Archive for November, 2008
The Day the Tories Spun Out…
November 30th 2008 will likely be recorded as this date.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has backed down from banning public sector strikes, they’ve backed down from culling the democratic process in Canada and has offered to move the budget up to an unprecedented, January 27th 2009. They’re even offering a stimulus now! Perhaps just to cover Stephen Harper’s deficit. The Conservatives are back to tactics that are completely dishonourable and quite likely illegal in taping an NDP caucus meeting. That alone should be enough for these guys to fall and for some to do some hard time. The reality is the Conservatives are so desperate for power they will break the law to gain and retain it. Any organization with such a lack of integrity should not be allowed to govern.
If Harper Prorogues, he loses, if he allows the vote he loses. The fact is, they’ve lost, and the Governor General cannot take any request for an election seriously at this point. Could you imagine having two Throne Speeches in two months? That would be a new meaning to ridiculous behaviour in Parliament.
I wish someone would do some national polling to find out what Canadians think of all of this crap…
4 Comments »What Will Harper Do?
Any guesses?
We’re a little over a week away from Stephen Harper’s tenure as Canada’s Prime Minister likely coming to an end, and not a moment too soon.
Harper is always on the wrong side of a legal or constitutional argument and on the eve of his political demise he is no different. I would not trust the constitutional advice being given from someone who is so ignorant he believes that a bill in Parliament can reform the Senate’s composition or selection process. Nor would I take the advice of someone who believes the House of Commons can alter the term length of the House of Commons or how an election is called.
After Harper’s illegal election, this scandal ridden, ideological driven Prime Minister is facing down a Parliament that is completely within it’s right to declare confidence in whomever they feel can best govern. That is the idea of how an election works. Harper got to stay Prime Minister after his illegal election because he was able to convince the Governor General he had the confidence of the House. It has yet to be tested but when it is, he will be proven not to have the House’s confidence. The Governor General would then be within her right to ask if anyone else is in a position to form a Government with the confidence of the House.
Harper got the first try, and has failed. Now it is someone else’s turn to give it a go and see what happens.
I can’t wait to see what happens when Steve ends up back as Leader of the Opposition. After his party lays off at least 300 Tory hacks, and loses the Prime Minister’s Office, will Harper dare face the electorate again? Will his Party let him? Or will an emboldened Peter MacKay or Jim Prentice begin the messy work of showing Steve where to find the door…
My hope is a unity government would stay as long as was necessary to see the country through the economic downtown. That could mean until 2011. This is a real opportunity for progressives to work together and do the right thing for the country and worry about partisanship later. I don’t recall the 1987 election in Ontario, after the last time the NDP and Liberals worked together, but I do know the result and it was definitely a good one for Ontario and did serve the interests of both the Liberals and NDP. I would love to see the Tories fall to third party status, as long as the Liberals were pretty certain they could hold the NDP in Opposition and return the country to stable majority governments.
During the coming days and months it is going to be critically important that internal bickering within the Liberal Party be kept to a minimum and that Liberals and New Democrats find ways to rise above partisanship to make it work.
We’re in uncharted territory and I’m sure in for a few more surprises between now and the 8th.
Here are some further posts by me on this:
Progressives Need to Stand Up – December 2nd 2008
The Day the Tories Spun Out – November 30th 2008
14 Comments »The Liberal Party Needs Be Careful…
I do support the idea of a coalition government to replace the current Harper Government. It is a good idea. Parliament has been elected and is in theory elected for up to five years. There is no reason for another election and if a majority of MP’s are not prepared to support the current Government, it needs to be replaced.
I do worry about how the Liberal Party will handle the possibility of a coalition government however. The Liberal Party needs to be careful not to inject leadership politics into the mix of the prospect of who would be Prime Minister. There is a huge risk if any of the three contenders is made Interim Leader, and Prime Minister that it may not sit well with members of the party who are currently engaged in a leadership process.
My view is that Stephane Dion is probably the easiest choice for the Liberal Party. He could serve as Prime Minister at least until the Liberal Party elects a new leader, at which point the governing coalition could either allow the next Liberal Leader to run the government or we could move to an election. I get that Dion is on the way out the door, but that is kind of the point and the attraction to me. I want to ensure the party has as fair a process for picking our next leader and would not want to see the Liberal Party move back to having a caucus selection process for Leader.
If not Dion, what about having a Prime Minister who sits in the Senate? It’s happened before, and I’m sure General Dallaire could provide the adult supervision necessary to manage an uneasy coalition designed to defeat a mutual enemy. Just a thought.
2 Comments »
