"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.

Why vote Liberal when it means you actually support the Conservatives?

Ignatieff failing the middle class: Liberals offer no alternative or opposition to Conservatives | NDP

Michael Ignatieff and the Liberals can’t have it both ways. They
can’t say they are opposed to Harper’s agenda and do nothing to stop
it. Instead the Ignatieff’s Liberals are giving Harper a de facto
majority by voting confidence in him, time and time again, while
offering no alternative program of their own.

With the support of Ignatieff’s Liberals, Stephen Harper’s Conservatives have:

(Read on...)

Harper & Ignatieff together in a state of denial

TheStar.com | Insight | Harper and Ignatieff have heads in the sand

If
the budget demonstrated anything it's this: The government and
opposition are united in a state of denial about the economic crisis
...

First, the depression promises to be worse than most analysts have
been predicting. It hasn't yet hit Canada full-bore. It will. The fact
that the U.S. appears to be re-embracing trade protection only
underscores the point.

Second, neither the governing
Conservatives nor the opposition Liberals seem to understand the
seriousness of this crisis. Rhetoric notwithstanding, both parties
appear to think they are dealing with a problem that will go away in
two years and allow the world to return to business as usual.

...

Yet the government remains grudging. Much of the $12 billion in planned infrastructure spending is contingent upon dollar-for-dollar matching by provinces and municipalities. If they can't come up with their deemed share, it's not clear whether the federal money will be spent.

The unemployed got enough in the budget to win Harper Liberal support, but not enough to help the 58 per cent of jobless Canadians who don't qualify for employment insurance.
...

Yet for Ignatieff's party, the fixation on deficits is driven less
by ideological commitment than desperation. During their last 13 years
in government, the Liberals shredded most of the social safety net they
had once helped to construct.

Their only significant achievements
over this time were their decision not to go to war against Iraq and
the elimination of the federal deficit.

In fact, even the
latter may be an exaggeration. It's arguable that the deficit problem
was solved less by good government than by the worldwide reduction in
interest rates and a renewed global appetite for Canadian raw materials.

Majority of Canadians still see through Harper. Budget fails to impress.

globeandmail.com: Budget fails to quell criticisms of Prime Minister, poll suggests

Although this poll shows that a majority of Canadians support the budget, Harper and his Conservatives are on shakier ground.
Some points to note: 

... voters are now less likely to support the government because of the budget.
... 69 per cent say they still blame Mr. Harper for causing an unnecessary
political crisis late last year when he should have been focusing on
the economy.
...When asked to name the top three beneficiaries of the budget, large
corporations showed up most often. Poor Canadians and older/retired
Canadians were seen as those benefiting the least.

Conservatives and Liberals vote to turn back the clock on pay equity for women in Canada

Pay equity: U.S. moves forward, Canada falls behind | NDP

“What comes as a shock is that the Liberals, who were so critical of
those cuts, would now support a budget that entrenches these regressive
policies.”

After they see that Iggy is just Dion in wolf's clothing, will the Liberals toss him out and elect Bob Rae?

CBC.ca News - Political Bytes - Obit: the coalition

With Michael Ignatieff and the Liberal party accepting the latest Harper budget, asking little in concessions, we see that things are back to exactly the way they were before the election. The Conservatives putting forth bad policies, and the Liberals, although saying the policies are bad, backing them. Nothing has changed. The majority of Canadians are still shafted.

Maybe the Liberals will see their error in choosing Iggy and turf him out in favour of Bob Rae. It remains to be seen.

I'm not keen on the same old coalition - Conservatives & Liberals - with the Conservatives making the policy, and the Liberals either abstaining or going along with things even though they don't like it (instead of standing up for what they believe is right).

The Liberals have thrown away a large voice for Canadians in Parliament. The people who voted Liberal no longer have a Liberal voice in parliament - they have Conservative supporters instead (that's not what/who they voted for). The only federal opposition voice left is the NDP. And in Quebec, I can see the Liberals losing more seats to the Bloc next election for this.

"Ignatieff says he is prepared to swallow"

globeandmail.com: Tories put on probation; coalition declared dead

Is Ignatieff the same or worse than Dion here?
Not only is he accepting a bad budget, the Liberals are going to vote for it (instead of abstain from it, like the Dion Liberals), and demand pretty lame concessions.

Bad news from the Liberals

globeandmail.com: Ignatieff to call for changes to budget

It seems that the Liberals are going to roll over and accept this lame budget:

The MP said there would be some Liberal positioning on the issue, but that more individuals were leaning toward letting the government live than pushing to defeat it.