Ignatieff pledges not to reciprocate personal attacks
If there's any one word that could be used to sum up the recent Conservative ads regarding Michael Ignatieff, it's personal.
Rarely have Canadian politicians taken it upon themselves to attack a political opponent on such personal grounds, but the Conservatives have done this. It's absolutely undeniable.
Speaking on the matter today, however, the Liberal leader has pledged not to attack Stephen Harper on personal grounds -- at least not overtly.
"Let's be clear how we carry the attack, because I will not attack Mr Harper's patriotism," Ignatieff promised. "I will not attack his character. I will not attack his family. I will attack his record, and God knows, there's enough to work on."
"There's enough on the record that we can attack: record unemployment, record bankruptcies, record deficit," Ignatieff announced. "That should give us enough to be getting along with."
And while Ignatieff knows full well that the economic stimulus package -- the stimulus package that he and his fellow members of the opposition demanded -- is responsible for Canada's current deficit, and knows full well that economic mismanagement south of the border is responsible for Canada's current economic condition, it's encouraging to hear Ignatieff pledge to restrict his campaigning against Stephen Harper to substantive matters of policy.
And while it would be both encouraging and wise for the Liberal party to try to brand itself as the party of the high road -- thereby counter-branding the Conservative party as perveyours of low-road politics -- one also has to remember that this would be counter-characteristic of the Liberal party.
After all, it was the Liberal party that dressed Stephen Harper up in fictional policy. It was the Liberal party who insinuated that Harper would summarily declare martial law if elected to office.
Michael Ignatieff may personally be able to scrape together enough credibility to temporarily change the public image of his party. But Canadians will remember the disgusting and shameful lows the Liberals sank to in order to attack Stephen Harper. They'll remember that as disgusting and irresponsible as the Conservatives' current batch of political ads are, previous Liberal ads were even more disgusting and even more irresponsible.
Canadians may also be intrigued to be introduced, once more, to the "tough guy" personae, wherein he indulges himself in blue-collar tough talk, replete with calculatingly devolved language.
"If you mess with me, I will mess with you until I'm done," Ignatieff pronounced.
It's a bold statement, but one has to hope that Ignatieff is as good as his word. Even though the Liberal party has never succeeded electorally against Stephen Harper without resorting to personal -- and often fictionalized -- attacks, one has to hope that at least someone in Canada has the courage to rise above the personal mudslinging that has passed for political campaigning in this country for too long.
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Showing posts with label Michael Ignatieff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michael Ignatieff. Show all posts
Conservatives thin on foreign policy thinkersm experience
As conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Georgia continue to dominate the established international agenda and advocates for intervention in Zimbabwe, Myanmar and the Sudan continue to demand attention, there is no question that foreign policy will be a hot-button topic in the new Parliament regardless of which party wins the election.
On that note, some may be surprised to find out that, since current Minister of Foreign Affairs David Emerson has declined to run for reelection, the incumbent Conservative party is shockingly short on foreign policy expertise.
Emerson, most will recall, took over the portfolio from Maxime Bernier, whose misadventures with classified information made him a tremendous liability to cabinet. Previous to Bernier's ascension to the portfolio -- which speculation suggests he was never had any interest in -- Peter MacKay handled the department fairly successfully before being suffled to National Defense to make up for the emerging of deficiencies of previous minister Gordon O'Connor.
MacKay has since managed the Department of Defense effectively. Which leads one to wonder whom, precisely, Prime Minister Stephen Harper would appoint to Foreign Affairs following what currently seems to be an impending election victory.
As Embassy points out, however, the Conservatives seem to be suffering from a shortage of experience and expertise on the Foreign Affairs portfolio, while their various opponents seem to be awash in it.
First and foremost, naturally, there's Liberal Michael Ignatieff. Ignatieff has written extensively on the topic of human rights, ethnic conflict, and the laws of war. He also has a tremendous amount of journalistic experience under his belt, harkening to his days with the BBC.
The NDP's answer to Michael Ignatieff is Michael Byers. Byers is a recognized expert on arctic sovereignty issues, and served as part of the Amnesty International legal team that sought Augusto Pinochet's conviction for crimes against humanity.
Also representing the NDP is Brad Pye, who has experience advancing democracy abroad with the National Democratic Institute (which, unsurprisingly, has deep ties to the American Democratic party, serving to further undermine NDP complaints about alleged importing of American political ideas by the Conservative party).
Also running for the Liberals is Dr Kirsty Duncan, a former panelist on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- expertise which clearly falls into line with Stephane Dion's Green Shift agenda.
The Liberal ticket will also feature Anne Park Shannon, a former civil servant in the Department of Foreign Affairs.
War Child Canada president Dr Eric Hoskins will also be running for the Liberals. Hoskins will almost certainly supplement Liberal Senator Romeo Dallaire's expertise on issues related to children in warzones, particularly child soldiers.
