Are the Liberals doing a flip flop on their throne speech demands?

Just two weeks ago, when the Bloc and NDP were threatening to defeat the Conservative government by opposing the throne speech, opposition leader, Stephane Dion weighed in with his demands. Unless the Conservative government satisfy four key priorities, they would risk not having Liberal support said Stephane Dion,

He knew that two of these demands, including the reintroduction of bill C-30 and telling NATO allies that Canada would end the combat mission in Feb 2009 would likely not be satisfied in the throne speech, but he still included them, so he was in was in fact laying the groundwork to defeat the government.

When Mr. Dion made these demands, he thought he was being clever. The gap between the Liberals and the Conservatives were as little as two points in some polls back then and in his mind he had finally put Prime Minister Stephen Harper in a box, where he would be forced to implement the opposition’s parties agendas, as the Prime Minister would not want to risk an election. Instead he was outfoxed when the Prime Minister called his bluff with the “fish or cut bait” news conference.

Now with increasing turmoil within his own party and the loss of Liberal support in the polls, Mr. Dion and the Liberal party seems to have done a 180 degree turn. They are now saying that they don’t want an election, and if there is one, it will be Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s fault, even though the Conservatives hold a minority of seats in parliament.

Toronto-area MP, Bryon Wilfert, associate foreign affairs critic in the Liberal caucus, is now advocating partial abstentions by the 96-member Liberal caucus in the Commons, in order to keep the government in power. Mr. Dion has not refuted this, so he appears to be endorsing this change in policy. No longer is he making the minimum demands for Liberal support that he was making just two weeks ago.

Mr. Dion is now caught between a rock and a hard place, as he faces two unpalatable choices. He can either “stick to his principles” and have his party defeat the government on the throne speech, but face an election that they are not ready for, or he can grudgingly support the policies outlined in the throne speech and be forever perceived as a weak politician without any principles. It will be interesting to see whether Mr. Dion and the Liberals do a flip flop on this issue and allow the throne speech to pass without satisfying their four key priorities. If he does, he would lose a lot of creditability and it will be the beginning of the end for Mr Dion's tenure as Liberal party leader.