And it’s political fisticuffs, one more time.
Second verse, same as the first. Michael Ignatieff and the liberal party set out to negotiate with the governing conservatives over reforming the employment insurance regulations. Except for one problem. Ignatieff and his lackies won’t budge from their position that a 360-hour national minimum is required for people to be qualified for benefits.
A minimum nationally like that is not just unreasonable, but outright ridiculous. And the minister of human resources, who’s leading the conservative side of the negotiations, said as much. And what’s Ignatieff’s response? It’s not to relax on his minimum qualifications and come up with, say, 400 instead–or even 375. Which, one would think, anyway, should be the standard approach to negotiations. Apparently, not if your name is Michael Ignatieff.
Instead, Michael responds with exactly the same retaliation that prompted the striking of these negotiations in the first place–you either accept my terms, or I’ll call an election. This from the same man who now tells us he has a platform which he’ll reveal to us in the fall–no doubt containing about as much substance as the platform he had in January.
Mikey, I told you before. If you push that red button, you’re probably going to wind up regretting it. Canadians do not want another election. Least of all, I don’t think, do the majority of Canadians with any sort of inteligence at all want an election in which you could possibly be the one running the country. How about this. Stop waffling, play nice with the government, and actually negotiate. Can you do that? I thought so. There’s only one thing far more frightening than a conservative minority–a liberal majority. Please, Michael, don’t make me have to throw my vote away on some nobody just to avoid that happening.
