Why The Liberals Were So Badly Beaten

[oldrebel]

What's your take on the demise of the Liberals?
I think people have just had enough of their arrogance and self-interest. People have long memories.
Ever since Pierre Trudeau, the Liberals have been disregarding what the Canadian people want and what is good for the country.
Without consulting the public, they gave us:

1) official bilingualism
2) the metric system
3 )the Young Offenders Act
4) inflated and outrageous MP pensions and perks
5) gutted the miitary
6) took billions from health care so they could look like heroes by balancing the budget
7) Adscam
8) Shawinigate
9) Abolished the death penalty
10) Went soft of crime
11) gave prisoners the vote
12) established an unpopular and dangerous refugee system.
13) the gun registry

All this and more, they did without consideration of what the people wanted. Still they are dithering about what happened and how they can build their party. They just aren't getting it!
If any p arty wants to retain popularity, I think they will need to allow more free votes in Parliament. There is no reason why MPs cannot poll their constituents before an important issue is voted on and vote according to the wishes of their constituency. They are supposed to be representing us, after all, not pushing their own agendas.
A simple mailing combined with an on-line survey would be easy to do and not at all costly. Have any of you ever been consulted by your MP as to how you feel about issues?

 

[petros]

Flat out leadership issues.

 

[Mowich]

Have any of you ever been consulted by your MP as to how you feel about issues?

Yes, Cathy McLeod is very good at sending out questionnaires on policy. She is also good at responding to my emails on party or government matters. No matter the issue, I always receive a response from her.

Flat out leadership issues.

I think it goes far deeper than leadership issues, petros. The liberal party has little time or respect for their membership especially their grass-roots people - if they even have any left.

In addition to that, they have little in the way of policy that distinguishes from the other parties - exception being the Bloc.

By concentrating on trying to find a leader they have sacrificed policy and for that they have paid the political price - decimation at the polls.

 

[damngrumpy]

The Liberals actually began to believe they were the natural governing party. It has nothing
to do with what happened decades ago. For example the Bloc was also wiped out due to
the fact the Bloc kept hammering away at the issues of twenty years ago when the reality
in Quebec had changed. Younger people have noticed Quebec is part of a greater world
and they want jobs and perks and to be part of the greater world community. The central
issue of being a country takes second place to being able to have a home of their own and
support a family. In other worlds for the Bloc reality set in for the people, and the fact that
most Quebecers are social democrats, they have never found a social program they didn't
like, chose to opt into Canada and we should be happy about that.
As for the Liberals, they imposed a leader on the membership, that the grass roots had no
feeling about, their policy was to be different than anyone Else's whether it was good policy
or not. There was no fiery debate like years ago and the people began to drift, they lost sight
of their place in history, and thus they lost their coveted place in Canadian politics.
If they don't do something quickly the left of center portions of the party will go NDP and the
right wing of the party will go to the Tories. As is the Liberals have less than a year to make
some corrections, or they will implode. At best it will be fifteen years before they are a force
in Canada. In that time if the NDP took power and proved to be fiscally responsible, the days
of the Liberal Party would be a thing of the past. As it is the Conservatives will be around for
a term or two before being replaced, and the NDP will use that time to cement their place in
Canadian politics. Like it or not, the Conservatives nor the NDP are going anywhere any time
soon.

 

[TenPenny]

Flat out leadership issues.

Absolutely. If the Liberals had a leader who connected with the voters, nothing else would matter, and Harper would be licking his wounds, facing the knives of the Party.

 

[Cliffy]

What's your take on the demise of the Liberals?

Demise is a rather silly word. They have more than 2 seats. The Progressive Conservatives were demised. The Liberals are far from down and out. They do have to reinvent themselves and distance themselves from the old guard, but they are far from gone.

Harper won on the pure fear his party generated with the public regarding the other parties. hate mongering pays in politics as his American advisers have shown.

 

[petros]

Absolutely. If the Liberals had a leader who connected with the voters, nothing else would matter, and Harper would be licking his wounds, facing the knives of the Party.

With Jack Lenin nipping at his heels Harper is indeed licking wounds. The Western vote has and always will be split between Cons and NDP. Now both parties need to focus on kissing my ass rather than PQ or ON's to guarantee their future.

I like having my ass kissed.

 

[gerryh]

The Liberals actually began to believe they were the natural governing party.

Where have you been living? The Liberals have had this attitude since Laurier.


As for the NDP, I will be VERY surprised if they turn out to be anything more than a one hit wonder.

 

[Mowich]

Absolutely. If the Liberals had a leader who connected with the voters, nothing else would matter, and Harper would be licking his wounds, facing the knives of the Party.

Having a leader who connected with voters was only a part of the equation that the liberals failed to complete. Having policies that weren't just cobbled together bits from both the NDP and the Conservatives was the other part. IMHO

 

[TenPenny]

Having a leader who connected with voters was only a part of the equation that the liberals failed to complete. Having policies that weren't just cobbled together bits from both the NDP and the Conservatives was the other part. IMHO

Oh, I don't know; that concept has served the Liberals well for at least 40 years. I think that's one thing that has made them successful.

