CanadianTories: 'Radical' coalition must be stopped

[Robbien]

Source: London Free Press



OTTAWA — The Harper government is pulling out all the stops to halt a "radical" Liberal-led coalition that is threatening to overthrow the government as early as Monday.

"We will be using every legal means at our disposal," said a senior government official briefing reporters this morning. Most Canadians were not tuned in to the plotting of the Liberals, NDP and separatist Bloc Quebecois and are shocked and outraged to learn of the formal agreement to oust the Conservatives, he said.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper held emergency meetings with his cabinet, caucus and staff last night and Conservatives are united in fighting what they see as an "affront to democracy," according to the official.

The Tories will rally public support through public protests, online petitions and radio ad blitzes. The Prime Minister may also give a televised address to the nation later this week.


"We are united, we are going to fight this," the official said. "The PM is energized and committed to fighting for Canada at this time. We are moving forward together."

The official did not rule out a prorogation, or shutting down, of Parliament before Monday's vote of non-confidence in the government.

Read more: http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/CanadaWorld/2008/12/02/7607576.html

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Meanwhile Harper is the only leader of a G-8 nation who has not even considered an economic stimulus package for his country. The new budget was full of new programs whose sole intent was to keep Harper in power.

Now he is going all out using taxpayer money in his attempt to keep his job.

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

1. Shutting down parliament?

Isn't that the political equivalent of "I'm losing the game, so I'm going to take my ball and go home"?

[SidDithers]

3. More like buying time, in this case...

He's hoping that if he can produce an acceptable budget, he won't get booted out. But he's not ready to introduce a budget yet, so he needs to stall.

Won't work, tho. I think this is a done deal.

Sid

[HeresyLives]

2. GG is coming home early.

Harper can't prorogue Parliament,only she can do that. IF she chooses.

[BunkerHill24]

15. I am not so sure....I think the PM can request to prorogue the parliament

....and then write official letter to the Governor General....and she would oblige.

I think Harper would do just that, maybe sometime next week. If he doesn't do that, I think his west coast voters would demand it. He's wounded hawk and a thief.

[iverglas]

25. expert opinion is

that she would have to oblige.

http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/546895

Peter Russell wrote the book used in my undergraduate constitutional law course in 1971 (back before I went to law school).

Political scientist Peter Russell said Stephen Harper may have the right to ask Governor General Michaëlle Jean to prorogue Parliament and end the current session but doing so would set a dangerous and undemocratic precedent.

"Of all the things that have happened or have been threatened to be about to happen, this is the most dangerous because it shows the intention of the Prime Minister to govern without Parliament and that is undermining our parliamentary democracy," said Russell, a University of Toronto professor emeritus.

"It got me shaking in my boots," said Russell before adding he remains optimistic Harper will not choose this path.

... Edward McWhinney, a former Liberal MP who has advised heads of state on constitutional matters, said Harper does have the power to ask Jean to prorogue Parliament and the only caveat would be having to explain it to voters. "He has full constitutional power to do it. The only sanction – it could be a dramatic sanction – would be electoral," he said.

McWhinney also said it must be remembered the ball is in Harper's court and while Jean does have discretionary powers to refuse his requests, she must exercise it with extreme caution.

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/12/02/l-ian-macdonald-a-very-canadian-coup.aspx

The National Post, but the piece endorses the constitutionality of the "coup".

All Harper has to do is prorogue the House. In the Westminster tradition, managing the government’s agenda and timetable is the exclusive preserve of the prime minister. No governor-general has ever refused to sign an order-in-council to prorogue the House and bring it back with a new Throne Speech.

And there is a recent precedent for such a short session after an election. In 1988, after the free trade election, Brian Mulroney brought the House back in December with a Throne Speech accompanied by implementing legislation. The Throne Speech and bill were passed in 10 days and the session prorogued.

Mulroney wasn't facing non-confidence, though.

Refusing to prorogue the House would really be a bigger constitutional deal than accepting a Liberal request to govern.


Nice to see informed opinion from south of the border, btw!

[CHIMO]

29. Question

Does he require the confidence of the House for his request to receive full consideration?

[iverglas]

30. chicken egg, eh?

Once they've non-confidenced the government, it's game over. So how do you show the GG you have confidence?

I don't think you actually have to prove it. The GG can just say okay, take your shot. And then if the new ones get non-confidenced, it's game over for them too.

Any party leader could go to the GG and ask to form a government when there wasn't one, be it after an election or after a non-confidence vote.

