Senator David Smith, that’s who!
Senator David Smith, that’s who!
The indefatigable Joan Bryden reports on the latest attempt by the Liberals to play down the possibility of a fall election. Well, sort of. Like a Facebook relationship status, it’s complicated, you guys:
Senior Liberals are signalling they’re unlikely to use their first opportunity, in early October, to pull the plug on Stephen Harper’s minority government.
And while they may well try to force an election later in the fall, the Liberals’ national campaign co-chairman says it won’t be over the issue of employment insurance reform.
“We’re not having an election on EI,” said Senator David Smith. “I don’t hear Canadians clamouring for an election on this issue.” […]
Smith suggested Liberals are in no rush to topple the government at the first opportunity.
“I don’t think there’s a presumption that every time there’s an opportunity to have an election that you have to do it. We still want to see Parliament work,” he said.
“You can’t push the election button every time . . . I think that is irresponsible.”
Don’t despair, however, elecspecaholics — according to Ralph Goodale, all that really means is that we’ll spend the entire fall session watching Ignatieff play Hamlet while wondering, will he or won’t he, and when:
While a confidence vote in early October is “possible,” Goodale acknowledged the “tight timeframe” will be an issue for Ignatieff as he mulls over when and if to try to defeat the government.
“We’ll take that factor into account too because it is important for Parliament to have at least a little time to get its traction back,” he said, noting that the government has had “a pretty free ride” over the summer.
Goodale noted the government is bound to provide for a number of opposition days “at fairly regular intervals throughout the fall“ — any of which the Liberals could use to defeat the government.