Angry in the Great White North

I want an election.  I don't want an election.  I might want an election.

Just over four weeks ago, apparently I wanted an election:

However, Dion vowed to The Canadian Press that the coming year will be a different story.

"2008 will be another ball game," he said. "You cannot keep alive forever a government who wants to die."

In Montreal, he was even talking about a possible spring election.

He said Liberal MPs have been forced to abstain from key confidence votes, allowing the Conservatives to push through key legislation, because Canadians were opposed to the idea of a third election in three years.

Now, he said, Canadians have had enough of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and are ready for a change.

Dion suggested he may act on that sentiment -- possibly forcing an election before the Conservatives release their budget -- widely expected to offer up further tax cuts. Recent survey numbers show Conservative support has dropped while the Liberals have been creeping up in the polls -- another factor that may be contributing to Dion's apparent confidence.

"I think each week I feel that (the public mood is) warmer about the idea that maybe we should revisit the kind of choice we have made in (the) 2006 (federal election). And we'll see if it's still the case in February or in March or in April," he told CP.

The suddenly everything changed.  Now I don't want an election:

In fact, Dion told reporters that February represented a symbolic bar of sorts for the electorate, since it will mark the second anniversary of Harper assuming office in 2006. He appeared to be saying that the Liberals were ready to call an end to their controversial fall approach of abstaining on make-or-break votes for the government.

But it seems that there has been a change of mind over the Christmas and New Year's break.

A poll released yesterday may offer a clue: it suggests the Conservatives leaped to a sizeable lead in public opinion over the holidays.

The Harris-Decima poll indicates the Tories jumped seven percentage points since late December, putting them at 37 per cent support compared to the Liberals' 30 per cent. The NDP is at 13 per cent.

The survey of 1,000 Canadians was done Jan. 3 to 6 and is considered accurate to within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times in 20.

Though Dion kept saying yesterday that he wouldn't speculate about what would happen when Parliament resumes, he also repeatedly said that the budget would represent the next opportunity for Liberals to provoke the government's collapse.

Oh yes, Canadian wanted to revisit that decision, eh?  We've had enough of Stephen Harper.  And now we don't want to revisit that decision.  Apparently we can tolerate Stephen Harper just a bit longer..  How many Liberals want to revisit the decision to make Stephane Dion the leader of the Liberal Party?  How many have had enough of Stephane Dion?

Stephane Dion promised a new ball game in 2008.  So far, it seems to be the same ball game as before.  He bases his decisions on the polls, and then tries to call it leadership by claiming he can sense "the public mood".

Obi-Wan Dion staggered as struck by a blow.  "I sense a great disturbance in the Polling Force...as if a thousand voices cried out to answer and were suddenly shifting to the right.  I fear something terrible has happened.  We have slipped two points.  These are not the numbers we're looking for.  Stephen Harper can go about his business."