The whole coalition thing seems designed to present the most solid possible case to the GG, that Dion could govern, so that there simply would be no grounds for refusing a request by him to form a government. Apart from whatever political advantages it presents for the parties to it, of course. ;)

[CHIMO]

31. Well

It would seem evident that he doesn't have the confidence although he doesn't want to put it to a vote.
Does his power reside from his obvious position of being PM or from the fact that he hasn't lost the confidence of the House in a formal vote?

You show the GG that you have the confidence by allowing the vote to occur. It should be evident to the GG that he is resisting such a vote.

Just the thing with chickens and eggs.

It's a wonder that he hasn't fired her by now.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081202.WBSteele20081202134134/WBStory/WBSteele/

[iverglas]

32. confidence men ...

While the Government is in power it never has to demonstrate that it has confidence. It has confidence unless non-confidence is voted (expressly or on a money bill or whatever).

Harper resisting the vote would come up only if he asked to have Parliament prorogued, as a reason not to grant the request. It wouldn't be so much a matter of his reason for requesting prorogation being bad as it is of the GG's considered opinion being that it is not in the interests of the country to prorogue Parliament at that moment.


Interesting Globe article, ta.

1. Preemptively Remove Michaëlle Jean

This is the true nuclear option for Harper: a preemptive strike against Jean to remove her from office, and replace her with a governor-general sympathetic to the argument that the people should decide in an election.

The roots of this option are found in the last major constitutional crisis in a British Parliamentary democracy, the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis.

... The difference is critical here. In Australia, the issue was the Senate refusing to pass supply. Prime Minister Whitlam had a majority in the lower house, which is normally supreme in matters of confidence. But PM Harper does not have a majority in the Commons, has not tested the will of Parliament and an alternative administration enjoys a majority of support.

To call this option risky is a grave understatement. Not only would it threaten the role of the monarchy in Canada, but parliamentary supremacy back to the Magna Carta would be called into question.

Exactly. It's like how maybe the notwithstanding clause could be used to do dastardly deeds and their second amendment is the last bulwark against tyranny blah blah -- if you actually get to that point, you've gone too far and all is already lost.

[TrogL]

4. Most Canadians understand the Parliamentary system

...and that the government can fall at any time. The coalition thing is an interesting wrinkle but it's been explained on the news so many times I'm sick of listening to it.

They are also well aware that Harper has about enough mandate to blow his nose and if he over-reaches himself, it's game over.

I doubt the Governor-General is going to put up with a prorogation. She'll probably call an election or accept the coalition. An election wouldn't be the end of the world. We've still got our old signs and the campaign office hasn't been rented out.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

6. what are the opinion polls looking like in Canada right now?

If it comes down to the GG calling an election, then could the Liberal-NDP alliance call an electoral pact and stand down for the likely-to-win candidate in Tory marginals? Could this sink the Reform Party 2.0 for the near future?

[HeresyLives]

14. We haven't had any lately

Last one was awhile ago, but after the election, and it showed the Conservatives going down in public opinion.

[iverglas]

18. about polls

I'm curious why we aren't seeing any.

I'm on the email survey panels for Ipsos, Angus Reid and EKOS, and I have had nothing from any of them since the election (apart from a Who would you vote for today? question in some other survey).

I would have expected that somebody would be polling by now!

[rurallib]

5. Stephen Harper meet real democracy

jeez I wish the US could have done this about 4 years ago.

[fascisthunter]

7. what's radical is the Conservative mind set

and the majority of people seem to reject it here and there.

[atimetocome]

8. Here is some background to this issue:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/12/01/coalition-talks.html#socialcomments

[pattmarty]

9. Radical? As opposed to what? Go to it motherfuckers.........

.......remember what happened down here, especially over the last 8 yrs

[Spazito]

10. Harper and his cabal are the epitome of hypocrites

He advised the Governor General in 2004 to consider letting him govern - supported by the Bloc - should the Liberal government of Paul Martin fall. He did exactly what the Opposition is doing now but, suddenly, this is "undemocratic" and an "attempted coup".

Pathetic, truly pathetic.

[Tempest]

11. Harper doesn't think much of his fellow Canadians

Most Canadians were not tuned in to the plotting of the Liberals, NDP and separatist Bloc Quebecois and are shocked and outraged to learn of the formal agreement to oust the Conservatives

Most Canadians I've spoken to are well aware of what's going on and support the move.

[DetlefK]

12. "affront to democracy"? A government coalition is perfectly normal in democracies!

[Sandrine for you]

13. Harper tried to financially kill the liberal party...

And thats"s look very much like a hubris and despotism.

