Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Budget Claims First Fatality
The Conservative budget has claimed it's first victim.... and it's a Liberal!
Joe Comuzzi, has been a Liberal MP since 1988, won six consecutive elections for the Liberals, and served in Cabinet as Secretary of State until 2005. On Tuesday Comuzzi threatened he would break ranks with the Liberals, and support the Conservative government. His decision is based on pretty clear principals.
If the Conservative Caucus is defined by it's culture of secrecy, then certainly the new Liberal caucus should be defined by it's culture of fear; specifically the fear of crossing Dear Leader Stephane Dion.
In late February, Stephane Dion threatened his caucus, declaring that if Liberal MPs did not vote against the anti-Terror provisions, Dion would not sign their nomination papers for the next election.
In Joe Comuzzi's case, Stephi's delivering some tough love. Stephi kicked Joe out of the caucus today, just for publicly praising the Conservative budget, he didn't even get a chance to vote on it. This isn't the first time Comuzzi has butted heads with the party leadership. In 2005 he resigned his cabinet position so that he could vote against gay-marriage.
As far as the next election goes, Dion may have just handed a seat to the NDP. In the last federal election, Comuzzi won his seat over NDP candidate Bruce Hyer by just over 400 votes, out of nearly 40,000 votes cast. Oh, and Comuzzi was expected to retire before the next election. Instead of letting a veteran Liberal MP retire with dignity, (and presumably help the party re-build in his riding, and advice the incoming Liberal candidate) they kicked him out on his ass. With this display of callousness by the Liberal party, the NDP candidate is almost sure to win the Thunder Bay-Superior North seat.
Joe Comuzzi, has been a Liberal MP since 1988, won six consecutive elections for the Liberals, and served in Cabinet as Secretary of State until 2005. On Tuesday Comuzzi threatened he would break ranks with the Liberals, and support the Conservative government. His decision is based on pretty clear principals.
"It's for a single issue that's of absolute critical importance to all the people in Thunder Bay and northwestern Ontario, and that's the cancer research centre ... and hopefully it's going to be funded in this budget," he told CTV Newsnet's Mike Duffy Live on Tuesday.
The centre would bring 300 jobs to the struggling city on the shores of Lake Superior. "To vote against it, every citizen in Thunder Bay would be tremendously upset with me," Comuzzi said.
If the Conservative Caucus is defined by it's culture of secrecy, then certainly the new Liberal caucus should be defined by it's culture of fear; specifically the fear of crossing Dear Leader Stephane Dion.
In late February, Stephane Dion threatened his caucus, declaring that if Liberal MPs did not vote against the anti-Terror provisions, Dion would not sign their nomination papers for the next election.
In Joe Comuzzi's case, Stephi's delivering some tough love. Stephi kicked Joe out of the caucus today, just for publicly praising the Conservative budget, he didn't even get a chance to vote on it. This isn't the first time Comuzzi has butted heads with the party leadership. In 2005 he resigned his cabinet position so that he could vote against gay-marriage.
As far as the next election goes, Dion may have just handed a seat to the NDP. In the last federal election, Comuzzi won his seat over NDP candidate Bruce Hyer by just over 400 votes, out of nearly 40,000 votes cast. Oh, and Comuzzi was expected to retire before the next election. Instead of letting a veteran Liberal MP retire with dignity, (and presumably help the party re-build in his riding, and advice the incoming Liberal candidate) they kicked him out on his ass. With this display of callousness by the Liberal party, the NDP candidate is almost sure to win the Thunder Bay-Superior North seat.
Labels: Liberal Party, politics, Stephane Dion
