US Calling Pakistan's Eight Year Bluff? Supporting a Coup?

Supposedly, the Americans are imposing a deadline on the Pakistan Army to do something about the Taliban take-over of their country. The Daily Telegraph Reports:

Gen Petraeus reportedly said that "we've heard it all before" from the Pakistanis and he is looking to see concrete action by the government to destroy the Taliban in the next two weeks before determining the next course of action for the US.

"The Pakistanis have run out of excuses" and are "finally getting serious" about combating the threat from Taliban and al-Qaeda extremists operating out of north-west Pakistan, the general added.

He made these assessments in talks with US congressmen and members of the Senate, according to the Fox News channel.

Officials said that Gen Petraeus and senior officials in the Obama administration believe that the Pakistani army, led by Gen Ashfaq Kayani, is "superior" to the civilian government.

Petraeus is a very credible voice in the US Army, and we'll what that means. By the sound of it, they appear to be supporting a Coup d’état from the Pakistani military. This makes for interesting intrigue.

I'm surprised they are using such candid words about the military being superior to the civilian government. Bringing supposed democracy to Afghanistan but supporting a military coup in the neighboring country looks hypocritical. (Or maybe this is the American version of a bluff.)

This has always been a problem the US will face in the region. They promote democracy, but what happens if the popular vote elect a fundamentalist, and terrorist supporting party, like they did with Hamas in Gaza? Or in the case of Pakistan a weak, ineffectual government that is not stopping a Taliban take-over of their country? It's a difficult question. Too difficult to make a hands on decision. Therefore, the answer is a hands off solution: Leave the region entirely. Send the tankers, protected by the navy to pick up the oil, and leave it at that.

Is withdrawing from the region so crazy and unthinkable? Compared to dealing with this irrational region, with its shape shifting allegiances? The US is draining its Treasury, and wasting time and effort trying to stabilize it. Unfortunately, it's ending up destabilizing themselves. Get. Out. Of. There.

What Could Have Been?

As I mentioned at the time of the Great Canadian Coup d’état, Harper should not have tried to seek to prorogue Parliament.

If he lost the confidence vote, he could have demanded an election. If the coalition agreed, he was a cinch for a majority. Were the Liberals going to run with Dion again? Impossible. They would have backed off completely if faced with this. Harper should have called the bluff.

He could have let the Governor General decide to allow the Coalition. Imagine that clown Dion presenting this horrendous, mega-deficit budget? What a scenario: The Liberal leadership candidates squabbling all the way until May at the convention; Jack the Mustache annoying the hell out of the public as a cabinet minister; Gilles Duceppe is lauded in Quebec for all the extra pork; The PR would be so bad, it would guarantee a Tory majority in the future. Iggy’s career would be permanently damaged.

Instead the Conservatives own this terrible pork-barrel budget. Lefties won’t even appreciate it, and conservatives are repulsed. It looks like things are going to get worse, no matter what's in the budget, so it gives the Liberals a chance to say it wasn't their fault.

The only hope is that the opposition votes it down today. I doubt the Liberals will be so foolish.

Iggy's Shaky Start

I just saw Iggy on CBC. He was asked if he had any suggestions for Harper's budget, to which he replied: "It's his budget, not mine."

Uh, ok...

I'm becoming convinced that he really doesn't know what the hell he's doing. No doubt Liberals are getting nervous that this guy might not have the goods.

Are they and the Coalition daring to vote this budget down? As I mentioned a week ago, his spin-doctor Warren Kinsella said on his website: "Personally, I’m all for toppling ‘em right now."

An election? The Separatist Coalition again? Are they nuts?

UPDATE: The Globe and Mail tries to sum up what Iggy means. Notice there is no actual quotations on what he "says"?

Nervous Press Trying to Advise Their Hero Iggy

I got a laugh out of this article from the New Brunswick paper, The Telegraph Journal: (here)

This could happen, but given Harper's hard-right ideology and his past history of extreme-partisanship, there is reason to doubt if this will be the case.

Michael Ignatieff has the potential to be a great Liberal leader and a great Prime Minister.

While it would be erroneous to say that he is another Barack Obama or Pierre Trudeau, he does share one thing with them.

Ignatieff has the intellectual depth which could provide a purpose and direction to the Liberal Party (something which the Liberals have frequently lacked).

