Charge of the Liberal Light Brigade

Ignatieff fixes his bayonet for a doomed showdown with the Tories.

“If madness takes its toll, then sometimes it seems the federal Liberals spend a lot of time counting the correct change,” quips the National Post’s Scott Stinson, referring to Michael Ignatieff’s apparent determination to trigger an election sooner rather than later despite polls showing he’s facing certain defeat. That said, after having threatened to take down the government over issues that don’t resonate with Canadians (tax cuts, fighter jets, home care), Stinson says “perhaps it’s not madness for the Liberals to precipitate an election based solely on the Conservatives’ shoddy respect for democracy.” They still probably won’t win, but if you’re going to die on the battlefield you might as well make a bold charge.

The Globe and Mail’s Lawrence Martin tallies up all the recent allegations of malfeasance levied against the Conservative government, from prorogation to “in-and-out,” and concludes that, “while it has no sponsorship scandal on its books, it’s already surpassed its [Liberal] predecessor on a range of other abuse-of-power indices.” He’s not sure if all these mini-scandals add up to the end of Harper’s reign anytime soon (polls suggest not), but predicts "there will be a tipping point and the PM and his ministers will pay the price.”

Sun Media’s Michael Den Tandt says Harper should be begging Ignatieff to trigger an election, given that despite all the flack the PM’s taken from the opposition, nothing seems to stick to him and polls show a majority government is within the Tories’ grasp. “Harper has learned to avoid being personally sullied by political nastiness,” he writes. This is true, and you’d have to think, a sign that Canadians aren’t really paying attention. The PM told his office to start calling it the “Harper government” instead of the “Canadian government” for Pete’s sake. He literally re-branded government in his own image, and yet nothing it does gets back to him.

The Vancouver Sun’s Barbara Yaffe weighs in with a minority opinion and says that despite all the election buzz, it’s premature to assume Canadians are going to the polls this spring. Why? The NDP is skittish.