Open for comments.
Also, some links sent along, for your enjoyment;
The Larry, Curly and Moe Accord: see the “No Surprises” clause on page 2. The “within the limits of common sense” passage seems especially ironic.
More on that “A permanent consultation mechanism.” they offered the BQ.
Historical Summary of Canadian Elections
Drop others in the comments if you so wish.
Update – This is a good one.
Much fun in the LIberal.ca forums (h/t Shaken)
Heard on Rutherford this morning:
Constitutional expert, whose paper/opinion on the subject was presented in the House this week, said that contrary to the popular version, the GG does not have the right to do anything but what the PM orders. Once a PM is chosen and accepted by the GG, that person is PM until he resigns AND a new PM is chosen and sworn in – no gap. The GG does not decide anything about a current PM. So, “asking” for prorogue is not exactly the correct phrasing. Also, the opposition cannot under any circumstance ask for any decision from the GG.
The reasoning is that the PM is elected, the GG is not elected, and cannot interfere with elected officials. The GG involvement is “royal perogative” where the royal or representative does announcements, but PM writes the script. Eg. Throne speech, declaration of war.
Example was from Australia where the GG was contemplating giving the government to an opposition party instead of an election and received a call from the Queen saying “Butt out”.
I assume that this would be the basis of any Conservative legal challenge to contrary GG action.
BeerBellyBuddah: Harper gave some original ideas to deal with the economic crisis. He was going to have the government tighten its belt like the rest of the population is doing.
He was not going to run around and spend money worthlessly like everyone else. There is no evidence these stimulus packages do anything except run deficits which mean higher taxes in the future.
Harper has provided plenty stimulus over the last few years already. He cut taxes for everyone twice! He increased spending!
This is a time for austerity. It is not a time to bail out every pathetic company who is about to die.
“Canadians just need to elect a majority government because this love affair with minority governments is getting out of hand. Anyone who continues to support proportionate representation should seek mental help after this crisis.”
Posted by: Ryan at December 4, 2008 2:24 PM
Yes, indeed. Needless to say, one of the voices speaking up for proportional representation is Brian Mason, Alberta NDP leader. I guess that says it all, eh?
Thursday afternoon and…all’s well.Stephane Dion and the wife have been spotted at Future Shop in Gatineau checking out Christmas specials on cordcams….Jack Layton is sipping a glass of wine with PSAC union reps…And Duceppe is discussing his future over a pint with Fat Jack Pariseau.Mr Harper,on the other hand is preparing Christmas cards with Mrs.Harper….chances are Stephane ,Jack and Gilles are not on the list……
Go over to the CBC website and see some of the looney bleatings going on in their comments section. My guess is that there will be a rush to the Emergency Wards of many hospitals in Canada as some of these leftie weirdos have strokes or heart attacks. What a screaming bundle of lunatics!
Imagine what the world might look like today had Neville Chamberlain taken the Harper approach when faced with losing the confidence of the British House of Commons in May 1940.
Buddah,
He’s timing his budget to coincide with obama so he can see/plan/…BUDGET for any auto-bailout in COORDINATION with the US government and their US auto companies. As much as it pains me to look at the government bail out private corporations (especially foreign owned ones,) if we must, at the very least we should wait until we know what’s needed if anything.
Tossing money at them now is shoots your whole wad before it’s time and leaves you with no negotiating power when obama comes along and demands the auto companies move all the jobs to the US.
That is a retard’s move that only Dion, Layton and the communist separatist guy would make. An idiot leftard such as yourself may not be able to see it (and the weasel media won’t say so if they do see it,) but the general public (outside Toronto and Quebec) will see it – and clearly.
“Now there is precedent for any future government wishing to avoid a non-confidence vote – they can simply ask for prorogation.”
For all those coalition apologists whose best argument was that a coalition was constitutional and therefore acceptable, well … so is prorogation. So deal with it!
Although the GG made the right decision and possibly saved the country in the process, we must all remember that the barbarians are still at the gates and, as they have shown, will stop at nothing to gain power.
When parliament reconvenes, the GG would be well-advised to keep a close watch on the proceedings and, if the Conservatives present prudent and non-partisan proposals and the opposition continues its belligerent and obstructive behaviour, she should file this away for future reference.
