Liberal leader believes in lies, again.

He can see for miles - Peace, order and good government, eh?
...
But what really caught my eye in her reporting on the speeches at
the Canadian Jewish Congress celebration held in Toronto yesterday
evening was her quote from Michael Ignatieff, who said of Iran (among
other things):

This is a state seeking weapons of mass destruction.

It's interesting that someone who finally had to issue a mea culpa
in the matter of an invasion of Iraq based on lies about weapons of
mass destruction would be so quick to repeat such an accusation.
...

Liberal caucus gagged by Iggy

Firebrand: Iggy gags caucus III

Well, today comes confirmation that Ignatieff is muzzling his caucus
and is attempting to control the access his MPs have to the media. The Globe and Mail reports that

At his first caucus meeting as leader in December, [Ignatieff] made it clear the caucus speaks with one voice and it is his.

“He
laid down the law at the beginning. You could hear a pin drop,” a
Liberal insider said about the way Mr. Ignatieff outlined the new
one-voice strategy. He said Mr. Ignatieff possesses discipline and
firmness. “You know when you leave the room who the leader is.”

In addition, Ignatieff is banning "Liberal strategists" from appearing on TV panels without approval.

Canadians deserve better

James Laxer: The Liberals and the Road Not Taken

The Harper-Flaherty budget doesn’t do the job. New spending of about $6
billion this year and again next year, will create about 60,000 jobs.
It won’t make a dent in the rising tide of new joblessness that is
forecast to engulf Canadian communities from coast to coast. The layoff
notices are going out every day. The descent of our economy into
deflation is proceeding. Within a few months, the utter inadequacy of
the government’s policy will be evident to millions of Canadians.

More about the budget removal of funding for medical research in Canada

Hell, Upside Down: So Liberals Don't Support Stem Cell Research Eh?

While the Toronto Star regurgitates Liberal marketing saying "Liberals Put Tories on Probation" the headline in the Globe and Mail
today would indicate that the Liberals are either not watching Harper
closely enough or they agree with his anti-science idealogy. If not why
didn't they include funding stem cell research in their amendments:
...
The news spread like a virus through the research community yesterday
as the country's top scientists wondered whether the oversight was a
mistake. Genome Canada supports 33 major research projects in areas
such as genomics, agriculture and cancer stem cells with operating
grants of $10-million a year. The projects employ more than 2,000
people. By comparison, medical research grants from the federally
funded Canadian Institutes of Health Research run in the
$100,000-a-year range.

It also remains unclear how the budget
will affect the funding abilities of Ottawa's three government
research-granting agencies, including the CIHR.

No We Can't

Montreal Simon: Ignatieff and the Coalition that Won't Die

Michael Ignatieff had a chance to do the right thing, and stand up for the rights of poor Canadians, women, and children.

But instead he sold us all out. He'll blow Stephen Harper and "swallow hard" for the price of a meaningless amendment
...

He didn't even have the
guts or the decency to ask for changes to Employment Insurance, so many
more Canadians could be eligible for benefits, instead of being driven
into poverty and misery. Now there are two Conservative Parties in Canada: Harper's LibCons, and Ignatieff's ConLibs.

Jack Layton is now the real leader of the Opposition

James Laxer: Jack Layton Is Now The Real Leader of the Opposition: Ignatieff Plays Hamlet

Meanwhile, Jack Layton has become the real leader of the opposition. He showed courage when he reached out to the Liberals to form a progressive coalition that could provide Canadians with the leadership they need to cope with the economic crisis. He tried the option of working with the Liberals. Michael Ignatieff has walked away from that option. Layton has retained his integrity and his clear understanding of what the country needs. Progressives now have one party and one party only available to them: the NDP.

This budget won't lead Canada out of a recession...

James Laxer: This Budget Won’t Lead Canada Out of Recession: Ignatieff Should Defeat It

Depending on how you interpret the budget, the government is committing itself to direct new spending of about $10 billion to $12 billion, on infrastructure and housing, over the next two years. Some of this depends on matching provincial and municipal funds, which may never materialize. Much of it depends on how much the government actually spends, a crucial matter since the Harper government has left most of the previous infrastructure money it promised in earlier budgets unspent. At most, the new direct spending by the government amounts to about $6 billion a year.

These numbers may sound big. In fact, they are puny. The Canadian Gross Domestic Product totals about $1.5 trillion a year. Six billion dollars a year amounts to just over one half of one per cent of our country’s GDP. Economic announcements and forecasts tell us that Canada is on track to lose hundreds of thousands of jobs over the next six months. The Conservative government’s planned spending would create, at most, about sixty thousand short-term jobs.

The various tax measures in the budget will be equally ineffectual in stimulating the economy.