Dion and May - 4 days later...

Alright so maybe its 4 days late, not later. But better late then never i guess...

Being in the middle of exams, and having the procrastination problem that I do, I have spent more time reading and thinking about this deal than I normally would. My initial reaction, like many others, was pure shock. I even changed my msn nickname to "Stephane Dion... the gift that keeps on giving".

With far too much procrastination time on my hands, I began reading article after article. After each article, I began to doubt what had happened was a good thing for the CPC. I said to myself, "you aren't a 'progressive voter'; you don't think we need to 'put principle ahead of partisanship' when it comes to the environment, what do you really know? Both these parties aren't targeting voters like you anyway, why would your feelings on it matter?"

The more I read, the more I would withdraw into myself. The more I withdrew into myself, the more I thought this may have been a well calculated move by both May and Dion. I started asking myself, If I was a young 'progressive', what are my priorities? What gets me excited about politics. All I could come up with was the environment, and 'sticking it to the man'. As far as I could see this filled both the criteria.

I started to really believe this could hurt the CPC. I thought to myself that this could be the kind of deal that steals votes from the NDP without sacrificing the 'blue Liberal vote'. That this deal would be view by 'progressives' this way.

Then... I came to my senses. A few things over the past 24 hours have lead me back to them:

a) CTV Poll

After seeing this, I started reassuring myself that maybe I wasn't in the minority on this one. That there are alot of people out there who feel the way I do about politics. And they actually see this move for what it is, poor judgement and backroom politics.

While it is only an online poll, and I imagine with the help of 50-100 votes from some Blogging Tories (myself included), there is still a considerable amount of voters who feel this was a poor move,

b) Today's Star

I read a hilarious article this morning in the Star. It is taking a shot at this whole deal, Rick Mercer style. Usually I would read anything in the Star and take the exact opposite for truth (with the exception of Chantal Hebert most days), but not this one.

This article screamed to me, "that there are people who read the star, who's gut feeling is the same on this issue as yours. " While I hope this doesn't become a trend, today I welcomed it with open arms.

c) Different Liberals Reactions

First this one. Upon reading this my hypothesis that the Liberals will not lose the blue Liberal vote evaporated into thin air. With news that other prominent Liberals, speaking off the record, were denouncing the deal, a small smile came to my face. I began to feel how I had felt when I first heard rumour of the deal.

The most important moment on this journey came in a discussion I had with my roommate, a Liberal and farmer boy from Central Nova, we'll call him Todd. Todd is not happy about this deal. He no longer has a Liberal candidate to vote for come election time.

I thought about this myself. What if, after supporting a leader in a leadership convention, buying a membership, donating money to a party, and working with other members to elect a party member as your representative... you were told by the same people who you paid your money too, who needed your vote in the first place to become the decision maker, that come election time, you are not going to have the ability to vote for that party???

I would be livid. No ifs, no ands, no buts.

I came to realize with that conversation, that what Dion has done is not attract new voters to the Liberal party, but push flexible Liberal partisans away from the Liberal party.

Flexible Liberal partisans, to me, are the swing voters. I say "Flexible Liberal partisans" because they are not durable. They are the ones that Harper needs to turn into "flexible Conservative partisans" if he is to win a majority.

He is doing his part in wooing them and Dion seems to be giving them a helping hand out the door.

While I do worry what a United left might mean for right of center politics in Canada, I don't see this as a first step towards it. I see this as nothing more than political opportunism by two politicians with very poor judgement.

If May thinks this will help her win her seat in Central Nova, she is mistaken
If Dion thinks this will help prevent a Conservative Majority, he is mistaken as well.

All this has done is opened a bigger divide down the center of the Liberal Party, and has tarnished Elizabeth May's image as a politician who is going to do things differently.

and because of this, I think I am going to keep my msn nickname for a few more days...



UPDATE: (6 days later)

It might be interesting to note for any other New Democrats and Liberals who have made their way here through Bourque.org, that my friend "Todd" also mentioned how he saw now way in hell the Green's will steal a significant number of votes the NDP.

The NDP voters in Central Nova, in his words are "farmers, fisherman and union workers", and not the new left that would be tempted to switch to the green's.

They are the Buzz Hargrove Dippers, the ones who blasted the environmental movement as much as he blasted the Tories...

Kinda makes you wonder what the hell May and Dion are thinking

PS: Thank you to bourque.org for linking the MTA misfit on its site. It has diversified my readers and it is really appreciated!