Finally ….Will Ralph Goodale, who has shown himself once again to be nothing more than an opportunist of the highest order, do the honourable thing and resign?
Will Jack Layton please cease and desist with his annoying pontifications about what Canadians want and do not want?
Neville Chamberlain was the architect of Britain’s rearmament.
His only real flaw was be such a decent honourable man that he couldn’t comprehend the reprobate character of a little jumped up socialist corporal.
Iberia, this isn’t anywhere near the crisis of 1940. BTW, how many more days did parliament have to sit until rising for the Christmas recess?
Layton keeps bleating on about what Canadians want. A Leger poll shows 60% aren’t thrilled with the coalition.
Jack, here’s a bit of advice – STFD and STFU, you have no idea what you’re talking about.
Iberia: Thanks once again for your brilliant insight … NOT!
John Luft: Our lil’ amigo, Iberia, normally spends all his time over at CBC News but once in a while comes over here to share his Radical Left brilliance with us.
Squiggy: Hilarious!!! (You should send your ideas to Rick Mercer for a Xmas special)
Foobius: Thank you for sharing that. One thing I’ve immediately noticed is how so many of our “friends” on the Left are blowing a gasket because the GG dared not to listen to their sage advice.
Foobius: you asked above if there have been any real polls on this. Ezra linked this morning to a “massive” national poll from Leger showing that sixty percent nationally oppose the coalition, including seventy percent of Canadians outside Quebec.
Sixty-four percent of Ontarians are concerned about the Bloc’s presence in the coalition. As Ezra said,
“In that generic Ontario riding, you’ve got three parties chasing that 31% — the Liberals, NDP and the Greens. And you’ve got the Conservatives all by itself, fishing in the 64% pond. Those kind of numbers would mean Tory victories in Toronto proper.
“And we’re just three days into this thing.”
Ryan @2:48pm
My pappy always taught me that when you pick a fight you stick around to defend your position. Harper sacrificed his integrity by: a)picking an unnecessary fight, b)then backtracking on his economic statement he tried (with faux regret) to take back the offending parts, c) now, having lost all confidence among the opposition that his word is worth a damn he avails himself of an arcane prorogation ploy to hang on to power. Sorry, but that is cowardice.
Look, I don’t know if the coalition has a snowball’s chance in hell, and I do now that if Harper had only stuck to strict economic meat and potatoes he might have actually been able to navigate this global crisis – but, unfortunately, this petty-petty-petty man decided to piss away any hope of a cooperative parliamentary session. His words to “govern responsibly” in the aftermath of the October election have been shown to be meaningless. There’s no going back -regardless of what happens with the Libs the die is cast – Harper is toast and the rest of us have to pray the result doesn’t further cripple our collective ability to address the real problem -i.e. day-to-day economic survival.
I don’t even know why the leftards are so mad at the GG. She just saved the Liberal brand from irreparably being tossed into the gutter.
She did the Liberals the biggest favour by taking the gun out of their hand before they shot themselves in the face.
I’m only happy because now getting rid of the libs will be done without 6 separatist senators, one defeated green party wanker/senator getting into cabinet, 30billion cash and an extra billion a year until eternity to Quebec. Oh, and we get to keep the country intact (although losing quebec and toronto and keeping the rest would be my preferred option.)
Iberia: Thanks once again for your brilliant insight … NOT!
John Luft: Our lil’ amigo, Iberia, normally spends all his time over at CBC News but once in a while comes over here to share his Radical Left brilliance with us.
Squiggy: Hilarious!!! (You should send your ideas to Rick Mercer for a Xmas special)
Foobius: Thank you for sharing that. One thing I’ve immediately noticed is how so many of our “friends” on the Left are blowing a gasket because the GG dared not to listen to their sage advice.
Ten Bucks Gilles leaves Ottawa within weeks when the PQ get crush by Charest. Charest will be useful again too… fighting the Devil Himself in the National Assembly.
Sorry about the long post at 12:38 Kate and to the rest of your readers but I think I had to put some background to it for a better understanding. I’ve also sent it to a number of papers in Canada. What the MSM is saying is that the coalition is not unconstitutional, but if you understand the system, and the formalities involved it is. Some will say it is only a matter of timing to that I will respond with so was the declaration of war on Japan. Once again thanks to the readers that persevered to the end.
