STEPHANE’S STRANGE BEDFELLOWS
The new buzz around parliament is that David Orchard, a Saskatchewan native known for his opposition to NAFTA, the gun registry, and above all Stephen Harper, is a shoe-in for a nomination to run for the Liberal party. This has some long time Liberal party loyalists worried that the party may be losing credibility.
Really, you can’t blame them. Stephane Dion has been on a streak of making some unusual and possibly dangerous allies. First was Garth Turner. After Garth was elected as a Conservative in the last election, he spent most of his time trying to dismantle is party from within before eventually jumping ship to the waiting Liberals. Turner’s crazy antics and disregard to his previous party’s leadership had some people questioning whether or not he was the sort of guy they wanted in their tent.
Then came Elizabeth May. Stephane said that he would not run an opponent against her in her Central Nova riding (where she is challenging the illustrious and sometimes incompetent Peter MacKay) in exchange for her support of him nationally in the next election.
Now comes David Orchard, who despite his opposition to the Liberal stance on many key issues, is known as a strong environmentalist. If Dion continues the way he is, he’s going to have a party filled with people who disagree on every issue except the environment, and while that might not make it impossible for him to win the next election, it’s a recipe for disaster afterwards.