The Conservatives' reaction was fast and furious to news that the opposition parties have signed off on a historic deal to kick them out of office and replace them with a coalition government.
His voice dripping with scorn, Prime Minister Stephen Harper yesterday accused Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion of playing "the biggest political game in Canadian history" and of relying on "socialists" (New Democrats) and "separatists" (Bloc Québécois) to vault himself into power. Harper's ministers and MPs used language like "deal with the devil" and "secret cabal" to describe the arrangement.
The suggestion was that the coalition deal was illegitimate and undemocratic, a coup d'etat.
It is nothing of the sort. It is the way our parliamentary system works, especially in the immediate aftermath of the election of a minority Parliament. Furthermore, the Harper government created an opening for the opposition parties last week by tabling a provocative "economic statement" that failed to address the economic crisis but contained poison pills it must have known they could not swallow.
Harper and his government took some steps away from those toxic measures last weekend, but it was too late. The opposition had made up its collective mind that Harper could not be trusted.
Full Story here: http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/546757
3 comments:
Aren't Harper and his conservative party being more than a little hypercritical? Harper wrote to the Governor General when he was in opposition to Martin's government, suggesting that he and the NDP and the Bloc could form a coalition to defeat Martin. Now suddenly when he is faced with the same situation, only this time it is the Liberals, NDP and the Bloc, it is undemocratic. The Opposition collectively hold more seats and have a larger percentage of the popular vote than Harper does so they are as legitimate a group as Harper's Conservatives are. If they can work together to provide better government than Harper so be it. Coalitions work well in many other counties so why not here. Harper got caught trying to use the economic crisis to implement some of his neoconservative agenda instead of showing some leadership and bringing forward concrete proposals to help Canadians deal with the coming economic storm. We had an election that did not change the status quo - we still have a minority parliament and that is the will of the people so whoever can form an effective government and lead us through this crisis is the government the people want. If Harper doesn't like it then he should have thought of that before he tried to ram his agenda through in the guise of economic reform. For my money the Canada Elections Act, that Harper was trying to repeal by trying to cut the "subsidies" to political parties, is one of the best pieces of legislation that has been enacted in this country in a very long time. Limiting the power of corporations over our elected officials, imposing rules on election spending and paying election expenses out of the public purse goes a long way to ensure that we have fair and transparent elections. Personally I want to know who is influencing our politicians and when there is a free for all with regard to political donations that is not possible. Honest politicians will admit that when they are beholding to large donors their interests generally take precedence and it makes governing in the public interest very difficult. Harper's other little land mine was the intention to remove the right to strike from civil servants. Public service strikes can be very devastating to the public good and if we decide that they are too damaging to peace and good order and we need to limit them, we must have a fair and transparent alternative to collective bargaining. Harper failed to present any alternative in his economic update. There is no justice or fairness if the government can both prohibit strikes and then be the sole arbiter of whatever settlement is made to public service workers. They can't have it both ways but that is what Harper apparently was trying to do. The third land mine in the economic update was to cancel the back pay award the courts gave to women in the civil service on the equal pay for equal work issue. That was a regressive step and stated clearly that Harper and his party do not support pay equality for women. This political storm is entirely of Harper's own making and to suggest otherwise is hypocrisy of the highest magnitude.
It sounds left field, but the proof is in the pudding. The prime minister is making it better for us already! Most people don't realize how much money there is out there. During economic times like this, there is more money to be had than ever. Because of the bailouts and economy, lenders are bending over backwards to bail you out too. Believe it or not, there is people getting tons of cheap money nowdays to start businesses, buy homes, pay off debt, and more. Bailout is for YOU
Harper is unbelievably critical and is now showing his true colours. I just bet he wimps out and prorogues parliament for the Christmas break just to keep the facade of power for a bit longer. I can't wait until he is no longer PM. I only wish more Canadians would have seen through him before the last election.
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