This is supposedly neutral journalism. It's interesting that the writer's advice is to be more "progressive". Martin in 2006 and Dion this year, have had a platform that seems to be to the left of the NDP. It hasn't worked very well.

Meanwhile the Globe and Mail want Iggy to tap into his potential greatness as well:

The public discussion centres not so much on the new lord of the Liberals but on the continuing aversion to the idea of a Liberal-led coalition. Archduke Ignatieff, perhaps for good reason, has not wanted to disown the coalition concept.

But it's hard to stake out a leadership image that's crisp and gallant when you're seen as flirting with the concept of hooking up with others.

Hint Iggy, the G & M is saying: the Coalition is unpopular, and we have been writing that you have been distancing yourself from it, so, like, can you distance yourself from it?

It's amazing how these publications openly stick up for Ignatieff. The only advice the G & M gave to Harper, after blaming him for the whole Coalition mess, was to resign.

Liberal Spin-Meister Engages in Wishful Thinking

I check into Warren Kinsella's website from time to time. To start the year he does his Ten Predictions. I couldn't help but chuckle at a few. (here)

1. There’ll be an election. A minority government, and a country in a near-Depression, are mutually-exclusive concepts. As things get worse, the pressure on the Opposition parties to topple the Conservative administration will be enormous. Personally, I’m all for toppling ‘em right now.

OK, so the Coalition is back then? Since Kinsella works directly for Iggy, this is no doubt what the boss thinks. But I thought the Globe and Mail told me that Ignatieff had successfully distanced himself from the unsuccessful and unpopular coup d’état? Canadians are going to be upset if we have another election. The Liberals are also hopelessly unprepared for one.

2. The Liberal Party of Canada will win the election, because we’ve got the most impressive leader: he’s super-smart, he’s accomplished, he’s decent, he has an extraordinary ability to bring people together. We’ve also got the best team: we’ve got a Rae, a LeBlanc, a Trudeau, a Dryden, a Garneau, a Hall-Finlay, a Dhalla…I could go on. (I will, too.)

Please do go on! I forgot to warn you not to have a mouthful of coffee when reading that. Bob Rae, is less known outside of Ontario, where the Liberals don't get seats, and well known inside of Ontario where he was a disastrous NDP Premier. Justin Trudeau looks like he should be in a boys band. Ken Dryden, the great goalie is a laughably bad public speaker. I've heard of Garneau because he was an astronaut but couldn't pick him out in a police lineup, etc., etc. A note on Iggy too: He's still unknown. We don't know if he's a good politican. He seems pretty wooden to me.

4. The Reform Conservative Party of Parts of Western Canada will lose the election, because they’ve got an angry leader that people – women and young people in particular – just can’t warm up to. They’ll lose because they’ve got a pretty unremarkable team, too. Apart from Jim Prentice and a couple others, I’m guessing 99 per cent of Canadians couldn’t name five ministers in the federal cabinet. When the face of your entire political organization is one man – and a man whom voters are increasingly unenthusiastic about – you’ve got trouble, baby.

Parts of Western Canada? No, the massive majority of western Canada. (And calling them the Reform Party, reaching into an old bag of tricks there.) I guess that Kinsella didn't read the polls that after the coup Harper's numbers were huge and could have secured him a majority if the election were held at the time.

9. We’re overdue for some sort of environmental calamity. That, when combined with the Reform Conservatives’ complete disinterest in things like climate change, will make people angrier. John Baird will wish he had listened to Al Gore. So will everyone.

The Liberals try to push the green agenda and get burned every time. They aren't learning from past mistakes. With the economy bad, everybody is going to be happy not to have listened to Gore and implement wasteful measures that hurt the economy and do nothing to change the environment. You think they would have learned, after having their worst electoral showing since Confederation that their "Green Shift" was not popular. (And Warren, try not to sound like you want a natural disaster so badly.)

Also with Gore, more and more people are starting to realize his film was exaggerated alarmism.

UPDATE: Looks like the polls confirm that Kinsella is dillusional:

Despite the quick replacement of Stéphane Dion with Michael Ignatieff as party leader, Liberal support remains in the doldrums with 30% of national vote intentions. Conservative support is at 43%--more than enough to win a majority of seats in the House of Commons if an election were held today.