Attempting a comeback is former Liberal Defense Minister David Pratt. Pratt has been out of Parliament since his 2004 defeat at the hands of Conservative Pierre Poillevre.
With arguably little expertise to spread between Foreign Affairs and Defense, Pratt would provide the Liberals with yet another weapon to use against the Conservative government -- provided, of course that he can manage to unseat Tory Environment Minister John Baird.
The Green party also has a score of candidates promoting themselves as foreign policy experts -- foremost among them the Ottawa Group of Four.
The Conservatives are considered to have one foreign policy heavyweight in their fold -- Patrick Boyer, who served in various foreign affairs-related sectors under Brian Mulroney. However, Boyer is running against the aforementioned Michael Ignatieff, and is as such unlikely to win.
With so many formidable (or at least formidable-seeming) opponents to compete against, it's a near certainty that foreign policy will be a weakpoint for the Conservatives not only during this election, but also during the upcoming Parliament.
There is, of course, a long-term solution to this problem: the Tories need to cultivate stronger relationships with the Senior Civil Service in the Department of Foreign Affairs, and need to start cultivating stronger relationships with various international Non Governmental Organizations.
That the Conservative party is attracting so few potential candidates from NGOs perhaps underscores a fundamental lack of understanding about the emerging shape of the global political order: one in which governments cooperate with civil society in the formulation of foreign policy.
The Conservatives are also clearly lacking a relationship with academia. If the Conservatives truly want to be able to claim to have an eye on the outside world, it would pay to start recruting from those who actually study it.
Until the Conservative party can muster some candidates with legitimate foreign policy chops, it will be hard to view a Conservative foreign policy as comprehensive and outward-looking.
As conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Georgia continue to dominate the established international agenda and advocates for intervention in Zimbabwe, Myanmar and the Sudan continue to demand attention, there is no question that foreign policy will be a hot-button topic in the new Parliament regardless of which party wins the election.
On that note, some may be surprised to find out that, since current Minister of Foreign Affairs David Emerson has declined to run for reelection, the incumbent Conservative party is shockingly short on foreign policy expertise.
Emerson, most will recall, took over the portfolio from Maxime Bernier, whose misadventures with classified information made him a tremendous liability to cabinet. Previous to Bernier's ascension to the portfolio -- which speculation suggests he was never had any interest in -- Peter MacKay handled the department fairly successfully before being suffled to National Defense to make up for the emerging of deficiencies of previous minister Gordon O'Connor.
MacKay has since managed the Department of Defense effectively. Which leads one to wonder whom, precisely, Prime Minister Stephen Harper would appoint to Foreign Affairs following what currently seems to be an impending election victory.
As Embassy points out, however, the Conservatives seem to be suffering from a shortage of experience and expertise on the Foreign Affairs portfolio, while their various opponents seem to be awash in it.
First and foremost, naturally, there's Liberal Michael Ignatieff. Ignatieff has written extensively on the topic of human rights, ethnic conflict, and the laws of war. He also has a tremendous amount of journalistic experience under his belt, harkening to his days with the BBC.
The NDP's answer to Michael Ignatieff is Michael Byers. Byers is a recognized expert on arctic sovereignty issues, and served as part of the Amnesty International legal team that sought Augusto Pinochet's conviction for crimes against humanity.
Also representing the NDP is Brad Pye, who has experience advancing democracy abroad with the National Democratic Institute (which, unsurprisingly, has deep ties to the American Democratic party, serving to further undermine NDP complaints about alleged importing of American political ideas by the Conservative party).
Also running for the Liberals is Dr Kirsty Duncan, a former panelist on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- expertise which clearly falls into line with Stephane Dion's Green Shift agenda.
The Liberal ticket will also feature Anne Park Shannon, a former civil servant in the Department of Foreign Affairs.
War Child Canada president Dr Eric Hoskins will also be running for the Liberals. Hoskins will almost certainly supplement Liberal Senator Romeo Dallaire's expertise on issues related to children in warzones, particularly child soldiers.
Attempting a comeback is former Liberal Defense Minister David Pratt. Pratt has been out of Parliament since his 2004 defeat at the hands of Conservative Pierre Poillevre.
With arguably little expertise to spread between Foreign Affairs and Defense, Pratt would provide the Liberals with yet another weapon to use against the Conservative government -- provided, of course that he can manage to unseat Tory Environment Minister John Baird.
The Green party also has a score of candidates promoting themselves as foreign policy experts -- foremost among them the Ottawa Group of Four.
The Conservatives are considered to have one foreign policy heavyweight in their fold -- Patrick Boyer, who served in various foreign affairs-related sectors under Brian Mulroney. However, Boyer is running against the aforementioned Michael Ignatieff, and is as such unlikely to win.