[Posteritatis]

17. And the NDP, and the BQ, etc

That might not be the only reason they're all so pissed right now, but it's certainly the one that crossed the line.

[Sandrine for you]

27. But mostly the Liberal party....

who is in a really bad financial shape. In a time when the conservative are rich. The NPD and the Bloc could easily survive without the government.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

22. he helped achieve something remarkable

he united the centre-left in Canada (against him).

[David__77]

16. Wouldn't a coalition reflect the majority?

How is that anti-democratic? It seems that there is some hoopla about "largest party" etc., but who cares? It's still not the majority. Most Canadians voted left of center.

[LynnTheDem]

20. Very much so.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

21. that's true

based on October's Federal elections numbers (in Parliamentary seats and share of the vote):

LPC/BQ/NDP: 163 (54.42%)
CPC: 143 (36.27%)

Looking at the above, it is the coalition that would command a majority of seats in the House of Commons and would express an actual real majority of the popular vote.

It's a nonsense that a right-wing nutty party governs with 36% of the vote while three centre-left parties stand out in the cold with 54.5% of the vote.

[iverglas]

23. and actually it doesn't even matter

The Liberals, with the small number of seats and minority of the popular vote that they have, for example, could ask the GG to be allowed to form a government. As long as they had the confidence of the House, it would be proper to let them. The NDP and BQ would not have to form a coalition with them, they would just have to give them confidence to govern. Which could be withdrawn at any time, just as it still can if there is a formal coalition. The formal coalition is really just evidence of confidence; the PM will still be Liberal, and the Cabinet appointments will be made by him.

The usual quibble:

Most Canadians voted left of center.

Nope. Most Canadians voted left of the Conservative Party. The Liberal Party is not left of centre, unless "centre" is somewhere between the Democratic and Republican Parties, which is not relevant here.

This is reasonably accurate:

http://www.politicalcompass.org/canada2008

Canadian General Election 2008



as compared to

http://www.politicalcompass.org/canada2005

Canada 2005

and

http://www.politicalcompass.org/uselection2008

US Presidential Election 2008

[LynnTheDem]

19. Dear Harper; 62% of Canadians did NOT vote for you.

Buh bye! :hi:

[HeresyLives]

24. Yes please, depart forthwith!

[tuvor]

26. The rules have been in place for years. Why does Harper hate Canada?

[Posteritatis]

28. Because he's a Republican

No, seriously, the entire MO for the Conservative party since it replaced the Progressive-Conservatives a few years ago has boiled down to "we must be more like the GOP." He wanted to get Canada into Iraq because Bush was in Iraq, his party fought an election campaign focusing on the fact that Canada wasn't being a good little satellite state, and so on and so forth.

He's a Republican; he just happens to be in a different party's caucus.

[whirlygigspin]

33. Is she thinking...I can't beleive such a moron is Prime Minister

"We are not amused..."

[IndianaGreen]

34. Canada’s “putsch”: Oppose Conservative power-grab! No support to Liberal-NDP coalition!

Canada’s “putsch”: Oppose Conservative power-grab! No support to Liberal-NDP coalition!

By Keith Jones
4 December 2008

Canada's right-wing, minority Conservative government is preparing to cling to power illegally. Led by the neo-conservative ideologue Stephen Harper, the Conservatives are threatening to unleash a constitutional crisis and incite anti-Quebec chauvinism rather than allow the parliamentary opposition parties to form an alternate government.

"We will use all legal means to resist this undemocratic seizure of power," declared Harper on Monday, after the opposition parties—the Liberals, New Democratic Party (NDP), and Bloc Québécois (BQ)—announced an accord to form a Liberal-NDP coalition government supported by the BQ.

The Conservatives, who won the votes of barely one in five Canadians in the federal election held October 14, are accusing the opposition parties of attempting a "putsch" and thwarting the will of the electorate.

This is reactionary rot. It is the Conservatives who are acting undemocratically, and in manifold ways.

• Under Canada's parliamentary system, the opposition parties have every right to form an alternate government, since they won a majority of the seats in the House of Commons in a general election held just seven weeks ago.

If one includes the votes of the Green Party, which announced Tuesday that it too backs the Liberal-NDP coalition, 61.2 percent of voters cast their ballots October 14 for parties supportive of the coalition.

• So as to avoid defeat in a parliamentary non-confidence vote scheduled for next Monday, the Conservatives are reportedly preparing to prorogue or shut down parliament, which reconvened only on November 17, until late January,

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/dec2008/cana-d04.shtml