Party Leader With 25% of the Seats in Parliament Sets Terms

The hubris of Michael Ignatieff comes through in this interview. Somebody must be bringing in the favors because once again the Globe & Mail fawn over him like any good PR agency should. Ignatieff warns PM against use of hardball tactics in Parliament

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has issued a warning to Prime Minister Stephen Harper that he won't tolerate the misuse of confidence votes or hardball parliamentary tactics when MPs return next month to decide the government's
fate.

Hardball parliamentary tactics? As opposed to overturning an election?

“He took the wrong signal from the election. The signal he took was that he could try anything he wanted to and he grievously underestimated the Liberal Party of Canada. We've got our act together, got a leader chosen, and he can't keep making these misjudgments of the mood of the House and hope to survive.”

Iggy says Harper "grievously underestimated the Liberal Party of Canada." Oh please. The recent election was the Liberal Party's worst showing since Confederation. They are dead west of Ontario. They haven't had a majority in Quebec since the Trudeau era.

The Liberals have inked a deal with the New Democrats to take over government in a coalition, but Mr. Ignatieff has indicated he could back the budget if it delivers the appropriate economic help to increasingly anxious Canadians. The coalition came together after opposition parties were infuriated by an economic statement that, among other things, would have eliminated voter subsidies for political parties and suspended the right to strike of civil servants.

Point #1: OK. (deep breath) Globe and Mail people, one last time. The coalition deal is not just with the Liberals and the New Democrats. As we all know, the Liberal seats (77) + the NDP seats (37) = 114 seats, which is less than the 143 seats that the Conservatives have. So, to get the majority they publically signed on with the Bloc Quebecois who have 49 seats. Why do they keep pretending that the Bloc aren't part of the deal? I understand why the Liberals do that but why does the Globe?

Point #2 Does the Globe realize that eliminating voter subsidies and suspending fat cat government workers from striking is a popular move to the majority of the public?

Nonetheless, Mr. Ignatieff said liberal parties around the world are best positioned to take advantage of the current economic turmoil. International conservative leaders such as Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush rode the wave of looser market regulation that has been blamed for sparking the global financial crisis.

Take advantage? That's cold.... And by the way: Don't put Bush Sr., and Jr. in the same sentence as Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. Especially Bush Jr.

Manufacturing News: The Globe and Mail

Is Prime Minister Harper making the worldwide recession worse? The G & M thinks so. I want to fisk a few points. (Fisking: This is a term for taking a main stream media article and arguing specific points.)

Mr. Harper, who said in a television interview on Monday that he has never seen such uncertainty about the future, came under fire for giving in to fear at a time when Canadians need their Prime Minister to offer a more positive outlook – both to relieve anxiety and to keep consumers spending.

Do the writers of this article actually believe this? If Harper acts chipper and says everything is ok, Canadians are going to feel better and start spending more? We have stats and news from so many different sources in the world. Everybody knows things are bad globally. The Fireside Chat a-la-Roosevelt is not going to turn things around.

“I think human behaviour drives recessions and recoveries, and confidence in the future drives human behaviour,” said Liberal MP John McCallum, a former chief economist for the Royal Bank of Canada.

“Especially during difficult times, leaders have to inject confidence and hope into their citizens and Stephen Harper has done precisely the opposite with these comments.”

John "You're Not Allowed on the Airplane Because You're Too Drunk" McCallum is talking about inspiring confidence? He was part of the shaky Coup that tried to overthrow an elected government on the grounds that the dire economic situation called for drastic measures. This was inspiring confidence?

I read the article and think, did the Liberal Party Communications Department directly dictate it? How badly is the G & M in the tank for them?

How To Depress a Quebecois Reporter

Here's a refreshing take on the the Separatist Coalition from former Anlgo-rights activist Howard Galganov. Don't hold you breath waiting for it to be published in the main stream media. (Read here)

The next consequence really shook her when I explained that a coalition with the Quebec Separatist Bloc would hasten the departure of Quebec from Confederation, allowing Canada to finally grow without the Quebec anchor around our neck.

....

Then I reminded her that certain inalienable decisions would be made the moment Quebec and Canada part company.

By federal law, Canadian Banks and Insurance companies must be headquartered within Canada. There go the banks. By law, airlines cannot pick-up and deliver passengers from one national location to another national location unless that airline is headquartered in that nation. Goodbye Air Canada.

Then there’s the Canada Export and Development Corporation that underwrites just about all of Bombardier’s sales abroad. Goodbye Bombardier along with other federally financed corporations in Quebec.