With so many formidable (or at least formidable-seeming) opponents to compete against, it's a near certainty that foreign policy will be a weakpoint for the Conservatives not only during this election, but also during the upcoming Parliament.
There is, of course, a long-term solution to this problem: the Tories need to cultivate stronger relationships with the Senior Civil Service in the Department of Foreign Affairs, and need to start cultivating stronger relationships with various international Non Governmental Organizations.
That the Conservative party is attracting so few potential candidates from NGOs perhaps underscores a fundamental lack of understanding about the emerging shape of the global political order: one in which governments cooperate with civil society in the formulation of foreign policy.
The Conservatives are also clearly lacking a relationship with academia. If the Conservatives truly want to be able to claim to have an eye on the outside world, it would pay to start recruting from those who actually study it.
Until the Conservative party can muster some candidates with legitimate foreign policy chops, it will be hard to view a Conservative foreign policy as comprehensive and outward-looking.
Ignatieff denounces diesel tax cut despite Liberal Green Shift offering similar deal
Today, Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised to cut the excise tax on diesel fuel.
Michael Ignatieff took the opportunity to claim the plan "drives a truck through their environmental credibility."
"This is just a gimmick that will make no real difference for Canadians, while actually undermining the country's ability to switch to cleaner renewable sources of energy," Ignatieff insisted. "When it comes to facing the challenge of the climate change crisis, Mr. Harper is going in the opposite direction from the international community and every responsible leader."
Excluding, ironically, Ignatieff's own.
When Dion's Green Shift plan was criticized as being perilous for farmers and truckers -- people who depend upon low diesel fuel prices in order to help ensure their livelihood -- Dion abruptly introduced additional tax cuts for farmers and truckers to offset the additional cost of diesel that would be imposed by a carbon tax, thus eliminating his own proposed incentive for farmers and truckers to reduce their diesel fuel usage.
It's rather ironic for the Liberals to be raging about the environmental impact of Harper's diesel tax cut considering that the election hadn't even begun before the Liberals started running away from their own policies.
"His approach will do nothing to help Canadians who want to end their reliance on fossil fuels and it will do nothing to help the Canadian economy which is the worst performing economy in the G7," Ignatieff insisted.
Of course, what Ignatieff is leaving out is that the Liberal Green Shift Lite -- complete with exemptions for farmers and truckers -- won't do anything to help Canadians end reliance on fossil fuels, and won't do anything to help the Canadian economy. In fact, the Liberal Green Shift Lite plan will most likely do the exact opposite.
Meanwhile, Stephane Dion insisted that Harper's diesel tax cut as evidence that he doesn't govern for the future -- merely for the next election.
Of course, considering that Dion won't answer questions about his post-Green Shift plans, Dion may want to serve the "shortsighted" accusations.
For someone who has challenged Prime Minister Harper to an "honest debate" concerning his Green Shift plan, Dion and company are having a lot of difficulty keeping their story straight.
Today, Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised to cut the excise tax on diesel fuel.
Michael Ignatieff took the opportunity to claim the plan "drives a truck through their environmental credibility."
"This is just a gimmick that will make no real difference for Canadians, while actually undermining the country's ability to switch to cleaner renewable sources of energy," Ignatieff insisted. "When it comes to facing the challenge of the climate change crisis, Mr. Harper is going in the opposite direction from the international community and every responsible leader."
Excluding, ironically, Ignatieff's own.
When Dion's Green Shift plan was criticized as being perilous for farmers and truckers -- people who depend upon low diesel fuel prices in order to help ensure their livelihood -- Dion abruptly introduced additional tax cuts for farmers and truckers to offset the additional cost of diesel that would be imposed by a carbon tax, thus eliminating his own proposed incentive for farmers and truckers to reduce their diesel fuel usage.
It's rather ironic for the Liberals to be raging about the environmental impact of Harper's diesel tax cut considering that the election hadn't even begun before the Liberals started running away from their own policies.
"His approach will do nothing to help Canadians who want to end their reliance on fossil fuels and it will do nothing to help the Canadian economy which is the worst performing economy in the G7," Ignatieff insisted.
Of course, what Ignatieff is leaving out is that the Liberal Green Shift Lite -- complete with exemptions for farmers and truckers -- won't do anything to help Canadians end reliance on fossil fuels, and won't do anything to help the Canadian economy. In fact, the Liberal Green Shift Lite plan will most likely do the exact opposite.
Meanwhile, Stephane Dion insisted that Harper's diesel tax cut as evidence that he doesn't govern for the future -- merely for the next election.
Of course, considering that Dion won't answer questions about his post-Green Shift plans, Dion may want to serve the "shortsighted" accusations.
For someone who has challenged Prime Minister Harper to an "honest debate" concerning his Green Shift plan, Dion and company are having a lot of difficulty keeping their story straight.
