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Article Date18-01-2010
Record TYPENews
Article TOPIC 
Article TitleStoffer angry with Ignatieff
Article ContentStoffer angry with Ignatieff
'Quiet' Liberals giving PM free rein
By STEPHEN MAHER Ottawa Bureau
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper is able to run the country as if he had a majority because Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff isn’t doing a good job as Opposition leader, says Peter Stoffer, the NDP MP for Sackville-Eastern Shore. Mr. Stoffer, who is voted the most congenial MP year after year by his fellow colleagues, is not in the habit of making personal attacks to score partisan points, but he is angry with Mr. Ignatieff’s lack of reaction to Mr. Harper’s decision to suspend Parliament until March. "They’ve been very, very quiet," said Mr. Stoffer. "This is one of the reasons why Harper gets to do what he gets to do, because he doesn’t have an Opposition leader breathing down his neck. If you had someone like a Frank McKenna there facing him, I think it would be a different story all together." When Mr. Harper announced last week that he was proroguing Parliament, Mr. Ignatieff was out of the country on a family vacation, apparently at his family’s home in the south of France . That meant that it fell to Liberal House leader Ralph Goodale to take on Mr. Harper in the Canadian media. Mr. Ignatieff is back in the country now and will return to Ottawa today.
Mr. Stoffer, who was first elected in 1997, seems worried about Mr. Ignatieff.
"I don’t think, to be honest with you, if Iggy knows how to be a politician," he said. "I don’t even know if he likes it. I just don’t know. All these things have come to him on a silver platter, when you think about it, as an opposition politician. You’ve got the detainee issue. You’ve got a massive debt and deficit. You’ve got all kinds of things that the Conservatives have completely reversed themselves on . . . which is perfect for the opposition to go after them. "They don’t seem to be taking advantage of Conservative flip-flops and mistakes. It’s almost like he doesn’t want the job." Scott Brison, the Liberal MP for Kings-Hants, said it’s easy to find fault with any leader of the Opposition. "The fact is political leadership is always tough," he said. "The toughest political leadership is Opposition leadership. And as Canadians get to know Michael Ignatieff in the coming months, and as he tours the country in January and meets with Canadians in town halls across the country, he’ll engage in an important debate." Rodger Cuzner, the Liberal MP for Cape Breton-Canso, is a longtime supporter of Mr. Ignatieff, serving as his whip, enforcing party discipline.
He said Mr. Ignatieff can’t be blamed for Mr. Harper’s "sneaky" move proroguing Parliament. "It sort of caught everyone at a time when they weren’t focusing on politics so much," he said. "Peter’s leader and his wife are snorkelling down in Belize or somewhere. Jack Layton and Olivia don’t seem to be too concerned about it either. It’s when people weren’t paying attention, that’s when this guy sort of broke wind. You can quote that one, too, OK." Mr. Ignatieff will launch a cross-country campus tour with events in Dartmouth and Halifax on Monday.
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SourceSTEPHEN MAHER Ottawa Bureau
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