Angry in the Great White North

The guys at Uni.ca, the Canadian unity site, are definitely pro-Liberal. To them, conservatives are not really Canadians. Here is what they have to say about the likes of Andrew Coyne and David Frum:

In the long run, these men are irrelevant. the country will evolve in a way they will not like, because the citizenry are far more wise than these popinjays give them credit for. Most Canadians understand without much difficulty that building tanks to fight phantom armies, privatizing social security, privatizing health care, reducing social services and enshrining privilege for the rich are not in their best interests. In fact, they have become so despairing at Canada's failure to succumb to their outraged right-wing entreaties that both have fled and spent considerable time in the United States to replenish their hopes and stave off depresion at Canada's doggedly socialistic tendencies.

Knowing what you now know about them, consider then this write-up of the Prime Minister:

Never have hopes been so dashed. On the eve of his coronation as Prime Minister, Plan A federalists believed with full hearts that Paul Martin would advance the cause of national unity. Never has a Prime Minister so under-delivered.

Paul Martin and his advisors think small and govern excessively by polls.

And about calling the Gomery Inquiry?

Canadians could see that Martin's real motivation was to get revenge on Chretien. They were unconvinced by Martin simplistic masquerading as an "agent of change". Miscalculating that the wind was at his back, and relying upon this small-picture thinking, Martin cowardly disavowed himself from the sponsorship program, and sicked the lions on Chretien and an entire wing of the Quebec Liberal party by calling the Gomery Inquiry. The results could not have been worse, both for Martin and the country.

And again, the implicit statement that we should have put up with corruption and theft of Canadian funds, for fear of offending people in Quebec:

By calling the inquiry, Martin has succeeeded in thoroughly besmirching the reputation of the Liberal party in Quebec for a generation and has thereby (ironically) ensured that he will never win as many seats in Quebec as Jean Chretien. By so miscalculating and hurting the only federalist party in Quebec that had any credibility, Martin has done more to provide Lucien Bouchard with his long-cherished winning conditions than anyone since Clyde Wells. Even Jean Lapierre, a Martin lieutenant, and a longtime adversary of Chretien, has admitted that the Gomery Inquiry is a spectacular setback for the federalist cause.

Martin's decision to call the Gomery Inquiry must be seen in the bigger picture of national unity for what it is. An indulgent, vengeful exercise, a spectacular political misudgment which has damaged federalists in Quebec.

This was written prior to the deal with Ontario to provide an additional $6 billion, but they say it coming:

As for Martin's Plan A dealings with the provinces, Mr. Martin's game is no better. In terms of finances, Mr. Martin weakly gives away the federal government's fiscal store, hoping the money will buy him a majority government. In the health care negotiations, Martin was crushed by the premiers, who left with a bagful of cash, no strings attached, with no requirement that the funds be used to establish national standards.

In the midst of the last election campaign, desperate for the majority which was slipping through his fingers, Martin sacrified principle for expediency by promising Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams billions in exchange for his support in the election.

Already, the other provinces are lining up and whining for similar deals. Based on their performance so far, one fears how Team Martin will respond.

This all leads to a rather nasty opinion of the Prime Minister:

This speaks to fundamental flaws in Paul Martin as a leader of Canada, a fundamental lack of judgment, and an inability to see all of the angles relating to the national unity file. In addition, he has lost the respect of the premiers and is not seen as a man of his word. And you cannot be an effective leader in a nation like Canada without the respect of your peers, good judgment and good peripheral vision.

So time for a new leader, right? Wrong, it's time for some very harsh advice:

Shooting a triple bogey is not the end of the world when you are playing golf, but it is unacceptable when you are the Prime Minister responsbile for national unity. It is high time that Paul Martin get his act together.

That's it?! After all that, after listing all his failings, both in his decisions and in his character, you're going to tell him to "get his act together"?!

There are other choices, people. Stop acting like you're stuck with Paul Martin until the Liberal Party decides to replace him.

But these guys don't get it. Instead, it sounds like they will vote for Paul Martin again. But this time, this time, this weak man who had dashed their hopes and under-delivered and shown himself to be a vindictive coward had better get his act together, because if he doesn't, more vicious essays will be written, more brows will be furrowed, more grumbling will be heard, before they vote Liberal again.