Liberals + Green = Elizabeth May. Probably the only smart move made by Dion.Considering his perceived ineptness this might be the answer for the liberals.
Grassroot Liberals Speak Out
Political left getting super crowded
By Lorrie Goldstein
Oh, we can just hear Prime Minister Stephen Harper trembling now!
With Liberal Leader Stephane Dion and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May making nice yesterday, Harper now has four parties to the left of him, all fighting for the hysterically "pro-Kyoto" vote.
Simply put, anyone who believes the increasingly catastrophic reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change about global warming can now vote for the Liberals, NDP, Greens or Bloc in the next election.
Everybody else, including those who think global warming is a crock or, more importantly, that it's real but that the threat is overstated and we need a rational, not a panicked response, can vote Conservative.
That is, they can if they think the only issue that matters is global warming. If they think it's overall leadership as well, Harper fares even better, the polls say.
Dion and May's side deal, that they won't run candidates in each other's ridings, arguably gives May a better shot at unseating Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay in Central Nova.
In return, May will keep touting Dion's record on Kyoto when he was the Liberal environment minister, even though the Grits, despite more than 12 years in power, never implemented the Kyoto deal they ratified.
If push comes to shove, May's now officially said Dion will make a better prime minister than Harper, which may come back to haunt her in the next election if it's a close race and Dion starts urging Green and NDP supporters to unite under his banner to stop Harper.
NDP Leader Jack Layton, who's been the victim of that Liberal tactic before, is understandably miffed with the Dion/May alliance, worried both the Liberals and Greens may cut into the environmental vote he believes rightfully belongs to the NDP.
Meanwhile, Liberals who like to think they're a national party which runs candidates in every riding, must be wondering what Dion has wrought.
We suspect the only leader who doesn't have a nervous stomach today is Harper, who now sees the "progressive" vote on Kyoto splitting four ways, while he gets anyone who hasn't completely drunk the Kyoto Kool-Aid.
Sounds like a good deal for the Tories.
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