Angry in the Great White North

For weeks we've been building up to the big report card.  It was delivered by Stephen Harper, and immediately dismissed by Liberals.

So that means an election, right?

Not necessarily. 

Though the report is clearly inadequate, or so say Liberals like John McCallum, Michael Ignatieff is going to spend the weekend reading it over to make certain it is bad enough.

At 234 pages, he'll need the time.

So the only thing between us and an election is Michael Ignatieff finding the time to read this report, right?

Not necessarily.

According to Ralph Goodale, there is another reason the Liberals might not push for an election:

Goodale said Liberal MPs have been consulting their constituents to gauge their support on the issues.

"They'll be listening to their constituents very carefully over this weekend as they have been doing for the last many weeks," he said. "And they'll be bringing that advice back to Mr. Ignatieff tomorrow and next week. They'll be weighing all of this very carefully and very conscientiously."

And there it is.  Another excuse. 

So I wonder how many constituents are actually going to be consulted at the last minute on a Saturday in June?

But that's not the point.  The Liberals will say consultations are taking place, and then conveniently report that Canadians don't want an election.

I can see it now.  There is Michael Ignatieff delivering his decision in front of the microphones:

The report card is unrealistically optimistic, but Canadians have made it clear they want more time before being asked to deliver a judgment.  And though I am certain that Stephen Harper and the Conservatives are out of time, I will reluctantly extend their probation to the next scheduled report in the fall, as Canadians have asked me to do.  But I want to make it clear that I will not stand idly by blah, blah, blah.

On Thursday, there was no mention of consultations with constituents.  It was just about whether Michael Ignatieff felt that the Conservatives were managing the economy properly.

On Friday, there was no mention of consultations with constituents.  It was just about whether Michael Ignatieff felt that the Conservatives were managing the economy properly.

But on Sunday, it has changed.  The Liberals are setting up the situation in which Michael Ignatieff can continue to state that the Conservatives are mismanaging the economy but without forcing an election.

And who knows?  It might be enough to placate some Liberal apologists.  It certainly will cause gales of laughter from the ranks of the Conservative and NDP caucuses. 

Forgotten: I don't know why the economic report card even matters.  I thought the fact that Stephen Harper refuses to implement the Liberal demand that Employment Insurance qualifications rules be changed to a universal 360 hours was reason enough to force an election:

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has threatened to topple Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government unless the Conservatives reform the EI system to make it easier for workers who lose their jobs to access insurance payments.

It would have been enough if the Liberals actually wanted to fight an election.  But they don't.  Obviously.

According to script:  In response to a comment from Gerry Nicholls, who thinks I'm too quick to dismiss the possibility of an election, I wrote the following:

Thanks for the compliment. But consider this. When you are on the attack, you don't play for time. That's a defensive posture. Michael Ignatieff won't come back with an answer for a day or two? Why? Because he wants to get in one more fundraiser before an election call? No, because he knows he's going to take a pass on the election, and that's really unappealing. So he's delaying for as long as possible before calling a retreat. It'll take that much time to prepare talking points, to brief spokespersons and MPs on what to say to reporters, and to make appointments for Michael Ignatieff to be at so he doesn't have to be in front of microphones.

So now he can say three days was spent consulting with Canadians.  Just as I predicted.