It seems to me that PM Martin put the final nail in his coffin tonight. Be reciting the Scott Brison talking points he offered nothing new expect for the opportunity for all three Opposition Leaders a national platform. MPs Harper and Duceppe took the opportunity and delivered great speeches. MP Layton may have cost himself his job today by selling his soul to the Liberal devil.
By having all of the Opposition Leaders come out after and answer questions it made the Prime Minister look weak and too scared to come out of hiding.
Tragic mistake.
Bound by Gravity has the exact opposite take on NDP Leader Layton. Greg at Sinister Thoughts concurs. I guess that is why I am not an NDP supporter...well that and 100 other reasons.
...Layton played the situation like a master. He is in a no lose situation. He made an offer to make things work and if it doesn't work out, well he tried. He looked serious about actually, you know, running the country. I mean that's what these guys are paid to do, right? Jamie Heath and the rest of the gang get a big tumbs up. Layton looks ready for the big time now, instead of bargain days at Big Jack's Discount Used Cars.
Captain Ed is more in my corner.
...I predict that this plea will do more damage than good for the Liberals, especially in light of their parliamentary actions this week. Martin and his party appear to be grasping at every last straw to remain in power, regardless of how it looks or what effect it has on democratic processes. Asking for the justice system to work before having voters make their decisions on the day that they find out the Liberals gave away judgeships for political favors is somewhat akin to murdering your parents and asking for mercy as a poor orphan. It not only looks terribly cynical, but it insults the intelligence of the audience.
Perhaps Martin has nothing left to say other than this pathetic plea. If so, he would have been better off keeping his mouth shut.
Premier Klein calls the Prime Minister a masochists for wanting to endure Question Period for the rest of the year. He also predicts a Conservative majority...but the Conservatives know how much help Premier Klein was last time around.
David Akin reports that if you've got your foot on a Liberals throat step down.
CTV also reports from Keith Brownsey Political Scientist from Mount Royal College (Thanks Peter). He thinks PM Martin nailed it and took away the ability from the Opposition to call an election. He also says it showed how good a communicator that PM Martin can be.
In Vancouver CTV reports - Not that impressed with PM Martin - not ready to go to the polls. There is your dilemma.
Update, April 22:
Chantal Hebert is not big on the maneuver either.
By putting a January expiry date on his minority government, Prime Minister Paul Martin has made a snap June election the lesser of two evils.
...And so the real question is whether Canada can afford eight more months of weak vacillating government, liable to bend the way of every passing wind in its desperate quest for an electoral comeback.
Already last night, NDP Leader Jack Layton made it clear that he would only see the government through this difficult patch if Martin rewrote his budget.
The issue is not whether Layton's demands are legitimate but whether this is the way Canadians want the country to be run — by a government that has a knife put to its throat by every popular group that comes its way.
...Finally, there is Martin's remarkable lack of presence in the minority Parliament.
For the bulk of the past week, as his government was undergoing the worst crisis of its short life, Martin let his ministers take the brunt of opposition attacks in his place in the House.
Neither Brian Mulroney, nor Jean Chrétien, for all of their faults, would ever have been caught missing in action.
...Under the cover of a debate about Martin's role in the sponsorship affair, the debate on Parliament Hill has shifted dramatically this week. It has moved on to the larger question of whether this Prime Minister still has the capacity to govern in the national interest.
Nothing Martin said last night was conducive to concluding that this is so.
Linda Williamson of the Toronto Star has the most dramatic take I have seen (Hat-tip to NealeNews for this and some of the links to come)
...For all its urgency, there was nothing new in Martin's message, or his absurd "commitment" to call an election precisely when it will be most convenient for the Grits. Except that it was the most blatant, manipulative, power-grabbing ploy they've come up with yet.
An address to the nation? Martin's brazen, grasping TV performance was more in keeping with that other Thursday night prime-time show, The Apprentice, where contestants argue desperately for their jobs.
All that was missing was for Conservative Leader Stephen Harper -- whose response was strong and sensible -- to come out and say, "Paul, you're a disaster. It's over. You're fired."
Now it's just a matter of time.
Jane Taber of the Globe and Mail has the inside the 613 buzz.
...Another Liberal MP called to say he was totally miffed by the exercise: "PMO spokesman Paul Martin did a good job for Scott Reid tonight," he said sarcastically, referring to the Prime Minister's communications director whose aggressive style has turned off many in the Liberal caucus.
...It was a day that saw the Prime Minister miss his third Question Period of the week. Yesterday, he spent it rehearsing his six minute speech in English and the nine-minute French version.
His absence was duly noted: "You're out there fighting, you're sitting there [in Question Period], you've got an army but there's no general. It's pretty hard to go to war," a Liberal MP said.
"This is chaos," said one Liberal MP. "This place is shut down."
