Michael Ignatieff faces his first big test as Liberal Leader as at least two of his six Newfoundland and Labrador MPs are poised to break ranks and vote against the Harper budget unless millions of dollars are restored to the province. Judy Foote and Scott Andrews, have said publicly they cannot support the budget the way it is.
Mr. Ignatieff said this week his Liberals would support the Harper budget. But Mr. Andrews said he is prepared to face the consequences of voting against his party if it means standing up for his province.
“Either I'm going to get a good telling-off or I'm going to get the boot,” the newly-elected Avalon MP told The Globe and Mail yesterday.
Mr. Andrews said Newfoundland is “getting the royal shaft” in the budget, which would take away $1.5-billion from the 1985 Atlantic Accord. He said he has spoken to Mr. Ignatieff about this and believes that the leader is “genuinely concerned.”
Mr. Andrews has also spoken to Premier Danny Williams, who is asking Liberal MPs to vote against the budget. Mr. Andrews said that Mr. Ignatieff has been in conversations with Mr. Williams (just who is running the Liberal Newfoundland caucus?).
It was Mr. Williams's ABC (Anything But Conservatives) campaign in the last election that led to the Harper Tories being wiped out in the province.
HOT, NOT AND AN APOLOGY
An Apology: Ignatieff senior strategist Warren Kinsella apologized this week for offending “friends in the Chinese community” for suggesting a Chinese restaurant in Ottawa served “cat meat.” The reference appeared on Mr. Kinsella's blog, and it wasn't long before it was picked up by the Chinese press. The Toronto Chapter of the Chinese Canadian National Council demanded an apology and the Harper Conservatives made sure the national media was aware of it as well. Mr. Kinsella has written books opposing racism. He removed the remark: “I sincerely and unreservedly apologize,” he said.
Not: Musical chairs: Gerard Kennedy and Martha Hall Findlay. The two Toronto MPs and sweethearts of the Stéphane Dion era are out of favour now that the Ignatieff team has taken over. There had been grumbling in the caucus over the fact that Mr. Dion had given the rookie MPs coveted front-row seats in the Commons while long-time Liberals were relegated to the back. Ms. Hall Findlay is now in the second to last row and Mr. Kennedy is right up against the curtains.
Hot: Friends in high places. Samantha Power, the Harvard prof and Ignatieff friend, is to be appointed by U.S. President Barack Obama to a senior policy post, giving the Liberals a direct line into the White House.
Not: City politicians in rural campaigns. Ontario PC Leader John Tory, a consummate city guy, was campaigning in the rural riding of Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock this week when his car's GPS foiled him. Heading along the highway to Lindsay to meet with the Buckhorn Quilters, a group of 80 women who make quilts, he turned onto a road that looked a bit like a snowmobile track. He promptly got stuck. So he left the car, hiked two kilometres back to the highway, where he was met by a friend, and arrived a little late for his meeting. Oh, but he won his party's nomination to run in an upcoming by-election.
With a report from Karen Howlett. Jane Taber is the co-host of CTV's Question Period, which is broadcast Sunday.