 

[Mowich]

Harper won on the pure fear his party generated with the public regarding the other parties. hate mongering pays in politics as his American advisers have shown.

Really, well we can thank the liberals for showing him the way. Since the Conservatives first began to appeal to a wider audience than the West, the Liberals have done little but hate-monger about Stephen and the Conservatives, that they now find the shoe on the other foot now is not only fitting but righteous. IMHO

Oh, I don't know; that concept has served the Liberals well for at least 40 years. I think that's one thing that has made them successful.

Well it didn't 'serve them well' this election, TP - did it.

 

[TenPenny]

Well it didn't 'serve them well' this election, TP - did it.

No, and that's because they had a negative as a leader. Exactly my point.

 

[oldrebel]

I don't think the leader has all that much to do with the Liberal Party's fall. There's in-fighting within the party itself about the leadership and the party's policies.
I am not a person who votes the same way all the time. I vote for what I think is good for the times. I have in my lifetime voted Liberal, Ndp and Conservative.
Right now the Liberals have to get their sh** together and get rid of that attitude of entitlement before I will vote for them again.
A Liberal strategist, interviewed on tv, got my dander up again by saying, "We need to get our message out to the voters". Well that insinuates that the voters aren't understanding their message. I understood the message very well and I'm sure other voters did too, we just didn't like what we were hearing. We are not as retarded as they seem to think we are. Same old, same old! Throw money around and that'll fix everything.

 

[Tonington]

I don't think the leader has all that much to do with the Liberal Party's fall. There's in-fighting within the party itself about the leadership and the party's policies.

Where I come from, that certainly would be called a failure in leadership...

 

[lone wolf]

Wouldn't it suck of that 40% who didn't vote were Liberals?...

 

[Bar Sinister]

What's your take on the demise of the Liberals?
I think people have just had enough of their arrogance and self-interest. People have long memories.
Ever since Pierre Trudeau, the Liberals have been disregarding what the Canadian people want and what is good for the country.
Without consulting the public, they gave us:

1) official bilingualism
2) the metric system
3 )the Young Offenders Act
4) inflated and outrageous MP pensions and perks
5) gutted the miitary
6) took billions from health care so they could look like heroes by balancing the budget
7) Adscam
8) Shawinigate
9) Abolished the death penalty
10) Went soft of crime
11) gave prisoners the vote
12) established an unpopular and dangerous refugee system.
13) the gun registry

All this and more, they did without consideration of what the people wanted. Still they are dithering about what happened and how they can build their party. They just aren't getting it!
If any p arty wants to retain popularity, I think they will need to allow more free votes in Parliament. There is no reason why MPs cannot poll their constituents before an important issue is voted on and vote according to the wishes of their constituency. They are supposed to be representing us, after all, not pushing their own agendas.
A simple mailing combined with an on-line survey would be easy to do and not at all costly. Have any of you ever been consulted by your MP as to how you feel about issues?

Nothing in that list is recent enough to have influenced voters one way or the other and a considerable amount of it is in error, especially #6 or are you forgetting that Chretien got two straight majorities following that action? Ditto for #3, # 4, and #13.

I very much doubt most Canadian voters are reacting to policies that date back to the 1960s. Which eliminates #1and #2.

And no party in Canada is soft on crime. That is US style BS. - At least I haven't noticed it in any of the party literature.

So far as giving prisoners the vote that was an act decided by the courts, not the government.

A real look at the Liberal collapse reveals a much more salient reason; mainly a drop in popular vote of about 7 points for the liberals and an increase of about 12 points for the NDP. Vote splitting under Canada's archaic electoral system took care of the rest. For those who are interested, the Conservatives increased their share of the vote by only about 2 points.

 

[oldrebel]

Thank you for your opinion, Bar Sinister, I can respect that. But I still think a lot of people have memories longer than you think. Liberal gaffs have been building up in people's minds for a good many years.
They need to rid themselves of that attitude of entitlement and arrogance and start representing their consituents instead of dictating to them.

 

[relic]

Nobody displays more arrogance and self interest than mr beady eyes himself steve harper,iggy was just not leader material.One got the impression he was talking down,he's better off in a teaching role.

 

[Colpy]

The Liberals were beaten so badly because they completely lost their base in Quebec with Adscam, and because the literally had nothing to offer the rest of the country, and because Harper's attack's on Iggy (he didn't come back for you) were effective, and because Layton's attack during the debate on Iggy's attendance was devastating...........

In Harper's defense on negative ads....I have trouble feeling too much sympathy for the unfortunate Liberal after 20 years of listening to derogatory and ridiculous attacks on the leaders of the right.......

Nobody displays more arrogance and self interest than mr beady eyes himself steve harper,iggy was just not leader material.One got the impression he was talking down,he's better off in a teaching role.

Oh, don't worry, we have four years....you'll learn to love Big Brot.....er, I mean, Mr. Harper.

 

[taxslave]

The libs lost because the last two leaders were clueless. Academics are not leadership material since they usually have no work experience, just changing the direction their desk faces in a classroom. Those of us that graduated from the school of hard knocks (ok some of us had to repeat the class a couple of times)know the difference between what looks good on a computer and what works.