Layton opens door to election

NDP Leader Jack Layton Monday called a Liberal health-care plan "unacceptable" and said there was "no basis" for his party to show any confidence in Prime Minister Paul Martin's minority government.

Layton had been earlier unwilling to say what the NDP would do if the Liberals wouldn't agree to stopping privitisation. When I initially saw the headline I figured the election would be on since the Conservatives had earlier said that they would only bring forward a non-confidence motion if they knew the NDP would support it. However, the notoriously fickle Conservatives seem to have backed down on that now:

But, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, responding swiftly to the comments, countered that his party, having already attempted to bring down the Liberals this spring, won't introduce its own confidence motion before Christmas.

What the hell? Is this the same party that claimed the Liberals as a party didn't deserve to govern? It's pretty clear that if he isn't willing to bring them down before Christmas that he's waiting until the Liberals call the election after the Gomery Commissions final report. I'm not sure what they're putting in Harper's coffee! I can only surmise that advisors have scared him out of forcing a Christmas election because many of their supporters, aka the Christian Right, would be really peeved to have their religious traditions interrupted via a negative campaign.

What the article doesn't allude to is that a really big opportunity has opened up. The NDP has a chance to steal the "Liberals are too corrupt to govern" theme away from the Conservatives by initiating the fall of the government itself. And it's pretty clear that the Conservatives will support that motion still:

"If Mr. Layton has a clear confidence motion that speaks to corruption and a general loss of confidence to the government, if there's a consensus of all parties and he's clearly prepared to back that and initiate that, then we'll have a vote," Mr. Harper told reporters in Montreal.

It's a risk, abeit a small one, that voters will retaliate against the NDP for causing a Christmas election. However, the rewards are great. The NDP hasn't been this high in the polls since the last election. And voters frequently reward leaders with guts.

The only wildcard in this play is what effect the Liberals scare-mongering will have this time around on soft NDP voters.