So the NDP may prop up the Conservatives. The Conservatives say they don't want their help although back in 2005 Stephen Harper said:
"What the government has to do if it wants to govern for any length of time, is it must appeal primarily to the third parties in the House of Commons to get them to support it."
In any event, the thought of a Conservative/NDP coalition is just, well, I can't think of a word!
Layton makes conciliatory noises amid looming Parliamentary showdown

September 12, 2009
THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO - NDP Leader Jack Layton is ratcheting down the election rhetoric with soothing words about making Parliament work as a confidence showdown looms.
The Commons returns for the fall session Monday after a break of almost three months, but a vote that could end the latest 10-month Conservative minority government might come before the week is out.
An unusually media-skittish Layton said little Saturday during an event in Toronto, but what he did say lowered the temperature somewhat.
"I think that everybody involved would want to see us co-operate in the House of Commons and get some results for people - especially those that are struggling right now: the unemployed and people being left behind," Layton said as he inched away from reporters at an archway opening in Toronto's china town.
"So that's going to remain our preoccupation."
The New Democrats hold 36 seats in the 308-seat House, more than enough to keep Prime Minister Stephen Harper's minority Conservative government alive through the autumn if they can find common cause on an issue such as Employment Insurance reform. The Tories are likely to unveil EI proposals this week.
"That's all I have to say about elections," added the NDP leader.
Except Morton, As much as I don't particularly like Layton and as tired as I am of political games, he is just talking for strategic sake. He will not support the Harper Government in the end. He is simply taking a two pronged political strategy. A: He is trying to distance himself from any perceived responsibility for an election if it does come. and B: He is distancing himself from the Liberals in order to help them win a minority because he knows that he has more chance of influencing policy with a Liberal Government. It is pretty typical strategic politics.
ReplyDeleteThe funniest part of the whole thing is that the Liberals and the Conservatives are not really that different from each other on many policy issues and if it was not the constant drive for the parties to "win" a majority, I think that the House could run pretty effectively between the two of them with regular and not monumental compromise.
So it goes. . . .
If Layton can save Employment Insurance payments for tens of thousands of people, he'll do it. This is something the Liberals will want to keep in mind when dealing with him before and after the election.
ReplyDelete