By Montreal Simon
Well as you all know, Tom Mulcair is perched precariously on a narrow plank, over the deep blue sea.
With the big question being, will he be standing or swimming on Monday?
But even as he marches or limps towards his destiny, some of the old guard are hobbling out to defend him.
And this has to be the most ridiculous reason I’ve ever heard for not firing Mulcair.
Ken Georgetti’s outrageous claim that Mulcair wasn’t defeated by his own rotten campaign.
Or by his boring conservative-lite platform. Or by the fact that he spent more time attacking Justin Trudeau than he did Stephen Harper.
He was defeated by flaky strategic voters.
“Like a broken record, the usual suspects have come out of the woodwork, demanding Tom Mulcair resign as leader of the New Democratic Party. Those on the left who spent the entire 2015 federal election campaign promoting strategic voting are simply trying to shift any responsibility away from their own culpability.”
And the Stop Harper movement…
“Too many prominent New Democrats and affiliated organizations in the election, through their actions and words, told voters ‘this time it’s OK to vote Liberal.’ I saw as many if not more ‘Stop Harper’ signs as I did ‘Vote NDP’ signs.”
Which is so wrong, so absurd, so out of it, and so outrageous, I’m glad Jerry Dias has decided to set him straight.
“The union I lead, Unifor, was a supporter of strategic voting, and so, in response to Georgetti I say, if we are going to start pointing fingers, let’s be clear on a few facts.
“Defeating a government that imposed an austerity agenda, trampled on our rights, had complete disregard for First Nations people, and attacked the labour movement is unquestionably the right thing to do. It’s called having a vision to stop the madness.”
Remind him that the Stop Harper movement was a movement of Canadians from coast to coast to coast born of the necessity to stop a madman…
“Seventy per cent of Canadians voted to get rid of Harper, and 70 per cent of them voted for the candidate they thought was best suited to defeat a conservative in the riding. We cannot, as a movement, criticize Canadians for reclaiming their country by concentrating on the defeat of Harper. We must embrace it.”
And that rather than criticizing it he should be celebrating it.
For it did give Canadians a great symbol to express what they thought about the monster who was destroying their country.
It did help motivate progressives, and keep their spirits up. It did help boost voter turnout, which was in the end what brought down the dictator…
Justin Trudeau won the election because he ran a better campaign than Mulcair. Was judged to have a more progressive platform, and to better embody the change that so many Canadians so desperately wanted.
And all those who helped bring about that change, and supported the Stop Harper movement should be proud of themselves.
For in the fall of 2015 it was a symbol of hope and resistance…
And now it’s a symbol of victory.
For we did stop the madness.
We did take our Canada back.
And if Georgetti doesn’t get, it he must be as out of it as Mulcair.
He needs to be reminded that it’s 2016, and that this country needs to go left not right.
And for failing to recognize that, and for having supporters like Georgetti who would call good Canadians “flaky.”
Mulcair should be reminded that his time is over…
