News

Spin, meet reality.

Yesterday, the Liberals were saying that the Tories had already backed down on their plan to scrap funding for political parties. They hadn't, of course. It was just that, conveniently, it wasn't going to be voted on at the same time as other aspects of the economic update on Monday. That meant the opposition could claim to be motivated to bring down the government based solely on the lack of economic stimulus, even if it had more to do with Stephen Harper's scheme to have them sign their own death warrant.

Now that the Tories really have backed off their plan, we get to see just how much this thing has taken on a life of its own.

The NDP should have the easiest decision of the three opposition parties. It very pointedly voted against pretty much everything the Tories put forward last session, so it would be entirely consistent to vote against money bills and in favour of a non-confidence motion. Provided it were to have a major part in a coalition government, the NDP can't afford not to go in that direction.

The Bloc Quebecois has a tougher question. It would have suffered the most from public funding being pulled. Now that it won't be, does it really want to get in bed with the Liberals? Its leadership will have to decide if there's enough to be gained.

For the Liberals, it's about a whole bunch of questions. Can they withstand the coming Conservative PR offensive to form government without looking completely self-serving and opportunistic? How eager are they to legitimize the NDP by handing it cabinet spots, and to play nice with the Bloc? And under whose leadership would it be worth rolling forward on this?

It's that last one, I suspect, that may determine how the Liberals decide to proceed. If they can't gracefully replace Stephane Dion, it's probably not going to happen. But if Dion agrees to step aside, Bob Rae takes one for the team and Michael Ignatieff is installed, there'll be a lot more enthusiasm in Liberal ranks for trying to get him into 24 Sussex forthwith.

But then, that assumes the NDP and Bloc were willing to join a coalition led by Ignatieff; there's been buzz that they'd in fact prefer Dion, presumably because of his relative weakness.

How much any of this has to do with the country's best interests in the midst of a global crisis is open to interpretation. But then, that consideration pretty well went out the window with the economic update.