Let me get this right, the Liberal Party did not have a teleprompter so Stephane had to read from a laptop and look totally ridiculous. Some coalition, you would think one of the other parties might have lent them one????
I think they’ve been accusing the wrong party of having a hidden agenda.
Jack and Co. have had their hidden agenda for quite awhile by the looks of things.
They’ve been just waiting to pull their moose out of their hat. Economic reason was just a huge farse.
Prime Minister Harper’s press conference today was much more powerful than his speech last night.
Watch it, keep it, use it.
The MSM are totally ignoring .
Antenor, I for one appreciate your heartfelt attempt to explain the historical context but you’re going to get yourself into a padded cell PDQ if you think that those on the Left are going to pay ANY attention to such arguments!
Remember that these are the same people who say, with great bombastic conviction:
“62% of Canadians voted against the Conservatives so Le Coalition actually has a mandate to govern.”
“Using the term “separatist” now to describe Bloc Quebecois & Parti Quebecois members is inflammatory and a slap into the face of average Quebecers.”
“Harper is a fascist and a reincarnation of Hitler. He won’t be happy until all MPs are goose-stepping down the Halls of Parliament.”
“Reducing taxes doesn’t put money into people’s pockets.”
I tried to leave this on that Curran creep’s blog but I couldn’t:
So let me get this straight:
You aren’t upset about the libs trying to seal power after they lost the election.
You aren’t upset about “senator Liz May” the new environment minister.
You aren’t upset about a partnership with the separatists (where the PM may be liberal but the senior partner is the Bloc – veto and all.)
You aren’t upset at giving the separatists 6 senate seats.
You aren’t upset about the extra 30 billion spent without thought and the extra billion thrown at the separatist every year until eternity.
The only thing you are upset about is that your slippery weasel party didn’t HIDE their intentions until they could get away with the theft.
Yup, you’re a liberal.
The “coalitionistas” have been amplified mightly by the so-called MSM (that’s a surprise, I’ll bet). According to a massive national poll taken by Leger Marketing, 60% of Canadians oppose having the Bloc hold the balance of power in the proposed Liberal-NDP-Bloc coalition, and that number rises to 70% outside of Quebec.
I don’t think there’s a teaspoon of common sense between Layton & Dion, or much sense of any kind for that matter. If Canada had the system they’d likely prefer, the result would be that Dion wouldn’t return from that walk in the snow…
When the going gets tough, the craven prorogue.
Something very much like this happened in Saskatchewan in 1991, when former premier Devine prorogued the legislature before passing his government’s spring budget.
The feeling at the time was that some Conservative MLAs were sufficiently upset about the direction of their government that they might vote against their own budget, raising the possibility the government could fall prematurely.
Devine’s government staggered on to the fall of that year, but the early prorogation only underlined the image of a government no longer in control of its own agenda.
This little gem is in the comments over at Curran’s website, “If we don’t vote him(Harper) out at the next opportunity he will recover and he will call an election when a new leader is elected and soundly defeat him. We have a choice: hold together or fall apart and give Harper a majority by this time next year.” That pretty well sums up the motivation of this coalition of fools,they do not want those foolish voters to interfere with their plans.
Let us see now.
“Journalists” say that taking away from politicians $1.95 is a mistake.
It will be the right thing to do. They are not eligible for anything from the plebeians.
“Journalists” say that stopping public unions from extortion is the wrong thing to do.
It will be the right thing to do; they are not superior to and should feel the pain just like the rest of the plebeians
“Journalists” say that it was a mistake to criticize the Block.
The Block should be criticized by all people, including “journalists”, although the term ‘journalist’ is neither used loosely, nor reflecting activities of said cabal.
(ca•bal [kə bál]
n (plural ca•bals)
1. group of plotters: a group of conspirators or plotters, particularly one formed for political purposes
2. secret plot: a secret plot or conspiracy, especially a political one
3. clique: an exclusive group of people
The conservatives should defend all these points as a mater of fact, not to get week kneed and roll over. The triumvirate should be revealed as corrupt, should be openly discredited. Their conduct and spin should be questioned by the “journalists”
Harper has not made mistake in anything he has done recently. He needs to do some talking.
