by Gayle Furr

(Ed. Sometimes the comments here are so good and well thought out, they deserve their own byline.) You don’t have to tell us our Parliament’s a mess, eh!  We’ve having to live through it, eh? As a Canadian I feel I must correct a couple of points, and offer some further explanation as to the events.

First correction, there are only two parties in the proposed coalition, the Liberals (with 77 seats) and the NDP (New Democratic Party, with 37 seats).  The Bloc Quebecois (49 seats) is not a member in the coalition, but their leader, Gilles Duceppe, has offered to support the coalition if it comes about, and to not to raise the issue of separation during it’s term.  Coalitions are a rarity in Canada.

The majority of the Canadian public polled say they disagree with the opposition parties assessment, that they want a change in government, just 6 weeks after we re-elected this government, on October 14th.  But the Prime Minister, and his Conservative Party (with 143 seats), has lost the support of the majority of the MPs, Members of Parliament, in the House of Commons. The general public is however, sick of all the bickering, posturing, back room deals, and personal desires interfering in the politics of running the country.  Sick of all the elected officials, no matter what party, and even the Prime Minister realizes this, and has said in an interview that all parties have to accept the blame for this.  Not so much good sport in watching it for us, eh?

Second correction; unlike Britain we do have set election dates, have since May 2007.  Our next scheduled election was to be Mon. Oct. 19th, 2009, but the Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, asked the Governor General (the Queen’s Representative), Michaelle Jean,  permission to have one earlier.   Our elections are normally to be the third Monday of October, in the fourth calendar year following the last election.  She agreed, and dissolved (prorogued) Parliament, picked an election date, and told the Chief Electoral Officer to issue writs for an election.  The Governor General sets all election dates in Council.   Historically elections must have been held at least every 5 years, a full term was five years long.  However, no government has ever gone full term, elections tended to be held about every four years, unless an exception like the one this October, where the Prime Minister asked for one earlier so he could try to, and did, add seats to strengthen to his government.

The Governor General also has the power to prorogue (suspend) the government, as she does before an election, but also when asked to by a Prime Minister, for a specific reason, as she has now.  While suspensions for reasons other than an election are rare in Canada, even rarer than coalition governments, they are not unprecedented as some claim.  She is also who would decide what happens if the opposition votes the Prime Minister out, with a vote of no confidence, which is what he is trying to prevent with this delay.  If a no confidence vote passes, she accepts the Prime Minister’s resignation, and either approves a coalition government, and which of the party leaders would be PM, or she appoints the leader of the opposition as PM, therefore having a minority government, which is the usual action taken in Canada (the last two governments ended by votes of no confidence were in 2005, and I believe 1979).

I think it was a bad idea, in these critical times, to prorogue the government, and so do many other Canadians, even those who support Harper (I’m not one who does).  It was key points of what he’d include in the upcoming budget, that riled up the opposition, and caused them to unite.  I think he should have been prepared for such an event, and actually had the budget completed, so any necessary changes could be made, and a vote taken right away.  Not to ask for an extension to get it ready, to me it shows that remaining in power is his main aim, not leading the country.  

What could happen to our economy in the meantime?  One of the points the opposition is making, and one of the reasons they said they wouldn’t pass the budget, and would have a vote of no confidence, is that there was no economic stimulus in the budget highlights.  So now we wait, and nothing happens with the economy, until Jan. 26th, when Parliament will re-open, with a new throne speech, and then the next day the presenting of the budget.  Which may, or may not, be accepted: and there may, or may not, be a vote of no confidence.  The possible outcome seems to change daily.  In the meantime all the parties fling mud at the others, with the PM’s party spending big bucks on ads against the proposed coalition.

Three points of the upcoming budget that were strongly opposed by the opposition parties were:  A cut to government funding (through subsidies) of the political parties.  The Prime Minister’s Conservative Party is the richest, and the cuts would not harm it much, but  could wipe out any of the other parties in Canada;   A three year ban on civil servants’ right to strike;  Putting limits on the ability of women to sue for pay equity.  The Prime Minister when faced with the possible non confidence vote, over several days backed down from his position on these, and said they’d be taken out of the upcoming budget. It wasn’t enough for the opposition as the economy still didn’t seem to being addressed.  The opposition wants s multi-billion dollar economic stimulus package, with fast aid to the auto, and forestry, industries which are hurting big time right now.

Over the course of last weekend big changes happened in the opposition, which could mean there’d be no coalition to consider, even if the PM was voted out.  The leader of the Liberal Party, Stephane Dion, who’s had a lot of flake ever since being elected head of the party, and even more since the coalition announcement, announced that he’d step down as soon as a replacement could be found for him.  A date was set for a leadership vote, but over several days, and several days before the leadership vote was to take place, all the candidates withdrew their names, and threw their support behind another man, the new leader of the Liberals, Michael Ignatieff.  Now Ignatieff doesn’t rule out the possibility of a coalition, but he’s met with Harper recently, and says he wants to see what stimulus is offered in the budget, before deciding whether there’d be a coalition, or not.