Living in the US the last 10 years I haven't been following this as close as I should have. I don't feel bad seeing a Conservative tossed, but I have to wonder how well a coalition will govern.
Are they going to be beholden to the traitors, er, BQ? As much as I dislike the two party system here in the states when the Reform and PC's got together the left in Canada was screwed by having the left leaning vote spread over several parties.
In general I don't think minority govt's or coalitions are a bad thing as it prevents one ideology from running roughshod over the country like 95% of the people voted for it instead of 51%.
While I am an anglophone from the East Coast, I believe the BQ has much more depth than many people realize.
No single issue party can survive, if the BQ is still around, and Quebec has not left Confederation, other needs are being met. If the BQ were as shallow as we have been led to believe, they would have falied long ago.
It seems to me that the BQ is a left leaning party that makes up a part of our political landscape and makes contributions for all of Canada.
I could be wrong, but there must be more to the story than a plan to leave.
All because Harper wanted to cut public funding from the political parties. I say lets have another election. The Tories would win it on this issue alone.
I'm not a Harper fan, but I prefer the wait-and-see approach they have taken toward dealing with problems with the economy over a throw-money-at-it approach that is being suggested the last while by the Liberals and the NDP (and has been implemented the past couple of months in the US).
It will become necessary to throw increased levels of money into public works and certain industries, and I'm fine with that, but when we've spent the last 15 years digging out of budget deficits and deep debt I would hate to see that good work go out the window on ill-conceived spending plans. If the US economy goes into sustained recession there isn't enough money in the federal or provincial budgets to avoid some economic pain here in Canada, and my main concern is a cycle of government that makes decisions based on short-term populist sentiment.
If a Liberal/NDP coalition government can implement sensible economic plans, and start to move our economy and culture more towards a greener and more sustainable model, then I'm all in favour of this change.
Whats even harder to take is the fact that the man that led the Liberals to their lowest seat total in history and was being turfed by his own party will now be Prime Minister.
The Block shouldnt even exist as a Federal Party as they provide no representation outside of Quebec. The Libs and NDP are going to cave to the BQ's demands in order to try and maintain this sham.
I realize it is indeed constitutional, but the fact that a non-Federal party is able to gain so many seats that any further majority governments may be hard to come by.
The NDP..well, what can I say?
These guys are using the current world financial situation to gain power that they were not voted into by the Canadian people.
Look at Israel if you want a history on the failure of coalition governments.
I hope the GG does the right thing and (as much as I hate it) calls an election. What, are we living in some African nation now?....
That's funny, my son (who is not old to vote) asked me about the BQ. I told him it's just a political party in Quebec. Which prompted the next question, "So how to they expect to become Prime Minister or the party in power if they only represent one province?"
I'm so pissed about this I can hardly see straight. I don't want the Liberals, NDP and Bloc anywhere near the purse strings during this financial crisis. How can we have any faith in a coalition including a Liberal Party that suffered it's worst defeat in history under Mr. Potatohead, the NDP with the annoying and ineffective Layton at the helm, and a third party who's ambition is the breakup of this country. This has nothng to do with the good of the country. This is merely a power grab by three desparate parties and their lame duck leaders who can not get power any other way.
We will pay for this economically on the world stage. Give me another election and we will bitch slap these morons back to where they belong.
Todays Globe and Mail editorial suggests the Mr. Harper should resign. Who woulda' thunk it!
Even -they- blame this mess on Harpers brash style. Looks like he's done himself in. This ought to be really interesting to watch over the next week or so. People will either think it's the end of the world, or the great hope of the century. It'll probably be neither.
Funny, Canadian politics are so boring 'til they're not. We just -love- a good political scandal and brouhaha.
How much ya' wanna bet we'll just see more of the same government silliness we've come to love over the years. Doesn't seem to make much difference who's in power, the little guy (and girl) is always the one to pay the price for political shenanigans of -any- flavour.
I hate having Harper in the big chair for another term, letting an ultra-right cretin like Flaherty run amok with finance, but I hate the idea of this coalition even more.
I was not completely against the coalition until I heard Bob Rae being interviewed on CBC radio this morning. He was simply unable to answer any specific questions. And if he can't answer those questions (and I consider him to be very bright and in touch with reality) I don't see how any of the rest of the stooges can handle it.
Clearly Layton is Curly. Which ones do you peg for Larry and Moe?
Let's see. Dion would be Larry, and Gilles Duceppe -might- be Moe, but I can't understand him so I'm not sure...
Hey, I don't think we should worry too much, I mean, our right wing is like the U.S. liberals, and our left wing is sorta like Norway, so we're pretty safe no matter who's running things.
The last election cost $350 million. No wonder we're going to run a a deficit. Harper passes a law that states federal elections will be every 4 years and then breaks his law and calls an election that cost us big bucks. Maybe if we have enough elections we'll get what we want. Isn't that how they got NFLD to join confederation?
It really doesn't matter who's running the big show. We will all pay. As much as I dislike Harper and his gang, they do appear to be the smartest of the lot. Isn't that the Canadian way? We don't pick who we want to run the country, we just vote for who we feel will do the least damage.
Let's just go with proportional representation and see how that works out. Maybe Janice can head up the Toronto office of the Bong party and all will be well. How much worse can it get?
It almost makes me regret studying political science.
Although this is a tad shocking...its really not surprising once you think about it...Harper doesnt bow down to the usual pressures that the Liberals and NDP do and lets not forget that he's supposedly standing up for the west (remember us?)...thats been so hard to swallow for the Ontario based Liberals...they'll stoop to any level to regain power,funny thing is the BQ wins and the Liberals are shamed now no matter what happens for many many years to come now.
Lets get on with the next election its been far to long.
Whether or not you agree with the shenanigans going on in parlament, what really pisses me off is that the govenor general has the ultimate say in this.
NO one person should have this power!
Revisions needed!
IMHO, the G.G. has done the right thing. It's the other 3 stooges (nice picture btw) I worry about. Actually, I think you may see stuff like this happening more often, as long as we have a minority government situation.
I fail to understand why the Government is responsible to introduce a package of significant new measures to address the economy. We certainly don't have the same lost confidence issues in banks like those south of the border. But then again, the banks here don't hand out NINJA mortgages (No Income, No Job or Assets), or atleast none that I'm aware of...
The best idea I've heard so far, is to "give the money to the people buying the cars, instead of to the big3. There will always be layoffs if people are afraid to spend."
I hate the Gov Gen and Lts Gov, useless figurehead positions from a bygone era that do nothing but cost money. Yes, the Gov Gen does have the power as the position exists now. But the position should be gone.
The Senate should either be elected or done away with as a non-democratic waste of money/den of useless hot air. Neither solution would bother me too much.
Party discipline needs to be reduced and more free votes allowed in the house. There should be the ability to defeat govt bills without the govt falling, except for budgets or a specifically called non-confidence vote.
As it is now a majority govt with party discipline can be treated as a dictatorship of the PM and cabinet - that shouldn't be allowed.
As an expat Canuck living in the Untied Snakes of Amerika i guess I should pay more attention to whats going on back in my home and native land. But, then again, why bother? Politicians the world over are cut from the same cloth as far as I can tell. Mabey we should give the old Inuit ladies a go and see how they do.
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