As you may have read already, the Liberals, currently under the leadership of Stephane Dion, will form a coalition with the NDP and the Bloc with the intention of usurping the Tory government and making M. Dion the next Prime Minister of Canada. This is almost entirely unprecedented.
Dion, Layton and Duceppe have decided that the Harper government has dropped the ball. The Tories had previously denied the economy was in trouble and now have neglected to introduce a meaningful economic package to help Canadians weather the storm. They have also, through past mismanagement, virtually assured that our government will run its first deficit in more than a decade.
The much-maligned Stephane Dion may have done it again. He looked defeated at the last Liberal leadership convention only to win on the strength of compromise and coalition. Then, in the last election, he looked embarrassed and defeated, but now seems to have again found a way to rise from the ashes. It looks like he will become the next Prime Minister.
Some very intelligent people, most importantly Patrick McIver, have decried this coalition as hypocricy, accused Dion of making a deal with the devil (aka Duceppe), and called the opposition poor losers. McIver says 74% of Canadians told Dion they didn't want him. However, I will remind him of two facts: 1) 64% of Canadians rejected Harper, and 2) only 36% of Canadians chose Harper while 54% of Canadians voted for the coalition parties. Fact is, this would be one of the strongest majorities in Canadian history, and one of the few true majorities (perhaps only, I don't know).
What a most exciting time for politicos like myself!
Update:
It occured to me after first posting this article that I didn't reference Harper's KGB tactics anywhere after the title. The Harper Tories taped a conference call between the NDP and the Bloc in a desperate attempt to save the Harper government. These tactics are frightening and entirely inappropriate in a modern, democratic, free country. Harper sank to a new low, giving Canadians yet another reason to support the coalition.
If you are so sure that this is "one of the strongest majorities in history", would you be willing to put the coalition government on the line and campaign in a federal election along side the NDP and the Bloc to get their approval?
ReplyDeleteI would suspect that you would not be willing to do that because you know you couldn't win.
If the NDP, Liberals and the Bloc had campaigned on a coalition platform, and the results were as they were, then yes, I would agree they had the moral authority to govern.
However, since that wasn't on any of the opposition parties' platforms, the "moral authority" to govern is weak.
Extremely weak.
The coalition parties represent more Canadians than does the Conservative party. More Canadians voted for the coalition parties than voted for the Conservatives. It is that simple.
ReplyDeleteCoalitions are a normal part of parliamentary democracies. No new election is necessary.
What is weak is the Tory premise that Canadians chose them. Canadians, 64% of them, chose someone else. What is weak is the Tory premise that the coalition is undemocratic. Democracy is compromise. Democracy is about speaking for the majority.
As per our Constitution, the Canadian government is lead by the leader with the most support in the House of Commons. That leader is Stephane Dion.