Just where does Michael Ignatieff stand on bringing down the minority government of Stephen Harper?
Consider this article:
"At their recent party meeting in Quebec, Liberal MPs were openly disagreeing whether they would systematically be voting against the Conservatives or whether they would vote case by case. A day later, according to Le Devoir, Mr. Ignatieff settled the dispute by indicating that his caucus would vote case by case, except for confidence matters, on which they would systematically vote to defeat the government. And legislation to implement the harmonized sales tax would be a confidence matter."
Now contrast that Liberal clarity with this CBC report:
"In an interview with CBC’s Evan Solomon for an upcoming edition of The House, however, Ignatieff said that doesn’t mean his party could not work with the government on some issues.
“What I said was we lost confidence in the government. I didn’t say we’re going to move more motions of non confidence. We did that, we stood up, we took a position of principle,” Ignatieff said.
“What I’ve said consistently for a month is in those cases where the government brings forth legislation we can support or approve or amend, we’ll do so. My strategy is not to make parliamentary government impossible.”
Ignatieff would not say whether his party would try to topple the government the next time there’s an opposition day or a bill that’s a motion of confidence.
“I'm not going to discuss what we're going to do moving forward," he said. "It's very important for me to keep the capacity to make decisions as they arise."
Ignatieff’s comments come as recent polls have shown the party falling behind the Conservatives."
I thought Ignatieff was very clear: the Liberal Party under his leadership had decided to use each and every chance it had to vote the Tory government out of power.
Now we seem to see some waffling taking place.
If Ignatieff now backs off from what most people interpreted as a very clear statement of intent to remove this minority government every chance it could, then his credibility will be in tatters, and his leadership skills under question.
As they should be if he backs off yet again.
