For years Liberal leader Stephane Dion has been claiming that “Canadians do not want an election now” as an excuse for sitting on his hands during non-confidence votes. He was not acting in the interests of the Liberal Party, he was selflessly acting on behalf of the people of Canada.
What a nice guy.
Now it seems he’s determined that Canadians are ready for an election:
“We have seen over the winter and the spring more and more interest for federal politics,” Dion told reporters Wednesday at a hotel in Ottawa’s west end. “And more and more appetite for an election.”
Dion knows that the timing of an election is in his hands, and that one day he will have to bite the bullet and pull the plug, regardless of what the polls indicate. He has clearly decided that time has come and he is uneasy about appearing to be acting out of self-interest and is now turning up the rhetoric to claim he’s doing what’s best for Canadians.
I would like to see what polls he’s getting his information from. As far as I can tell, there really is never much of an appetite for elections in this country, except from the political parties that might benefit. To most Canadians an election is a necessary nuisance, kind of like a visit to the dentist.