Did Dion See His Shadow?

Or is it six more months of Tory Winter?

The by-election results across Canada last night weren't exactly terribly convincing of anything for the Liberals. But then again, as much as I like Dion for his intellect, he hasn't exactly convinced me of much in recent months.

Perhaps Dion wants an election on "ideas" (and as someone who desperately wants a better grade of politician in the House, I'd love to see it), but the fact is that we need someone who is willing to throw Harper's BS back in his face - as hard and as fast as he can produce it.

You don't "play nice guy" with bullies and thugs - they don't get it. Harper has assembled a government that reminds me far too much of the roving band of thugs that came from a nearby Junior High school when we first moved into the neighborhood I grew up in. That was the year that I learned that thugs neither understand nor respect intelligence. The only thing they understand is a bigger club - preferably one that delivers a wallop to them that they'll never forget.

Dion's going to have to become a whole lot scrappier in the public arena if he wants to bring Harper down a peg or ten - something that so far I haven't seen any evidence of.

Meanwhile, my erstwhile MP, Jason Kenney, finally deigned to send out one of his infrequent communications to the constituency - this time in the form of a "do you support Bill C-2" questionnaire. As usual, the "questionnaire" is a one question "Have you stopped beating your wife yet?" special - surprisingly typical for the HarperCon$, and utterly meaningless drivel, bragging about the "strong leadership" of the HarperCon$ - *hurk!*

The materials out there to take the Con$ down with - it's up to Dion and the other opposition leaders to actually use it. (and yes, that includes Jack Layton - who has been far too busy sniping at the Liberals to bother worrying about the ineptitude of the HarperCon$)

Quebec ByElection Results

Interesting - in spite of the hoopla in the media, I'm not so convinced that anybody actually "won".

The more I look at the outcomes, it almost seems like the overall picture is that voters were voting "against the status quo". A long-time Liberal "safe" riding swung to the NDP, the Con$ picked up a Bloc seat, and while the Bloc hung onto a seat it had held in the past, it doesn't sound like a particularly strong victory for them either. While Layton's NDP gained a seat, it's not clear that the NDP actually made gains, or was the vote more a matter of "not voting for the other parties"? (I doubt very much that the NDP will hold that seat after the next Federal election)

Perhaps this statement captured in this mornings Globe and Mail reflects the unsettled mood of politics in Quebec, and large portions of Canada as well:

Another voter leaving the polls, Phil Koropotkin, said he's not impressed with Mr. Dion, and switched from past elections: “I've always voted Liberal, but it's time for a change. There's nobody there that stimulates me,” he said. “I think the leadership is in for a rude awakening.”

In other words, all of the parties have a lot of work to do - last night's byelections seem to reinforce the malaise that voters in Canada as a whole seem to be feeling. (Notable by the utter lack of real traction for any of the major parties in the polls for the last 24 months or more)