Goodbye all the federal government jobs that disproportionately employ French Quebecers. Especially those who can speak some English.

And Goodbye official bilingualism.

Read it all. If an article like this becomes popular, it would never find a way onto the CBC or Globe and Mail. He would be written off as a kook, and defamed as an extremist. Even though this sort of opinion is something you would hear everyday at your local pub or Tim Horton's.

CBC Tells Us What Lessons We've Learned (cough!)

It's hilarious, despite the polls about Canadians rejecting the power-grab coalition and Harper riding high in the polls, CBC is still trying to pin the blame:

What happened: The Conservatives recklessly risked their minority government by acting as though they had a majority. The decision to load an economic update that was thin on policy proposals with enough partisan attacks and manoeuvres to tempt even an enfeebled opposition to try to unseat them was both reckless and careless.

So that's what happened? Harper wanted to cut off taxpayer supported subsities for political parties, that according to Ipsos Reid 61% of Canadians supported, and that's reckless and careless? That's the number 1 reason for this crisis? C'mon for God's sake! There's no end to CBC bias.

Then we get to the Quebec issue. (My bolding.)

What happened: Desperate to save himself and his government, Stephen Harper ratcheted up the rhetoric, exaggerating the role of the Bloc in the coalition agreement and attacking them, the Liberals and the NDP for putting Canada at risk.

Lesson learned: Separatists and the Bloc Québécois are the third rail in Canadian politics. Any arrangement with the Bloc is lethal outside Quebec. Its subsequent rejection is lethal inside Quebec. In the short term, Harper swayed public opinion in his favour outside Quebec and dug himself into a hole in that province.

As prime minister, at some point Harper could come to regret his effort to exacerbate differences on the founding fault line of the country. Canadians are likely to regret his picking at the scabs over the wounds of national unity. Not only is it not something a prime minister should do. It wasn't even necessary. The issue of proroguing the House of Commons was constitutional and legal and not driven by public opinion.

Exaggerating the role of the Bloc? What pointing out that they are part of the deal, and that they are separatists? We've learned a lesson not to do this?

The lesson of course, is that the CBC has an agenda and that you're a fool if you believe what they say.

Call of the Wild: Ignatieff Siezes Liberal Leadership

Oh boy! Iggy is ready to become the lead dog in the Liberal pack. What a fantastic power play. Brilliant tactics. (The Globe breaks the story.)

OTTAWA — Michael Ignatieff appears poised to become federal Liberal leader on Wednesday with the support of a majority of Grit MPs and senators.

But his chief rival, Bob Rae, is not going down without a fight. He's challenging the legitimacy of a leadership process that excludes tens of thousands of rank and file Liberals.

The prospect of a caucus vote installing Ignatieff in the top Liberal job emerged late Sunday after the party's national executive gave a rough reception to a last-minute proposal to give all party members a vote by a combination of phone and online ballots early next month.

...

Caucus support has been shifting somewhat since last week, as Liberals fracture over whether to pursue the idea of forming a coalition with the NDP, propped up by the Bloc Quebecois. Rae has emerged as the champion of the coalition idea while Ignatieff has been decidedly cool to the notion.

On Sunday, Ignatieff insiders accused Rae of advocating an unconstitutional process in a desperate bid to find some way of overtaking the frontrunner.

“Bob Rae is trying to find any formula that avoids us winning, even if it's unconstitutional,” said one member of the Ignatieff camp.

Start mobilizing Harper. This guy is going to be a tough opponent.

UPDATE: Dion steps down.

The Globe and Mail Not Getting It

I can't believe the Mop and Pail, pre-internet, used to be almost my sole source of written news. Today we get a scolding not to say "separatist":

“If [the harsh rhetoric] goes on, there could be long-term consequences. If you are mainstream, to be depicted as a separatist is a source of great annoyance. But if it stops, the collective memory being what it is, people are going to go on with other things.”

It's a source of great annoyance? Am I reading this? You vote a majority to the Bloc in every election since 1993 but don't say the "s" word? Huh?

Ezra Levant has fun with it. Separatists aren't the separatist threat. People who point out they're separatist are:

The separatists are divisive by definition -- they literally want to divide Canada. Their explicit mission is to undo Canada, to remove Quebec from Confederation. And they make up a third of the coalition's manpower -- without which the coalition wouldn't have the numbers to unseat the Conservatives.

