He could have ruled for 1,000 years...

Instead, Danny Williams calls it a career.

Few politicians get to leave at the height of their popularity - just ask Gordon Campbell. But Williams exits as one of the most popular politicians in the country and there's no reason to believe he couldn't have won another 2 or 3 (or 12) elections.

Williams' departure will certainly leave a gaping hole on the federal scene - it's not like Robert Ghiz, David Alward, or that guy in Manitoba are household names. Like Ralph Klein or Lucien Bouchard before him, Danny was a character, satirized from coast to coast, and leaving his mark on the federal scene.

I touched on this a bit when Gordon Campbell resigned earlier this month, but Williams' departure leaves Jean Charest and Dalton McGuinty as the the only premiers still standing with at least 2 election wins under their belt. And both of them could be gone within a year.

If they do depart, that means Stephen Harper would have outlasted all ten of the Premiers in power when he first took office. Go figure.

Provincial Uprising

Angus Reid has updated their Premier approval numbers from November and it's not rosy - only 2 of the 10 Premiers crack the 30% approval barrier.

And suddenly, Stephen Harper's underwhelming poll numbers start looking a lot more whelming by comparison. The man has struggled of late and may spend his life chasing an unobtainable majority, but at a time when voters are P.O.'d at governments coast-to-coast, he's still Canadians' top choice for Prime Minister.

The Premiers

Danny Williams 80% approve, 11% disapprove
Brad Wall 56% approve, 24% disapprove
Greg Selinger 27% approve, 28% disapprove
Darrel Dexter 23% approve, 53% disapprove
Gordon Campbell 23% approve, 60% disapprove
Jean Charest 22% approve, 53% disapprove
Dalton McGuinty 21% approve, 52% disapprove
Ed Stelmach 16% approve, 62% disapprove
Shawn Graham 15% approve, 62% disapprove

Despite his American vacation, Danny Williams towers over the field. 80%? Crap, I'm not sure Sidney Crosby could get that. The scary thing is, 80% is on the low side compared to other recent polls.

More and more, Danny is looking like this generation's Ralph Klein - he could choke 101 puppies to death in the Legislative Assembly and voters would shrug and say "that's just Danny being Danny". Because, after all, even puppies don't get 80% approval ratings, no matter how cute they are.

What's remarkable is that Williams has done it without the same partisan foundation Klein stood on - it's not like Newfoundland is an ultra-Conservative province, after all. I don't know how he does it, but if you could bottle Danny Williams, a teaspoon of him a day would turn anyone into a contender.

The news is less good for Danny's fellow Atlantic Canadians, who could certainly use a teaspoon or two of the Williams magic.

The biggest loser since November is Nova Scotia's Darrell Dexter, who has seen a 20 point swing in his numbers, most likely due to a series of expense claim scandals. Let this be a cautionary tale to all you kids out there on the dangers of experimenting with NDP governments.

Shawn Graham is now less popular than Ed Stelmach, which tells you all you all you need to know about how the New Brunswick Hydro sale has gone over. The weird thing is, you can't count Graham out in the upcoming election (likely this September) - a recent poll has him just 6 points down. The same holds true for equally unpopular McGuinty, Charest, and Stelmach.

No matter how cruddy the job of "Premier" has become, it still beats "opposition leader".

Danny Boy

The PCs win the Newfoundland election.

This is somewhat surprising. I didn't even know Newfoundland had an election going on.

Calvert Goes All In

Lorne Calvert and, now possibly Danny Williams, have decided to call Harper's bluff and may sue over the new equalization formula. To me, it seems like Calvert's holding a 2-7 off suit, because I can't for the life of me see any sort of legal justification for his claim. Even if natural resources are a provincial jurisdiction, there's no reason they can't be included in the equalization formula.

More likely, the upcoming provincial election in Saskatchewan and Calvert's sagging poll numbers are the catalyst behind this. However, after declaring the end of "the long, tiring, unproductive era of bickering between the provincial and federal governments", having several provinces sue the federal government, certainly can't be good optics for Harper.

In the News

1) The Hill Times has the Pat Martin idiocy of the week:

Last week MPs debated at length whether or not MP Pat Martin was allowed to refer to Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl as "Il Deuce", the Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini.

[...]

"We do call him Il Deuce, but it's important to note that I did not call the minister a fascist. I implied that he was acting like a fascist..." [said Martin]

2) Speaking of media hungry politicians, Danny Williams is aghast that Stephen Harper would dare run ads criticizing him...a mere two days after he ran ads criticizing Harper. Uh-huh.


3) Check out Coyne on the latest Vendu Vendu controversy. It's weird that no one picked up on this back in February when the ads first aired.


4) The media took a tour of the death star yesterday...the Liberal Party really needs to improve its fundraising abilities because the cash flow advantage is making life a whole lot easier for the Tories.


5) The Liblogs Youtube ads are getting a lot of media play today. And due to their unhealthy obsession with all things Cherniak, the Blogging Tories are giving them even more publicity. Anyways, here's my favourite, similar to a post I did last week:

Peace in our Time - Day 3

"The long, tiring, unproductive era of bickering between the provincial and federal governments is over."

-Jim Flaherty


Calvert Calls Budget a Betrayal

Budget unfair to Ontario: McGuinty

Equalization plan unfair MacDonald says

The political wrath of Premier Williams

Federeal budget fails: Boudreau

BC blasts budget for favouring Quebec

Provinces slam Tories fiscal gap cure

Budget's Central Canada solution splits regions