as the political left continues to squabble over her electoral pact with the Liberals' Stéphane Dion.

"I don't think we need her in the debate," said Charlie Angus, the party's MP for Timmins-James Bay. "Dion is obviously her leader. I don't think there really is a place for Elizabeth May. She's not giving us a clear enough alternative."

The NDP roundly rejected entreaties from Ms. May recently to take part in an electoral pact to not run candidates against her in the next election. Mr. Dion and Ms. May eventually agreed not to run candidates against each other in their respective ridings.

NDP Leader Jack Layton criticized the idea, although others on the left told The Globe yesterday that Mr. Layton should have considered it.

Mr. Angus was joined in his criticism by former party leader Alexa McDonough.

"It's pretty hard to distinguish now between the Grits and the Greens," Ms. McDonough said. "So I guess she can have her leader, Stéphane Dion, speak for her in the debates. It seems an odd way to shrink down her party stature, but that's what she's done."

Mr. Dion has already suggested that Ms. May be allowed in the debate.

Mr. Dion's suggestion comes as the issue of the environment rocketed to the top of the electorate's concerns. The most recent poll for The Globe and Mail puts the Greens at about 9 per cent of voter support.

MP Peter Stoffer, while agreeing with Mr. Layton that his party should run a candidate against Ms. May in the riding of Central Nova, said he thought she had the right to take part in the debate.

"If Ms. May believes that Mr. Dion is the guy for the environment, then why doesn't she run as a Liberal," he asked.

Still, Mr. Stoffer said she has the right to be heard at the debate.

"I have no problems with her being in the televised debates, regardless of what happened in Central Nova. I honestly believe that she should have the right to be in the televised debate."

Meanwhile, Jim Laxer, a former party leadership candidate in the early 1970s and a political scientist, said he supports the idea of not running a candidate against Ms. May. A pact could help unite the opposition against Mr. Harper, Mr. Laxer said.

"I kind of think the deal is interesting because it's got some potential for a way for opposition parties who don't want to be divided up by Stephen Harper," he said.

He said Mr. Harper is dealing with the opposition against him piecemeal, which makes it difficult for the opposition to coalesce.

Mr. Laxer also said Ms. May should be part of the debate.

"I think she should be in the debate, but based on some kind of rule like 5 per cent [of the vote]," he said.

Mr. Laxer said the Greens, with 660,000 votes in the last election "clearly deserve a member of Parliament. . . . People should think of this on a higher level."

The party was not represented at the debates during the last election. Only parties with seats in Parliament and a comprehensive national platform were allowed last time.

Mr. Layton has said that the television networks decide who can take part. Typically, however, the networks require the agreement of all party leaders over who should be in on the contest.

(Back)