The stench of Liberal Party corruption must surely be fouling the air across the globe by now. This is a party that routinely funnelled tax dollars to its own party coffers, to party officials, and to good friends of the PM and his cronies (let’s not even talk about the Mob connection!). After years of being inexplicably tolerated by the Canadian population, the crows may finally may have come home to roost on the Liberal roofs. Their minority government, led by men that third world satraps would envy for their greed and criminal cunning, will soon be forced to call an election - that is, if they lose a non-confiedence vote in the House.
But wait! What’s that? It’s the sound of erstwhile municipal politician, now NDP leader, Jack Layton rubbing his sweaty palms together. Here’s his chance to finally influence the federal scene. He can piss with the big boys at last. All it will take is just a little blackmail, of the worst sort. Jack says, “Cancel your planned corporate tax cuts, and my fellow socialists and I will support you. We’ll overlook your years of criminal behaviour, not to mention the absolute disgust that most of our countryman now express as they learn more and more sordid details about more and more Liberal fraud, deceipt, thievery, lies, and general corruption. Yes, we’ll overlook it all. So long as you teach those greedy corporations a thing or two. Eliminate the tax cuts you planned for them (and don’t try to sell me on that right-wing notion they need it to compete in a global economy), eliminate the cuts and we’ll support you in the House and keep you in power. No non-confidence to worry about. And, an election? We know what’s best. We’ll allow an election to happen when we’re ready. After all, we’re the NDP and we know what’s best for everyone”.
I am revolted. The Liberals are sleazeball crooks. The NDP venal opportunists. The Canadian population? We’ll they get what they vote for. And, apparently, what they deserve.
I posted something about this in Great Debates, and the reaction there was, “Huh? Nothing wrong with that! Minority parties form coalitions all the time!”
The fact that they are willing to overlook criminal behaviour on a massive scale to get what they want seems not to matter.
Liberal seats - 132 (135 elected, Parrish booted from caucus, Kilgour bolted to sit as an independent, and O’Brian (MP for Labrador) died)
NDP seats - 19
Total 151 including the Speaker who doesn’t vote except to break ties
Tory seats - 99
Bloc seats - 54
Total 153
Independents
Cadman - has been waffling on a confidence vote, last said to be leaning to voting against the govt. Is likely too sick (currently undergoing chemo) to show up anyways.
Parrish - has said she will vote against going to the polls, but not for the govt per se.
Kilgour - has said he will vote against the govt
Expected outcome of non-confidence motion if the NDP supports the Libs
154 yea
151 nay
Motion carried, Parliament dissolved, etc etc
Layton doesn’t have the seats to make any demands, and I can only imagine that he’s posturing for the upcoming campaign. He must be enjoying all the publicity. I have no idea why you guys are so steamed about this.
I am “steamed” on the principle, or the lack thereof.
BTW, your calculations assume everyone shows up to vote. All it would take is a few MPs being sick, lazy, frightened, or uncertain to bring down, or support, the government.
Absolutely. However, Martin’s extremely unenthusiastic response to Layton’s offer suggests that he’s done the math and come to the same conclusion that I have.
As for the principle, I confess I don’t understand. Are MPs not to represent their constituents? Are they not to push for the agenda on which they campaigned? How does offering a minority government support in exchange for policy concessions run counter to that? Just because anyone who doesn’t advocate for an election right this very second becomes by that very fact complicit in Adscam? The scam took place several years ago, for chrissakes! What’s the big deal if we don’t go to the polls (again) for a couple more months?
I can’t say that I’m thrilled with the overture… but…
The Liberals have got to go.
The Conservatives would be a nightmarish alternative, particularly with the injection of Reform/Alliance loons.
There’s no way that the NDP (or any other party, for that matter) is going to carry a federal election.
A Liberal/NDP coalition seems like the least horrible of the remotely-possible outcomes.
On a lesser-of-two-evils level, I think that the Liberal Party is slightly more palatable than the Conservative Party. That’s saying something, what with their assault on health care and education, and, oh yeah, that whole cesspool of graft and corruption. At least they go through the motions of playing to the middle.
I can’t really fault Layton for saying “We’ll render some aid if you’ll make some compromises.” I think it’s understood that the Liberals aren’t going to be wallowing in the trough so gleefully any time soon. Too heaty, all of the sudden. Booting them out will be a purely punitive measure – and if it meant that Harper would step into power, I’d have a hard time slapping them as hard as I’d like to.
(Not that I would ever consider holding my nose and voting for them, you understand. I’m more of a “vote idealistically and hope for the best” kind of elector, for better or for worse.)
Just out of curiosity, were you guys incensed when the Conservatives said they’d vote for the throne speech if the Liberals accepted a couple amendments? Will you be irate when the Conservatives make deals with the Bloc to stay in power in 6 months?
Seriously, I’m at a complete loss as to why this sort of horse-trading is pitworthy. How do you propose minority governments should function?
If the Alliance has a minority govt, I’d be okay with that-- but I fear my fellow Canucks will send the Liberal party into the electoral hinterland, as we did with the Conservative party a generation ago.
And we all know how great that worked out for the country. Can you imagine the next 4 elections with Harper and his social conservatives in charge, the Bloc holding 70+ seats in Quebec, and the NDP bringing up the rear? Fred Phelps would move to Toronto, James Dobson would open up a chapter of Focus on the Family next to the Ottawa Canal, and Sam Stone might stop whining about wanting to be an American!
[sub] okay that was a cheap shot, but my newborn is keeping me awake ;)[/sub]
They shouldn’t be allowed to function at all when they’ve a clear history of repeated criminal and/or corrupt behaviour.
I am at a loss that you can compare the “horse-trading” that might go on between various parties in a plurality, to ‘making a deal with the devil’. It is one thing to advance your political agenda by negotiating with a legitimate and moral group of politicians who happen to be your political and/or philosophical adversaries. It is quite another to cut a deal with criminals.
What Gorsnak said. So where was the outrage when the Conservatives failed to bring the government down a couple of months ago? It’s not like we didn’t know about the sponsorship scandal back then.
Gorsnak: Correct me if I’m wrong, but the evidence for the Liberals’ criminal and corrupt behaviour has only recently been forthcoming (although it’s true that intimations of same have been around for much longer). Harper may be many things, but I don’t think clairvoyant is one of them.
Sheila Fraser first recommended an investigation in 2002, and released her report on the sponsorship program in February 2004. All opposition parties made much of it during the last election.
Huh? The evidence has been out there since Shiela Fraser made her initial report in Feb 2004. There’ve been some interesting details come to light of late, but the basic facts, i.e., that the sponsorship program in Quebec funneled a couple hundred million taxpayer dollars into “Liberal-friendly” ad agencies without any proper oversight and in return for virtually no actual work, have been public knowledge since then. Even before then it was generally known that the program was corrupt. Gagliano got dumped from his cabinet post and shuffled off as ambassador to Denmark or wherever back in 02 because of it. Clairvoyance has certainly not been a requirement to know that there were nasty levels of corruption in the sponsorship program.
Meh. Business as usual down here; would barely make the blogs, much less the papers. And, if I recall the end of the Mulroney Administration correctly, it’s business as usual up there, too. Not that it’s okay to resignedly accept government officials having their snouts in the feed trough, certainly, but the level of surprise and shock I see from you Great White Northerners is puzzling. Am I mistaking simple indignation?
