Time for centre-left merger, says Harvard

A long time Manitoba Liberal says it's time for his party to do some soul-searching following a dramatic drubbing at the hands of Canadian voters Monday night.

Former Lt. Gov. and ex-MP John Harvard said the collapse of the party in Manitoba mirrors what happened across the country. The Liberals will be reduced to 34 seats in the next Parliament and barely hung on to just one seat in Manitoba: Winnipeg North.

Harvard said it may be time to unite the centre-left of the political spectrum with both Liberals and New Democratic Party uniting under one banner.

Although Harvard said he can support anyone who is progressive, that may prove to be more difficult for others in his party. "They're going to have to ask themselves where they want to be," Harvard said of his Liberal colleagues. "So we may face a major realignment and a realignment doesn't bother me at all."

Harvard worked on Anita Neville's campaign in Winnipeg South Centre where the Liberals lost to newly-minted Conservative Joyce Bateman.

He said the negative portrayal of Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff by other parties didn't help Neville.

"The demonization, you know, the blemish on Michael Ignatieff hurt her as it hurt him."

Meanwhile, former Liberal Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy couldn't believe what he was seeing as the results came in Monday night.

"It was like living through a political tsunami," he said.

Axworthy and other Manitoba Liberals knew there were going to be losses but they never expected the party to be sent to the political wilderness.

Axworthy, who is currently the president of the University of Winnipeg, was an MP from 1979 until he retired from public life in 2000.

During his last 12 years in office, he held the Winnipeg South Centre seat. Watching it go Conservative on Monday was a tough pill to swallow, he said.

"It is kind of difficult to see a place that had been a Liberal stronghold for 30 years or so all of a sudden switch but, you know I wish the new member of Parliament well," he said.

Some have suggested Ignatieff failed to connect with Canadians. Tuesday morning Ignatieff stepped down as leader. Axworthy worried about the timing of that decision. "I'm not sure if it's good for the Liberal Party. It may propel us too quickly into another leadership race."

But he wasn't about to rush into a political embrace with the New Demorats, saying it's time for Liberals to examine what the party should be in the future, and to mentor the next leader.

"There's an old saying, lie down and cry a while — and then we can arise to fight again."