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Canadian federal election
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Elc

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PostPosted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 3:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

*evil double post, dammit*

It seems my pessimism over the election was well founded as we are not only facing the potential overthrow of the government in one week's time, but the Opposition parties have opted to form a Liberal-led coalition to replace the Conservative minority government.

If it's not bad enough that we were left with yet another (legitimately elected) minority government, which was called because the parties of the Opposition refused to work with the Conservative government, the coalition wishes to give the Canadian people the Trudeau salute and install a government to their liking with what is little more than a coup d'etat utilizing a loophole which hasn't been used in nearly a century (see the King Byng Affair of 1925). The primary difference in this case is the Opposition hasn't even tried to make the government work (it's been only two weeks since the session began, for fuck's sake) despite both Dion and Layton promising to work with the government.

I would rather we be subjected to another election before the Governor General simply hands over control of the country to a glorified dictatorship consisting of parties who did not receive the confidence vote of the Canadian people less than two months ago. What would truly suck about the coalition, should it succeed, is it would hold a majority of the seats in Parliament and could not be brought down in a confidence vote as the Bloc Quebecois and the NDP have agreed to support it until June 2011. So, my hope is the Governor General sees through the bullshit of this coalition and puts the decision in the hands of the Canadian people.
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Dragonstar13

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PostPosted: Sat Dec 06, 2008 8:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Well the government is suspended now, giving Harper more time.
It seems like Dion is going to step down though, due to his recent actions.
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Gil-galad

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PostPosted: Sat Dec 06, 2008 10:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

My first thought when reading this thread is: "How the hell does Harper have the power to do all of this?!" I mean, seriously. He first called for a special election in the middle of a term-- then suspended parliament because he didn't get the majority he wanted? How can that be allowed? Seems to me that there needs to be some serious revision in the powers given to those in control.
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Elc

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PostPosted: Sat Dec 06, 2008 7:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

Quote:
He first called for a special election in the middle of a term


He didn't just call an election for the hell of it. The election was called because none of the parties of the Opposition were willing to work with the Conservatives and, thus, Parliament would have been unable to function. The alternative would have been to wait for a confidence vote to bring down the government and have an election anyway.

Jean Chretien, former Prime Minister and former leader of the Liberal party, called an election in the middle of a term while he had a majority government and, thus, wasn't in danger of being defeated by any confidence votes. It wasn't any surprise that the election was called because the Liberals approval rating was high at the time.

Quote:
then suspended parliament because he didn't get the majority he wanted?


That's not why he suspended Parliament. Barely seven days after the session of Parliament began, and Harper isn't exempt of blame in this, the Opposition did not like the economic stimulus plan which the Conservatives had put forward so they decided to form a coalition (with Stephane Dion as leader) with the balance of power being held by the separatist Bloc Quebecois, to bring down the government and have itself installed in its place without the vote of the Canadian people. A recent opinion poll has revealed that, despite what vocal majority there might be online, 75% of Canadians do not want a coalition government to take power and all of Canada, with the exception of Quebec (no surprise there), are not comfortable with a separatist party holding the balance of power in said coalition. What the opinion poll did reveal is if there was an election today, the Conservatives would get a majority.

Harper requested Parliament be suspended until the budget could be introduced in late January in order to keep the Opposition from bringing down the government (which would have happened this Monday) in a confidence vote. This comes seven weeks after both Stephane Dion and Jack Layton vowed to work with the Conservative government on the economy, yet at the first opportunity they cry foul and pull this coalition idea out of their asses as a desperate attempt to grab power for themselves despite the Canadian people voting to put the Conservatives in power. By suspending Parliament, the confidence vote will not happen as planned and the Opposition would need to pass a new motion to introduce a confidence vote upon the Parliament session resuming. However, if the budget does not provide the grounds for such a vote, it will be that much more difficult for such a motion to be successful.

No matter how people want to spin it, at the dissolution of Parliament prior to the election, the Conservatives held 127 (up from the 125 they won in the 2004 election) of the 308 seats in Parliament and, through the election, now hold 143 seats. The Liberals, on the other hand, held 95 seats at dissolution (down from the 103 they won in the 2004 election) and only managed to hold onto 77 seats. Had the separatist Bloc Quebecois (which, by its very nature is an oxymoron, a federal separatist party?) not existed, the Liberals may have seen a much better showing and the idea of a coalition with the NDP would have been more palatable to the Canadian people. The issue here is, with the Bloc Quebecois holding the balance of power in such a coaltion, it would essentially be Quebec extorting the rest of the country in order to secure their support in legislation. The Bloc Quebecois does not care about what is best for Canada as a whole, they only care what is best for Quebec. If what is best for Quebec also happens to be best for Canada, that's just a coincidence.

Stephane Dion has even gone to say that working with Quebec and having their voice heard in government would help reconcile the province with Canada, but if they weren't hellbent on electing a party which, as its own leader even said in the leadership debate, has no possibility of forming the government, their voice would be heard. The irony here is Quebec's provincial legislature is a Liberal minority government, with the separatist Parti Quebecois losing steam.
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Jowy Atreides




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PostPosted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 1:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote Add User to Ignore List

At the end of the day, there will be another election soon. The voters (outside of Quebec) will punish the Liberals and New Democrats by giving the Tories a majority. The Bloc could rule Quebec if the other parties don't get their act together. I think Quebecois are willing to vote for other parties, if they show that they understand Quebec's issues. Keep in mind that the Bloc actually ended up losing 2 seats this time around, despite the leaders' mistakes in poutine land.

Of course, this is only if the election happens soon. If Harper allows too much time to pass, some other issue may come to the forefront. I'm sure Canadians are tired of going to the polls every two minutes, but I think they'll be glad to hand the Tories a majority after all this petty bickering by the opposition parties. I'd vote Conservative if I lived up north.
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