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Monday Mar. 16, 2009 BACK NEXT IGNATIEFF, THE MOVE TO
THE CENTRE
The challenge is obvious in the daily Question Period and made more clear during a meeting in Toronto last week with a group of journalists. Ignatieff confirmed that he is moving his party to the centre and ditched the coalition government idea because of the presence of the Bloc Québécois: "One of the reasons that I have found difficult to form a coalition government, I could be sitting here as your Prime Minister, but I turned it down because I didn't think it was right for someone who believes in the national unity of my country to make a deal with people who want split the country up." He also qualified his view on the presence of the Bloc in the House: "Let's get this right because it's important. The Bloc Québécois is a duly-democratically-elected [party by] fellow citizens of our country. Many of them are very good MPs, good people. But they have a different objective than mine." Ignatieff said that "in a period of a very serious economic crisis, what is not said strongly enough to Quebec is that you should thank your lucky stars that you are in Canada." He said Canada's "banking system is the best in the world, a currency that is the strongest internationally," adding that "Canadian institutions kept Quebec from experiencing a more severe recession. I'm convinced that an independent Quebec would not have weathered this crisis as successfully as Quebec has done in Canada. I have respect but fundamental disagreements with my Bloc's colleagues, many of them are friends. I didn't like the way Harper called them traitors to the country." Ignatieff is also trying to distance his party from the Conservative government. He said the Liberals must work with the Conservative government, despite "profound disagreements" because the economic crisis requires cooperation. "The car is in the ditch. I don't like the driver and I don't like the direction, but I'm willing to push to get the car out of the ditch. I have quarrels with the budget and I don't think it does what is needed to do. But it's better than nothing." He said that he has done his part "because the budget has been approved. Now Mr. Harper has to do his part and spend the money properly." He also refuted the accusation that his party is holding up money needed for the economic recovery: "I'm trying to make Parliament work, that's what Canadians want. It is a fact that this budget was approved more rapidly of any other budget, except one, in Canadian history. If Mr. Harper is telling you that we are holding [up] the money, Mr. Harper is wrong. The problem is that Mr. Harper wants $3-billion and he wouldn't tell us what that is for." So where is he taking his party? What is going to make his party different from the Conservatives? He admitted that he is repositioning his party by abandoning the left-leaning course set by his predecessor Stéphane Dion: "Yes, I'm moving the party to the centre because I think we win from the centre. We win when people believe we are moderate, pragmatic, sensible party that connects to what Canadians are worried about." During the lengthy meeting he also talked about Afghanistan, China, and the Middle East. "We are in Afghanistan until 2011," he said, "because we made a promise to the Afghan government and we made a promise to NATO and Canada keeps its promises. But I believe that after 2011 we should end our military commitment to combat in Kandahar and I think we should stay committed to development and I hope we can increase our development assistance and stay engaged in diplomatic and political front." He said he believes that the Afghan issues can be solved only by dealing with the region's turmoil. "Pakistan needs to be secured against India, tension in Kashmir has to be brought down, Iran needs to be drawn in because it can be helpful because as much influence in Western Afghanistan, the Russians can be a positive role, as well as the Chinese. What we need is a regional strategy that will look at the whole thing," he said, adding that "this is the difference between Liberals and Conservatives. In fact, the Conservatives don't have a strategy." |