http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/video/transcripts/all_politics_no_government_1.html
OK, Americans like to joke about the passive nature of us Canadians, but there is basically a political coup happening in Parliament, which although legal is absolutely enraging a good chunk of the country and will probably do more damage than good in the long run. Basically Stephen Harper won the election with about 37% of the popular vote and then got arrogant in the very first meeting of Parliament and assumed he could shove whatever crazy right-wing legislation he wanted past the House and not get called on it. In this case, it was cutting funding for all parties to help in the financial crisis. Now I voted Conservative quite happily but that one took some balls and I can see why the politicians got pissed off by it. Voters, not so much, but the politicians yeah. However, the response was so crushingly stupid that it actually has most of Western Canada ANGRY about something that doesn't involve an argument about whether Ford or GM is better. Basically the losing parties are banding together to oust Harper and form a coalition government, supposedly in response to Harper's arrogance but it's now seeming as though they had it planned all along. And it needs the backing of the Bloc Quebecois (a Quebec-only party whose entire mandate is separating Quebec from the rest of Canada) to get anything done. And what's gonna get done? Why, spending money that the West generates and already sends to Ontario, of course! Because look how well George Bush's stimulus package worked for you guys.
Anyway, the CBC's Rex Murphy has a great diatribe above summing up how childish and stupid the whole thing makes everyone in Ottawa look, and this thing is gonna get a whole lot uglier before it gets better, especially if the Liberals have the guts to go back to the polls again any time soon and see just what Canadians think of them now.
Tags: Canada, Coalition, Politics, Stephen Harper
This is probably one of the most insane things I have witnessed in Canadian politics. I can’t believe that Liberals would do something so stupid when they don’t even really have a leader at the moment and may force taxpayers to spend another $300 million on an unnecessary election during economic hard times that will probably still yield the same result in terms of political standing (although anyone with half a brain in the Conservative party should take up the wasting tax money on an election notion and run vicious attack ads on it .)
It also makes politicians look even more greedy by only challenging the government when money going to THEM is being threatened. You’d think something like, oh I don’t know, putting Canadian soldiers in an unwinnable violent situation like Afghanistan would be more important. I guess not, though.
And they wonder why young Canadians are so disinterested in politics. There is almost no one I can look to in Parliament and be proud that they are serving my country.
Whatever.
Speaking of the Bloc Quebecois, I wondered whatever happened to them. I’m a Yank who used to work with a Torontonian who swore death on any French-speaking area that separated Canada from its eastern provinces, claiming they wanted to be separate yet still expected money from Ottawa. Never knew if it was true or just him venting.
It’s interesting to hear that a conservative is now Canadian prime minister…..here in the states, conservative is a dirty word since Bush fell out of favor and Obama got elected. Add in California now banning gay marriage and the liberals are in full attack mode.
All due respect, Scott, that’s far from the whole story. Cutting funding for political parties – which nobody believes would be of any benefit in the current fiscal crisis – was only one part of the proposal. The true crazy right-wing part of what was proposed was taking away the right from federal workers to strike and eliminating pay equity. Not to mention the fact that there wasn’t a single move toward any kind of economic stimulus package.
This was classic Harper hubris, and good on the opposition parties for not rolling over and taking it like they did everything else throughout the first term of his minority government. Not that this isn’t going to be an absolute dog’s breakfast …
Yeah, as I was inferring, Harper basically shot himself in the foot with his arrogance, so I certainly don’t fault someone for standing up to him. I just think the people standing up to him are more of a danger than the current danger is — it’s the old “do the ends justify the means” thing. Is proving a point to Harper worth selling out the country to Quebec?
Maybe I’m just too ingrained as an Albertan from the Ralph Klein years, but I was hoping that Harper would get the majority and then do the Klein slash-slash-slash thing until Canada was in the black again, which seemed to be his goal amidst all his other problems. Goes to show the difference between running a one-party province and a minority federal government, I guess.
Gotta say, I don’t think the whole party funding thing was as big of an impetus as has been made out. If it was, the coalition would have stopped after that proposal was rescinded over the weekend. Really, it’s more about some elected folks getting upset about some other elected folks not doing anything to try to do something about the economy during a scary time. Power grab or not (it’s politicians, who’s kidding who), it’s really about people thinking something needs to be done, whether they are right or wrong.
I wouldn’t worry about an election. Everybody involved knows that NOBODY wants another election, and anyone who calls it would be a dead duck. Never mind Harper’s incessant goading otherwise.
As for the Quebec thing, the BQ isn’t a part of the coalition officially, they merely signed an agreement to support the coalition. And that could be a double-edged sword. What if the Liberals-NDP got into power and suggested something the Bloc doesn’t like. Can they back out, or do they have to follow along? The BQ could be the ones selling out.
Harper shouldn’t scream too loudly about that, as it was only a few years ago that he was trying to cozy up to the Bloc in order to oust the then Liberal government. Apparently, he thinks nobody remembers.
In other news, Canada has been running federal surpluses for at least a decade, and those have actually gone down under the Conservative government. The country would be in better shape to weather the coming economic storm if that hadn’t been happening.
