Liberals not a progressive choice

Daily Kos: State of the Nation
Excerpt (click the link above for the whole post):

On Friday, the Liberal Party of Canada threw down the gauntlet and submitted a vote of no confidence in the minority government led by Conservative PM Stephen Harper.  Many progressives might think "why not?"  Harper is, after all, a wolf in wolf’s clothing, managing to run a neoconservative, neoliberal government with voter support of his party in the mid-30 percent range, and all the rest of Canada to his left.

Unfortunately, Harper’s challenger, Liberal Party leader Michael Ignatieff, is just as much a wolf, but poses a much greater danger to the Left because he dresses as our shepherd.

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Until Friday, Michael Ignatieff’s Liberals had supported the Conservative government in 79 consecutive confidence votes since 2007.  That wouldn’t be so concerning if the Liberals had been winning major concessions for progressives, but no such luck.

At a basic level, Ignatieff has acted in ideological accord with the Conservatives.  Ignatieff is short on details of how he would have behaved any differently than Harper, even when agitating for an election.  If he is a progressive at all, it is in hindsight only: whether in the States or in Parliament, Ignatieff goes along when policy is being made, denies problems as they occur and complains unconvincingly about the consequences.

Conservative admits party is only spending money in Conservative ridings

Politics - Muzzle by overnight courier
A Conservative candidate is accusing his own party ...
Just like the previous Liberal government, now the Conservatives are only spending government money in ridings held by their own party members. No surprise really.

Harper Continues to Not Give a Toss About Climate Change

WTF? Harper ditches Summit on Climate Change! | The Skwib

So let’s be clear about this. A hundred world leaders gather at the UN to discuss climate change, and our PM decides to meet with the mayor of New York instead?

Lest you have any trouble deciphering the hidden message, Harper is saying: “I don’t give a shit about this so-called climate change thing.” He’s not even going through the motions.

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No reason to trust the Liberals with the economy after they allowed the Conservatives to screw our economy

Accidental Deliberations: Worse than nothing
Accidental Deliberations makes a very good point here - In sum, Ignatieff's decision to leave Harper at the controls when there was actually an immediate alternative resulted in a far worse outcome than a mere zero. And it shouldn't be forgotten that the party which now claims it can do better is the party which chose not to. (read full post via the link)

A responsible and effective party will put the people of the country first, not the party. By putting the party first, Ignatieff and the Liberals let the Conservatives screw us into the ground in a time of economic urgency.

NDP is supporting the bill, not the government

JanfromtheBruce: Why I'm voting with Stephen Harper ~ Layton
Unlike the Liberal Party, who have voted to support, or abstained from voting on many bills that they did not like, thus propping up the Harper government, the NDP are going to support a bill that they think is in the right direction so that people in need can get much-needed support.

Conservative priorities

TheStar.com | Canada | Tories spend 5 times more on ads than H1N1 prevention
Most of us already know/knew that the Conservatives don't care about Canadians' lives and health. Here we see yet more evidence of where their priorities lie.

Help people or do nothing

PP 2.0 - Dispatches by Northwestern Lad: 1 Billion vs. Nothing
"Would you rather spend a third of a billion dollars on an election or almost a billion dollars to help people? That's the choice facing us in the next couple of days."

The Conservatives and Liberals are choosing to do nothing, while the NDP is trying to get more money for the growing unemployed in Canada.

Harper spends $20.7 million of our money on himself while trying to cut $20 million from party funding.

Accidental Deliberations: On transfers
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That said, let's put the Cons' insincerity in even more stark relief: if Harper had managed to get his way in cutting off political party funding, he'd simply have redirected the roughly $20 million which currently goes to the opposition parties toward expanding his own office rather than saving citizens a cent. And that point should be placed front and centre by all of the opposition parties when Harper tries to grandstand about ending party funding whenever the next election campaign begins.

"Liberals won't prop up Tories: Ignatieff" - Hard to believe with their record

TheStar.com | Canada | Liberals won't prop up Tories: Ignatieff
With their record of continually propping up the Conservatives - abstaining, being absent, etc on many bills they didn't like (on the past 79 confidence votes) - basically giving the Harper government a majority government - I find it hard to believe that the Liberals will follow through on this new intent to not prop up the Tories. I'm not going to hold my breath.