The Liberals now have two major frames to be used in fighting the coming election, and to present to the voters of Canada as reasons why Harper's minority Tory government should be replaced by a Liberal government.
To borrow from the striking image used by the doyen of issue framing, George Lakoff, the Liberals now have two strong, positive and effective elephants which will define the debate in the public space during the next two months or so.
The first elephant deals with the failure of the Harper government.
The second elephant deals with a vision for Canada, if voters turf out the Tories bye refusing them a majority of seats and sending a majority of opposition MPs to Parliament.
The first framing is very simple, and I have referred to it in two earlier posts. It comes to grips with reasons why the Liberals should not support the Tory government, and enables the Liberals to go on the attack on the past record of inaction of the Tories, their present foot-dragging, and their future actions.
Elephant number one is simply this: The mismanagement by the Tory government of a Canadian economy in crisis.
Elephant number two is simply these words uttered today by Michael Ignatieff: We can do better.
""We can do better," said Mr. Ignatieff, in an address to his national caucus at a retreat to prepare Liberals before the Sept. 14 resumption of Parliament.
"We can be the smartest, healthiest, greenest, hardest-working, most open-minded country there is - but only if we choose to be.""
There you have it. Two major themes; two major framing issues; two major debating points – one dealing with why the Tories should not be propped up, the other with a vision for the future of Canada.
Liberal policies – to be announced once the campaign starts – will support the second framing- the vision that We can do better.
Now let the NDP and Bloc consider their choices. These are stark. Prop up the Tory government at the first vote of confidence, or vote the Tories out of power, and fight the election.
And when the election is over, whether it is a Tory minority government or a Liberal minority government, the next step of choices will face the NDP and Bloc. Logically, if all three opposition parties do not have confidence in the Harper government and vote it out of power, then come the first vote of confidence in the replacing government, all 3 parties should vote the replacing Tory government down (if the Tories win the most seats of any party but still a minority). The Governor General will then call on the Liberal Party, as the one with the next highest number of seats, to form a government and hold a vote of confidence. Logically, once again, the NDP and Bloc should vote in favour of the minority Liberal government.
So the upshot of today's decision by the Liberal Party is simple: the government of Stephen Harper will fall (either getting less seats than the Liberals in the coming election, or by not gaining the confidence of the House if it wins more seats than the Liberals but less than a majority).
Only the timing of the Tory fall from power is unknown at this stage.
And then a minority Liberal government, supported by the NDP and Bloc in confidence votes, will implement a centre-left or progressive set of policies for the next year or so, and perhaps much longer.
What is clear is that the instability caused by the Tory refusal to govern with policies meeting the approval of all 3 of the opposition parties will soon end, and Canada can move forward in two phases: first, fixing things which Harper has not fixed, such as the EI system and the implementation of a proper stimulus plan, and secondly, once those items are done, moving Canada forward.
You are right, Michael Ignatieff: We can do better.
And so we shall.