.....

But! But if you mention that, if you call separatists by their own name that is divisive! That is dangerous to national unity!

Canadian Coup d'Etat 2008: Winners and Losers

Winners

Stephen Harper: If you watched the CBC and read the Globe and Mail during this episode, you would have thought that he caused the whole thing, and needs to resign immediately. The propaganda didn’t work. Canadians rejected the coalition. A new COMPAS poll has Conservative support at 51%. That would bring a massive majority if an election were held today.

Gilles Duceppe: He’s a sly fox, and I respect him. His electorate in Quebec knew that the Bloc agreeing to this deal would bring extra goodies. He made it clear that his government only does what’s good for Quebec. I’m sure he had a chuckle watching the Liberals and NDP squirm trying to pretend that the Bloc weren’t part of it. Quebecers knew it, and the overwhelming amount of people in the rest of Canada knew it. Now if only he’d use those talents to motivate Quebec to separate and save us the hassle.

The Canadian Public: I’m glad to see the Canadian public saw a power grab, recognized the skunk in the room and were properly outraged.

The Jury is Out

Michael Ignatieff: I say Iggy is a Cassius figure who watched, and probably encouraged the clown Dion to try this stunt, in the hope of ruining Harper, while taking no risk himself. If he ends up Prime Minister in a few years, he’s a genius. If not, he’s an un-honourable Cassius figure who stirs things up but crawls away when the going gets tough.

Bob Rae: He is taking the lead to sell this Coup to try and topple the government when it comes back in January. He’s rolling the dice. It’s the only chance he has. This is the guy who destroyed Ontario when he was Premier in the early 90’s. Don Quixote tilts toward the windmills.

Jack the Mustache: The NDP is the fourth party. They’ll never form a government. This is his shot at the big time. It’ll never get this good.

The NDP: A power grab is always good in socialist circles. Because they know they’re RIGHT Goddammit! (See 1917, Russia.) Who cares about voters! They don’t know what’s good for them!!!

Losers

Stephane Dion: The Coup failed. He was a dupe figure-head like Brutus. He was used and got reminded again that Canada can’t stand him. Then the late tape submission, and the unfocused recording. Some might feel sorry for him. I don’t. He looks like the type of kid you couldn’t stand in school, and as his revenge he’d tell the teacher on you.

Justin Trudeau: I don’t know a lot about the guy, but Mike Duffy asked him how his father would feel about making deals with separatists. He tried to explain it away weakly that these were different circumstances. He looked, and sounded like a member of a boy’s band. (New Libs on the Bloc.) Go back to teaching drama.

The Liberal Party: They are dead in the West and most of Ontario. Quebec thinks they’re a joke.

UPDATE: My brother made a good point. Bob Rae is another Joe Clark. A failure and a disgrace who won't go away because he has nothing better to do.

The Liberals Really Think We Are Stupid

This is unbelievable! I decided to check out Liberal Hedy Fry's website (who is my riding's MP). I'm amazed at how she can say 2+2=5. Look at these consecutive posts, one addressing her constituents and one a press release. You don't even get a page break!

At the bottom of the first one: (read in full here)

The proposed coalition government is between the New Democrats and the Liberals only. The Bloc will continue to sit as an opposition party; they have only agreed not to bring the coalition government down, on a confidence motion, for 1 1/2 years in order to allow for stability of governance in a national crisis. Yet, the Conservatives deceive Canadians by suggesting that the Bloc will be part of a coalition government.

At the top of the VERY NEXT press release, (scroll down slightly still in the same view)

OTTAWA - Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion, New Democrat Leader Jack Layton and Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe today announced that an agreement has been reached among the three opposition parties to support a cooperative government to address the impact of the global economic crisis on Canadians.

HEDY IT'S YOUR OWN PARTY'S PRESS RELEASE!!!! They really have to cut out this crap about the Bloc not being part of the coalition. They also need to say what they promised them as a bribe to join.

This is the same woman who said in 2001"Crosses were burning in Prince George as we speak." It never happened. Truth is not all that important to her.

Yawn: Prorogue

Parliament will be suspened until January 26. I wish the GG would have ruled that a confidence vote must proceed, and if you coalition folks are serious, we have to have an election if you vote it down. That's when people would start jumping ship.

We Wait

Jack the Mustache Looks For Inspiration From the Beard

The revenues of Cuban state-run companies are used exclusively for the benefit of the people, to whom they belong.

