Immigration MInister Jason Kenney was on Dave Rutherford's radio show this morning. Here's some extracts from their conversation. The best bit (for me, anyhow) comes when an avowed Alberta separatist calls in and says that an Ignatieff government is just what he wants. Read on to find out why!
Kenney on Liberal arrogance:
I see yesterday John McCallum, the Toronto banker who is their finance critic, says the Conservatives, they can beat us because the Conservatives waste a lot of votes in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Waste votes? Albertans are wasting their votes by, by voting for the Conservative government? Like, this kind of continued arrogance towards the west in general is, it’s still there. They haven’t learned, they haven’t learned any of the lessons. You know, my advice to my Liberal friends is, is take a breather. Just chill out. Think about why you’ve lost the last two elections, why the last election result was your worst in history since Confederation. Try to come up with some policy ideas that make sense and that you can present and in due course your moment will come. But this notion you have to rush Canadians back to the polls . .
Later in the show, Rutherford asks if the Conservatives would make a deal with the NDP:
RUTHERFORD: So, what, what is, is the likelihood of the NDP of getting something from the Prime Minister in some sort of promise Jason, some sort of pet project that would get fixed up, and then they would vote with the government. Is that possible?
KENNEY: No, I don’t think so. Look, we’ve always tried to demonstrate willingness to cooperate with the opposition parties and we did in the last budget. But, we’re not for sale to the highest bidder, least of all the NDP. They never deal with real people’s money. It’s all an abstraction for them. And at and end of the day it’s not in the NDP’s interest to have an election. They’re down in the polls. So are the Liberals. But, [the NDP]s a party of hardcore left-wing ideologues Dave. It’s not like a moderate, centre-left party. These folks, they drink their own Kool-Aid. Right? So I don’t think we can see a realistic arrangement with the NDP. I still hope that cooler heads will prevail. I have to tell you. I know a lot of Liberal MPs who think this is absolutely ridiculous, that know voters don’t want an election, that know the Liberals are unlikely to win an election, that results are unlikely to change.
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And finally, Rutherford opens the phone lines:
RUTHERFORD: Okay. Jason, a couple of calls. Don, hello.
DON (Caller): Hi. I want an election because I’m a western separatist and Stephen Harper and the Conservative government have basically been a distraction. So, I would like a corrupt, pro-Al Qaeda Liberal government to energize my base. And to top if off, the ultimate would be if Justin Trudeau could be the minister of natural resources and institute the carbon tax to rape the treasuries of Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.
UPDATE: Looks like Rutherford will give Bob Rae a chance for a little comeback on his show Thursday morning at 0930 MT.