That should win over some of the male vote

“The cleavages are becoming sharper and more and more clear,” said Mr. Ignatieff.

Ignatieff may finally be listening to Liberal supporters who have been threatening to pull their support.   -

Liberal Party will oppose the Conservative government’s budget, Michael Ignatieff says, greatly increasing the likelihood of an election call in February or March.

The Liberal party also spoke with a lot more conviction yesterday in the House.  Maybe they are finally realizing that propping up the harperites to stall off an election because they are down in the polls is part of what is keeping them down in the polls.  That, and one other thing -

“I have low expectations that there will be anything in the budget” that his party can support, the Liberal Leader declared on Thursday in a year-end interview with The Globe and Mail, “because I think the differences in political philosophy are very clear.”

A lot of us have not been seeing clear differences, which has also caused many of us to turn away.  Words are fine, Ignatieff, and you have been telling us about some of the policies you would implement, but it's your actions we will watch.

This sudden energy just before Christmas may work well for the Liberals.  Canadians seem tired of the same-old.  Year end articles emphasizing harper's do nothing party and did-nothing rule feed that itch for change as well.

It will take a lot more than words to get past supporters to trust the Libs, me included.  I'd rather see a coalition NDP/Lib to get harper out and to keep the Libs focused on social policies, human rights, fair treatment for all Canadians.  A Lib minority would likely give us another dysfunctional House unless they and the NDP come to an informal agreement to put policy before politics and actually get something done.

Hearing Goodale in the House talk about stopping tax cuts for corporations was encouraging.  The overall focus yesterday the Libs placed on social issue was good.

Hard to see how they can back down from those clear policies and prop harper up this spring.  It has happened before, though, but the Liberals will lose whatever goodwill they gained this week if they do that.

Just vote the bastarcons out.  Then be ready to work on behalf of all of us - whether it's a coalition or Lib minority - because we'll be very vocal.