The media would like this thing to go on, it is good for the business, the country be damned.
Yes, that’s what’s interesting over at Curran’s site – that complete fear of and rejection of an election over the coalition.
It doesn’t seem to occur to these people that they are thereby violating our democratic rights as a people, to elect our own government. It simply never, ever occurs to them.
They think that if they can get their coalition, by stealth, past the House, past the GG, and get it ‘in’, then, this is The Triumphant Way.
The fact that such an action violates democracy, ignores the electorate – doesn’t even occur to them.
So much for the Liberal rhetoric of ‘the people’. And the NDP similar rhetoric.
Incredible to read the way these people operate; no sense of shame, no sense of obligation to the people. Simply…how do WE get power. Period.
ET,
Yup. And they’re angry at Dion for not getting it done before anyone noticed their coup.
The idiot is saying: “how dare you fail” rather than “how dare you attempt”
Time for a nice Proroguie dinner!
looks like Harper can have a do over on Jan 26th.
Get Jim to stand up and read the same speech.
Have them go ballistic.
Like I said in a privious post , one thing I learned about turkeys , If you hang them upside down for awhile they get too confused to struggle..
Harper , you magnificent bastard!!
Thank you GG. I had my doubts given your appointment be the Libs, your husband’s kinship with separatists and your CBC heritage.
Why has mainstream media kept pointing at PMSH for stirring up the soveigntists when this whole schlaumasel is timed to benefit the PQ in the next week’s Quebec election. Do Liberals think that without a viable separatist movement in Quebec there is no raison d’etre for the Whigs?
Is it that the Liberals are so obsessed with their history of alternating PMs of English and French persuasion that they would sell their souls to the Bloc just to keep this streak as vested in Mr. Dion alive?
While taxpayer funding unites the unholy LPC-NDP-Bloc tryst, one other common interest is protection of civil service unions. Is CUPE the driving force behind this insurrection?
This coalition has been planned for a lot longer than just the past week. The cabal goaded Mr. Harper into giving them an excuse. Methinks, I smell the orchestrations of Mr. Chretien and Mr. Broadbent in this sordid coup d’etat.
Vive Le Canada!
Jennings has just accused Harper of whipping up ‘hate’ against members of parliament. Uh oh,the HRC may have another case on their hands,fellings have been hurt. She is right though,I do hate what the libs and NDP our doing to our democracy.
Feelings,my mistake,forgot to use the spell chick,again.
closed unit the 26th of jan. freakin good. close the place forever. everything frozen for now and forever.
Ted
I can’t help but notice your own denial of your own history. On many occasions you have adamantly argued on the side of AGW; yet, now you appear to support a bailout of the automotive industry that makes cars that contribute to AGW. Surely these companies going under is a good thing for the environment. Surely a new tax on Carbon will create new industries that will bankrupt the automotive industry all the while creating a green economy. This should balance any loss of jobs in the automotive industry shouldn’t it? After all, it was good for Alberta and Saskatchewan, so surely the green economy will compensate for job losses out East.
I just listened again to Adler reading his editorial from today. This version seems to be an expanded one: http://chedam.corusradionetwork.com/dynamic/dynamic_audiovault_process.asp?dt=20081204_14
Tune to 34:00. He skewered, and I mean SKEWERED the tenured professors the MSM can’t get enough of. He pointed out that a recent poll showed that only 7% (SEVEN PER CENT) of Canadians surveyed felt the NDP were the best ones to manage the economy. Why do I think that this would include 90% of CBC employees, 95% of tenured professors and 100% of Union Leaders?!?
What a crazy world we live in!!!
Nearly woofed my cookies watching Don Neuman.
Situation: Don’s wrapping up a segment with CPC Jay Hill, LPC M. Jennings, and Dipper Libby Davies.
Paraphrased…
Don: I don’t know if I’ll see you before Christmas so Merry Christmas to you all.
Jay: Merry Christmas.
Marlene: Merry Christmas
Libby: Happy Holidays.
To me it almost seemed that her intuitive reply was going to be “Merry Christmas” but she shifted in her seat at that precise moment and ‘forced’ out ‘happy holidays. ‘
So freakin’ PC it reeks. I’m sorry their party consists of homosexuals and pagans who can’t reconcile with Christianity so they need to pander to them but f~, gimme a break, when in Rome….
