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Monday Oct. 12
2009 BACK NEXT
They
say the first important step to correct a problem is to recognize
there is one. If that's the case, then Liberal Leader Michael
Ignatieff is already on the right path to correcting the problems in
his party. According
to reliable sources, when Ignatieff talked to his caucus last week
in Ottawa, he admitted that "I have made some mistakes. I will
probably make some more, but I've stood strong on my beliefs." He
has also reassured his MPs that he's learning from them, that he
will correct them and that, together, he wants to build a strong
Liberal Party. He
did not elaborate on the mistakes he made, so I'll have to fill in
the blanks and make a list of my own. I believe Ignatieff has made
only one, but huge mistake: he assumed that the team that makes you
leader can be the same one that makes you Prime Minister. In
politics, roles and assignments must never be confused. It is like,
for example, putting the person in charge of the campaign also in
charge of the polling. Even the most amateur political strategist
knows that the kind of experience needed for the two jobs is
completely different and, most importantly, should not overlap. Not
knowing this elementary rule is a major sign of
inexperience. Of
course, the leader takes responsibility for all the mistakes made by
his team, but, if he's serious about what he said last week in
caucus, there should be changes made in short order.
In
politics, personal relationships are important and trust is the name
of the game, but trust and friendship are on top of other qualities,
such as competence and experience, and are not alternatives to them.
I
know Ignatieff is very attached to the people who "hired" him back
to Canada more than two years ago and they deserve praise for
involving a respected Canadian in our political life. But they
should know that if you push someone on the swing there is a moment
when you have to let him go, otherwise you keep him back.
And,
things have been going wrong with the Liberal leadership since the
party replaced Paul Martin. Ignatieff
was presented to Canadians like a new Pierre Trudeau but, contrary
to the former prime minister who arrived at the 1968 convention as a
nobody and was able to defeat a star like Paul Martin Sr., Ignatieff
arrived like Trudeau and ended up defeated by the most boring leader
the Liberal Party ever had. Today,
Ignatieff is the leader of the Liberal Party without winning any
real convention. He's there by default. That means the last time the
Liberals really elected a leader was in Calgary in 1990 with Jean
Chrétien.
Since
then they elected Paul Martin in 2003 in Toronto and Ignatieff in
Vancouver this year during a convention that was a mere formality,
and in 2006 they elected Stéphane
Dion only because they wanted neither Ignatieff, nor Bob Rae.
Then
last year, in order to make sense, they had to appoint the leader
first and then elect him. And this says a lot about the status of
the Liberal Party and its breached delivery of democracy.
Of
course, this can be enough to take you to the top of your political
organization but if you want to become the Prime Minister of the
country, you need more, much more. First,
Ignatieff needs to re-establish credibility within his own party. At
the present time, there are many loose strings in the caucus, in his
office, and among his advisers. There
is no clear liaison between his staff and the caucus and many
members of both teams are freelancing with devastating results. It
is important for Ignatieff to listen to the members of his caucus
but, at the same time, he has to make sure he has a message for all
and that's be sure that they're all on board. I've spoken to many
Liberal MPs in the last few weeks and many of them feel frustrated
and confused and there are many who believe that some of their
colleagues should be firmly told that the leadership race is over.
There
is need for a strong message from the leader in order to bring
things back to normal. Allowing all MPs to do what they want, like
it happened with the members from Newfoundland, or falling under the
pressure of others, like Rae during the spat in Quebec, is not a
sign of freedom but weakness and, as a consequence, anarchy.
I'm
not saying Liberal MP Denis Coderre was right or wrong, but the
leader can't change his rulings according to the intensity of the
pressure from his MPs. The
second issue that Ignatieff has to address is his team in Quebec.
Considering the events of the last few weeks, it looks like the
leader is not choosing between the past and the future, but between
the past and the past. He needs new people and a new approach with
the province. Canada and Quebec are changing and the old approach
based on the equation federalists and separatists is obsolete.
It
looks like the only department working again in the Liberal Party is
the one with Rocco Rossi raising money. This department too,
however, if chaos continues, will soon come again to a standstill.
It is always hard to raise money for a lost
cause. |