For all their talk about fiscal responsibility, conservatives’ record on running budgets isn’t too good. I’ve mentioned this government’s record on such, and the last Conservative government, Mulroney’s era, saw the already large federal deficits pretty much double. And south of the border, the Reagan-Bush I years saw a huge increase in deficits. Clinton managed to put the American government back in the black (at least regarding deficits) after a few years, but Bush has never run a balanced budget and the American debt has doubled (5 to 10 trillion) during his time in office. Actions speak louder than words.
People can be justly pissed off about this Canadian coalition running a bit loose with power (there’s only so much I would defend them), but then again, Harper is the one threatening to suspend Parliament so he doesn’t lose a non-confidence vote next week. Which is the bigger threat to democracy?
In short, they are all being babies, it’s just who has the smelliest diaper.
In no way is this coalition “selling out to Quebec.” You’re buying into the insane rhetoric spewed by Harper to inject fear. Yes, the BQ’s primary mandate is to separate, but that’s not an issue they’re currently pursuing, especially since they know that a referendum on that matter would be a losing proposition for them once again.
Harper bemoaning Duceppe’s inclusion and claiming that the coalition is working against the greater good of Canada is all bullshit. Couple that with his false claim that they didn’t “sit in front of a Canadian flag” when they signed the agreement, and it all feels vaguely familiar.
Dion is a secret separatist::Obama is a secret muslim.
They won’t stand in front of a Canadian Flag::Obama won’t wear a flag lapel pin.
It’s all bullshit neocon fear-mongering that didn’t work for the Republicans in the south.
I KNOW! Like, that flag was an entire six feet away from their table! Treason!
I’m not worried about separation for the immediate future, but this deal does look as if part of the deal is for Québec to get an inordinate amount of money compared to the rest of the country, which I do not much agree with. What a fucked up political system we have in this country (though we’re not at all unique in that respect).
I don’t think Quebec will be getting an inordinate amount of money. Duceppe is there for 2 reasons: To drum up the support of the Quebec populace for the coalition as a whole (he WAS the primary reason Harper is not a majority) and to make sure Quebec is treated fairly instead of like the red-headed step-child of Canada.
Quebec has the greatest population of Canada, tons of mineral and energy exports, and deserves to be treated fairly when forming the Federal budget, despite some of the ridiculous political leaders and ideas we’ve had in the past 10-15 years.
On the plus side, Duceppe is not a fan of Pauline Marois, who likely won’t be elected Premiere regardless. I don’t like Duceppe either, nor his separation mandate, but I don’t doubt that his intentions are for the greater good of Quebec and to make sure the Tories don’t run roughshod over one of Canada’s most important provinces.
Like your reasonable attitude, just a couple of facts that are a little off.
Quebec’s population (7.5 million) is less than a quarter of the Canadian population and far less than Ontario’s population. And it’s mineral and energy exports are no more than Ontario’s and far less than the West. Quebec isn’t that big of a province.
If there is no guaranteed money (or guaranteed money that is roughly proportionate to the rest of the provinces) for Quebec out of this agreement then I may have been mislead and am therefore less in opposition to what is going on. And by less opposition, I mean more apathy. I absolutely love our country, but dang if I haven’t been paying a lot of attention to these recent developments.
Ontario has sent money out to the other provinces for decades whether they’ve needed it or not – especially out west. Now that we need some help, we’re getting slapped in the face by the feds and the provinces our Ontario tax dollars helped build and maintain.
I don’t like what the opposition parties are doing right now in Ottawa, but Harper got cocky and been poking and taunting a sleeping bear (Opposition Parties/Ontario/Quebec) for too long. How’s can he cry foul now that the bear’s woken up, and his hand is being bitten off? He’s made the biggest mistake of his political life, and his financial policies have emptied the federal coffers. How could Harper have expected the opposition parties to vote for a policy that would slit their own throats? I think he went temporarily insane and forgot that he’s leading a MINORITY government, not a majority government.
All being said, I’d rather see Harper stay Prime Minister and actually work with the opposition parties to come up with common solutions for all Canadians, and not just the west and rural Canada. I don’t think that this is the time for a change in government, especially Celine, er, Stephane Dion will be replaced as Liberal Leader in six months. We need stability and prudent solutions right now more than anything.
At least this “coalition” did one smart thing in not having Jack Layton lead this thing. The last thing Canada needs is a guy who looks like a used car salesman leading the country. Even if that means we have to make Dion a transition PM.
And exactly when the frak did Dion grow a set? Regardless, if we’re forced to go to the polls again, I hope this causes the Tories to win an overwhelming majority so we can be free of these continual elections for at least 4 years.
Oh Canada. You so crazy!
Its like Italy with crappy weather.
Hey! Well, the weather’s mostly nice in-
OK, you got us.
Firstly, Harper is a horse’s ass. He went into this knowing the opposition parties would have to either form an unholy coalition, or trigger another election. Its an exit strategy for a guy who wanted to be dictator or nothing. Since its impossible to fathom the political parties accepting the funding cut (which would have done nothing to help the economy) its really just Harper’s exit strategy. Harper is not a statesmen, he is a child who is asking for his ball back before he leaves the field.
Those who criticize the opposition are focused on the wrong thing. What could they possibly do? There is no way they could let Harper’s donkey-ass legislation go forward – it would create a 1 party system known as fascism.