I’ll apologize in advance if this comment crosses the cyber-Rubicon.
It is a very sad day in Canada place I was proud to be part of. I feel sorry for my children when I have to raise them to be honest and only to make excuses for the government in power how they lie and manipulate the media. This country that is a democracy and having Harper to close the government down before democracy takes place and uses the Gov. Gen to sucker punch the country is a SAD TIME FOR All. To All the conservative fans out there please for the sake OF ALL CANADAIN CHILDREN return to democracy and let the 2 thirds of the people of Canada decide if we want to turn INTO 3rd WORLD WAY OF LIVING.
Take a look at National Newswatch, which is obviously a template for ‘the Coalition’.
It has, right at the top, a petition stating “I’m a part of the 62% majority”…against an image of an old pair of jeans..ie..grassroots.
Then, further down, a colourful ad “Coalition for Change: For Action on The Economy’.
Of course, there’s not a word about the Petition on ‘Our right to vote on the coalition government’.
And not a word about the cross Canada Rallies for Canada.
Again, Layton and Dion have been capitalizing on Obama’s ‘Campaign for Change’. But the major difference is that Obama’s campaign was put to the people for a vote. Layton-Dion-Duceppe’s coalition was to be KEPT from any kind of vote by the people.
It is a very sad day in Canada place I was proud to be part of. I feel sorry for my children when I have to raise them to be honest and only to make excuses for the government in power how they lie and manipulate the media. This country that is a democracy and having Harper to close the government down before democracy takes place and uses the Gov. Gen to sucker punch the country is a SAD TIME FOR All. To All the conservative fans out there please for the sake OF ALL CANADAIN CHILDREN return to democracy and let the 2 thirds of the people of Canada decide if we want to turn INTO 3rd WORLD WAY OF LIVING.
dd,
The sad thing is you’re too idiotic to notice that you crab that the winner of the election won’t let the losers steal power.
Well boo-f’ing hoo.
Give me a break. “for the children” nothing. Every big-state, greedy, money-sucking, lying, manipulating, honourless, integrity-challenged, socialist a-hole uses “the children” as a cheap excuse for their power-grabs, cynical abuse of that power, their theft of other people’s money and their over-reaching state intrusion into the lives of Canadians.
How about you stick your head up your arse and break your neck in the process.
And for the record, it’s in 3rd world banana republics which the losing party steals power after losing elections. In first would nations, the losers don’t plot to over-turn an election which was just held.
Further, I doubt you have anything to be proud of and even if you did you wouldn’t know that’s what you ought to be proud of.
In closing, I’m not in a charitable mood to suffer leftard fools. I’m not willing to play nice and humour your idiocy any more.
“…please for the sake OF ALL CANADAIN CHILDREN return to democracy and let the 2 thirds of the people of Canada decide if we want to turn INTO 3rd WORLD WAY OF LIVING.”
The semi-illiteracy demonstrated in that post is clear evidence of one thing. The poster is an Ottawa snivel servant.
Does anyone truly think this will end with no future repercussions? This is just the fore play before the affair. Even if Harper wins this round completely. Something called Trust has been lost. They have already tarred him as the villain & by extension the West. Silly people this is an Empire crumbling out East. They first raped the Maritimes, than the West since Confederation. A rat just gets more mean when its backed into a corner or its food taken away.
Adler & the rest of the MSM have bought into the idea already that Harper will just get another minority, than have to resign. Happy even. Even with the wide trail of evidence that this was defiantly a done deal a while ago. That Canadians where left out of the loop that this junta was already online On some stations this is now scripture. All blame Harper.
They work in radio, but know nothing of the Tape of the Traitors plotting even before an election. This was just an EXCUSE to form the pustules three.
I don’t like any of them being a small l libertarian myself except Harper is closer to my ideals than the rest. Particularly now.. But sheesh the proof is overwhelming this was a coup. I have no idea what the Governor General said, but for my money (Yup another elitist sucking at the trough appointee.) I would like to be rid of a Monarchy no longer even relevant in the Nation of its birth. Let alone here. Specifically having a foreign representative to be one to decide Canadian destiny.
