One prime minister too many ( VIA Globe And Mail) December 2, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , trackbackThe Liberals, NDP and Bloc have signed a historic accord that supports a Liberal-led coalition government. But the Conservatives are determined to do all they can to stay in power
OTTAWA — Stephen Harper’s beleaguered Conservative government girded yesterday for an all-out battle to stave off imminent defeat at the hands of a newly minted Liberal-NDP coalition, signalling it might even move to terminate the current session of Parliament to do so.
This morning, Governor-General Michaëlle Jean announced she is cutting short a state visit to Central Europe to return to Canada on Wednesday “in light of the current political situation in Canada.”
Government supporters said they are planning rallies across the country and will go door-to-door to gather signatures on a petition protesting against the deal that could lead to the Conservatives’ ouster as early as next week by a coalition that would make Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion interim prime minister. Rally locations will include Rideau Hall – home of the Governor-General – and Parliament Hill. Sources say broadcast or print advertising is also a possibility.
“It’s a PR war now,” one senior Conservative said.
They’re fighting a coalition pact under which the Liberals would share cabinet seats with the New Democratic Party for the first time in history, with Mr. Dion handing over the prime minister’s job in May to whichever candidate – Michael Ignatieff, Bob Rae or Dominic Leblanc – wins the Liberal leadership race in May.
Rank-and-file Tories, many of whom are upset with the Prime Minister’s Office for precipitating the crisis, were nevertheless united yesterday in efforts to fight the opposition coalition. At a Tory staff Christmas party last night, a feisty Mr. Harper referred to the coalition as the “nightmare before Christmas.”
One controversial measure open to the Tories would be to prorogue Parliament, ending the current session and setting a date in 2009 for a new one.
Asked whether proroguing Parliament is an option, Environment Minister Jim Prentice, speaking to reporters after a conversation with Mr. Harper, indicated that it is being considered. “The government will consider all steps that are reasonable to protect the interests of the country, and the interests of Canadians, particularly in these uncertain economic times,” he said.
The Tories are planning to argue that their seven-week-old government must be allowed to stay in power or, failing that, Canadians should decide in a new election who is in charge.
The Liberals, NDP and Bloc Québécois, which together hold more than half of the seats in the Commons, yesterday signed a historic accord that would support a Liberal-led coalition government for at least 18 months.
They also sent a letter to the Governor-General, indicating they are ready to take over as the government from the Tories.
It is an odd alliance: Mr. Dion, the anti-separatist crusader who authored the landmark Clarity Act and Mr. Duceppe, whose party advocates an independent Quebec.
They said they were taking this extraordinary action because the Harper government failed to deliver an economic-stimulus package in its fall fiscal update.
Eighteen of the coalition government’s cabinet ministers would be Liberals and six would be New Democrats. The Bloc would not formally be a part of the coalition and would back it to the end of June, 2010.
In a press conference with Mr. Dion and Mr. Duceppe, NDP Leader Jack Layton urged Mr. Harper to accept his fate, and not create instability by fighting tooth and nail.
“Prime Minister, your government has lost the confidence of the House. And it is going to be defeated at the earliest opportunity in the House of Commons. I urge you to accept this gracefully,” he said.
Mr. Dion said Mr. Harper has only himself to blame.
“If he lost the support of the House, it’s his own fault. It’s because he did not know how to present a government that faced the economic crisis we’re now in. And because he said one thing and its opposite to the point where no one could believe him any longer.”
Mr. Harper set the tone for the Tory response yesterday, chiding the Liberals as the “party of Laurier and Trudeau” for being in league with leftists and separatists, and saying he believes his government’s fate should not be decided until it has presented an economic-stimulus package in a Jan. 27 budget.
“I would certainly not want to find myself governing this economy today … under a situation where I was required to follow socialist economics and be at the behest of the veto of the separatists.”
The Liberals, NDP and Bloc together outnumber the Tories in the Commons. The Liberals have 77 seats, the New Democrats 37 and the Bloc 49, giving them 163 votes versus the Conservatives’ 143.
Monday is expected to be the first chance for the coalition to defeat the Conservatives. The Tories delayed confidence votes on their fall fiscal update until that date when it became clear opposition parties meant to push them from power.
Although the opposition pact calls for the Liberals and NDP to share power until June, 2011, Mr. Duceppe said the Bloc Québécois would not guarantee its support beyond June, 2010, because the other two parties would not make concessions on actions to reflect Quebec’s recognition as a nation.
The Bloc will support the coalition on automatic confidence matters such as Throne Speeches and budgets, but will vote freely otherwise.
The coalition agreement calls for an economic stimulus package including infrastructure spending; money for housing; aid to key sectors such as manufacturing; auto and forestry sectors; funding for skills training; and support for unemployed older workers.
But Mr. Dion said leaders could not say when stimulus details would be revealed, or how much the plan would cost, arguing they do not yet know when they would take power and have not seen the country’s hidden fiscal details.
The pact does not detail all stands such a government would take on matters that divide the parties, but Mr. Dion outlined a few. His election-campaign carbon-tax proposal would not go ahead, but plans for a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions would. Planned corporate tax cuts would go forward – a major concession for the NDP – and Canadian troops would remain in Afghanistan until 2011.
Tories say they’d prefer to be defeated early next year rather than in December. One senior Conservative said that even if they were defeated when the House is called back after prorogation, the government would be a few months older and Ms. Jean might be more inclined to call an election at that point rather than turn government over to the coalition. Tories believe they could win an election by arguing that the coalition partners are solely interested in political gain.
The Harper government also drew support from the wider Tory family yesterday with an intervention from Conservative Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach.
“[Canadians] did not vote for a minority coalition that will govern with the support of a party whose agenda is by definition opposed to the national interest,” Mr. Stelmach said in a reference to the separatist Bloc.
Asking Ms. Jean to prorogue Parliament at a time when the opposition is seeking to defeat the government would place the Queen’s representative in a never-seen constitutional quandary.
Mississauga Conservative MP Bob Dechert argued that shutting down Parliament until the New Year would not be undemocratic.
“I don’t think so. I think the confidence vote will happen in the New Year. It could be a confidence vote, it could be a vote on the Throne Speech, it could be a vote on the budget itself,” Mr. Dechert said.
But Eastern Ontario Tory MP Daryl Kramp said there’s no point, because the coalition will take power sooner or later.
“To my mind, all that would simply do is delay the situation to another day.”
With reports from Katherine O’Neill and Jane Taber
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