- Fidel Castro

High Comedy!

Had some good family time waiting around for Dion to make his speech. It was 20 minutes late because "the tape hadn't arrived yet." (The networks were all waiting live.) It was hilarious watching the nervous CBC talking heads waiting and waiting, trying to make the best of it. Keith Boag was looking around thinking 'please, Stephane, get the tape here.'

While we were waiting, we flicked to CTV where a McGill University commentator Antonia Maoini was saying that Quebecers are upset at how rudely Harper is speaking about the separatists. You know, because this is a mainstream movement in Quebec. What a joke. But this is about comedy so...

Finally Dion comes on. The cheap camcorder video is out of focus. I strained my ears trying to figure out what he was saying. We just ended up laughing at the absurdity.

BTW: Harper was pretty mediocre.

UPDATE: We flicked to CBC for the Dion speech but apparantly CTV never got the tape. They played Harper twice. LOL!

Step #1: Get Rid of Caesar

I find it humorous that Cassius Ignatieff's spin doctor, Warren Kinsella, has nothing to say about the merits or faults of the Coup itself, but keeps beating the drum that Harper needs to resign. Here he is on his very popular blog:

Anyway. What we do know is, whatever she decides, Stephen Harper – as yesterday, when no less than the Globe's editorial board called on him to resign– seems unlikely to survive. If he were to indicate his intention to resign - if the Tories were to sign on to the coalition's main principles, and demonstrate some flexibility for the first time in their lives - it would go a long distance towards lowering the temperature.

Will they? Of course not. These guys are prepared to burn down the country to get their way. They've made that quite clear.

*Note: I use Caesar as an example of somebody who is in power but I'm not comparing Harper to him. Harper was elected. Caesar, like the clowns of this coalition, was a usurper.

UPDATE: To spell out the conspiracy theory I have: Ignatieff stands by and watches while Dion, a lame duck and pawn, tries and fails to pull off a Coup. Harper gets taken down with it, which is the point. All the while Iggy has clean hands because he is hiding out. Iggy then assumes leadership of the Liberals and runs against a rookie leader and a divided and chaste Conservative Party.... Am I crazy?

Rage Building in the West

I know that most Ontarioans don't notice or care about such a thing. (And Quebecers don't even realize where their cheques are coming from.) But there is a real anger building up over here about the Coup d'Etat. It's not only seen as a left wing power grab but a regional one.

Gary Mason of the Globe has a piece about it.

After the ballots were counted, the party had a single MP in Manitoba, a single MP in Saskatchewan and five in British Columbia, down from the 10 seats it won in 2006. The leadership of Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion was resoundingly rejected.

It was visceral. Many westerners felt no connection with the erudite Liberal Leader and believed he was a pointy-headed personification of the lack of connection his party had with their views and values. Many Liberals concurred.

...

In all my years listening to the callers who make talk radio in Vancouver such a hit, I have never heard such anger. Of the dozens who phoned in yesterday morning to Bill Good's No. 1-rated talk show on CKNW, calls were running 95 per cent against the coalition. If there were Liberals and New Democratic supporters out there who thought the coalition was a good idea, they weren't dialling in.

I posted about this a few days ago: Western Canada Check-Mated by Quebec

UPDATE: The timing for this story is bad.

Vancouver's Olympic Games have the opportunity to be a model for showcasing Canada's bilingual heritage, but more must be done, the country's official languages watchdog says in a new report.

Resources allocated to translation must be beefed up, and increasing the numbers of bilingual volunteers and staff needs to be a priority for VANOC...

From the article's comments section: Dave AAA from Canada writes: More funding to foster bilingualism at the Olympics will be approved as long there is a benefit to Quebec. Gilles will soon have the power to ensure this.

Harper and Dion to Address the Nation Tonight at 7PM EST

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will address the country at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday to talk about the political crisis that could topple his Conservative minority government.

Harper will make a 10-minute pre-recorded statement in English and French to rally support to prevent a Liberal-NDP coalition from taking power.

The networks have agreed to a coalition response. The NDP has also asked for equal airtime but it is unknown if that request has been granted.

(story)

The NDP were not granted their request. I don't think Jack the Mustache understands that the NDP don't exist anymore and that Stephane Dion is his leader.

Harper needs to give the speech of his life. It would be nice if Andrew Coyne could write it.