Eat the cake off your own pie hole Adler.
JMO
“…please for the sake OF ALL CANADAIN CHILDREN return to democracy and let the 2 thirds of the people of Canada decide if we want to turn INTO 3rd WORLD WAY OF LIVING.”
The semi-illiteracy demonstrated in that post is clear evidence of one thing. The poster is an Ottawa snivel servant.
dd
I know exactly what you mean.
The difference is that I have felt exactly the same since the days of Pierre Elliot Trudeau calling us Westerners ‘racists, rednecks and bigots’, day in and day out for 14 years.
Trudeau’s idea of ‘reaching out’ was to give Westerners the ‘finger’, and to tell us that we were not welcome in the federal civil service. And yet the MSM fawned over him as a ‘nation builder’.
Welcome to the Club.
Tarpaper
It’s quite something to read the posts by people blaming Harper for ‘being a bully’ and starting this ‘whole thing’ by threatening to take away the subsidies to political parties.
These posters don’t seem to understand. Harper was smoking out the cabal. Layton-Duceppe-Dion had a plan to take over the govt without their having been elected as such by the people. Their hidden agenda plan was to, no matter what the budget said, to reject is anyway. Then immediately announce that they could ‘run the govt’ as a coalition. No election.
And, they had signed agreements among themselves not to put this coalition to an election. No way. The Bloc was sworn, by bribes of over a billion and promises of Senate seats, etc, to support them during any confidence votes. How’s that for democracy? How’s that for respect for the people?
Harper smoked them out so that their plan, meant to be secret, became public. So that we, the people, could debate and decide on it.
Now, the cabal is trying to tell us they were ‘thinking only of the welfare of Canadians’. Heh. Sure. Setting up a two-tiered House of Commons, with all Motions vetted by a party that is electorally out of reach of over 80% of the electorate? Heh – some democracy.
Making sure there wouldn’t be an election. Talking on their blogs now, about how necessary it had been to keep silent on this plan, and how Dion ‘blew it’ because it became public. Notice the words. They have no interest in democracy, feel no commitment to obtain the Will of the People. No, their focus is onlyon Power.
Some people state that our political method is that our only act is to elect and MP and then, our power is over. The MPs take over and can do what they want. No. That’s how Liberals think, but it’s not true.
We have a Representative Democracy. That means that the MPs represent us, the people. They don’t act on their own whim; they are answerable to us. At all times.
Liberals think that they need to acknowledge The People only at election time, when they fling promises of billions at them, in return for votes..and then, after the election, turn their backs and ignore the people until the next time.
No; that’s not Representative Democracy; that’s just power hungery demagogues.
We, the people, ahve the right and the sole right, to decide on our method of government. And we didn’t elect a coalition, and the smug Layton, Duceppe and Dion, who tell us that they know what’s best for us – are hiding their own hidden agenda. Power.
We, the less liberal side, had to sit by while Parliament after Parliament, headed by either the Liberal or Progressive Conservative (aka the Oxymoron Party) Party wasted, borrowed, spent, taxed, indebted, altered, or harmed our country with no chance of repair in the forseeable future. Real harm, caused to real people, to reinforce political power in the electoral center of the ruling party. That center just happened to be in the center of the country.
We had to live with it, because the electors had spoken. That was democracy.
Political distributions are changing. More and more electors are tired of the Liberal Party way, which has itself changed over the years (not in a good way). Possibly the fear of WHAT IS is overcoming the FEAR OF WHAT MIGHT BE.
The electors have spoken. Yes, a minority. Yes, negotiation. Yes, cooperating. NO OVERPOWERING HOLD ON CANADA.
The last Parliament was continuous abstruction, rhetoric about killing the government, Senate blockages and underhanded tricks. If the Liberal opposition hadn’t ran from important votes, for whatever reason, the government would have fallen long ago.
The Conservative party (not the PC Party) won a second minority. They want to get things done. Let them try. Quit obstructing. They cannot possibly be worse than the previous 30 years.
To those devastated by the Liberal failure to cling to power:
DEAL.
I love the “all the children” comment.
That’s almost as good as “if it saves one life its worth any cost”.
I believe the translation is “I have nothing intelligent to say so I’ll throw the kids at the meanies. That’ll learn ’em.