Breaking News: Canadian Government to Fall, Liberal and NDP Parties Negotiating Coalition Government

Originally posted by Spock Shock

... if a general election was to be called, the majority of the votes would go towards harper by the sounds of the prospects on the phones, they are raged over the current tactics of the opposition parties in a clawing effort to bring down a government our country voted in favor of 8 weeks ago.

Last time around, the PCC didn't got a majority because of the seats held by the Bloc in Québec. In a new election, the PCC will not win more seats in Quebec, probably less.

Now in the rest of Canada, will they trust Harper again? knowing that he can add fuel to the fire (instead of dealing with the economy, his priority was to cut the funding of the other party, and then going back on that decision, saying that it is not worth starting a fight over that, big lack of judgment).

And next time, it will not be with Stéphane Dion, but probably with Michael Ignatieff (or Bob Rae?), so it will be a different dynamics.

So I'm no so sure that if there is a new election, the PCC will win that easily.

Originally posted by Cool Hand Luke
I really can't get how people can support this. I mean the conservatives cut taxes and wanted to cut spending of government. Apparently the liberals saw this as a threat to their "Government must wipe everyone's bottom from cradle to grave" party platform and some people have the nerve to support these socialist clowns? Good lord, Canada really is a nanny state complete with diapers for all. And everytime the children (yes adults included) soil their diapers, they want the government to clean it up for them.

Wow I didn't realize when I started this thread that people such as yourself would "contribute" to the discussion. Could you maybe next time use some numbers or examples to your Conservative blind talking points? I don't even think you're serious...you sound like a sketch out of an episode of This Hour Has 22 Minutes, where you play the crazy Conservative.

I'm not sure about what the Conservatives are talking about when they say that Canadians would vote for a Conservative majority if they went to the polls. Do they think that we Canadians are that stupid? The fact is that a combined 62% of Canadians voted for the Liberal and NDP parties 6 weeks ago in our last election. 62% of Canadians that DID NOT vote for the Conservative party of Canada. So, no matter how the Conservatives try to spin it, this coalition is democracy working at it's finest, and the majority of Canadians, who would now have the political parties that they voted into the House of Commons in power, would be fine with it I'm sure...I know I would be.

Sign the petition!
I'm Part of the 62% Majority Petition

reply to post by matth


I think Harper brought this on himself. Imo people don't trust Stephen. He should know, to have a minority gov., you have to keep the other parties in the loop, let them think they have some control. Instead Harper tried to hit them in the wallet and now look. As far as I'm concerned Stephen Harper is too controlling, his way or the highway. He even refuses to talk to media unless he needs to. See ya Former Prime Minister Harper, have fun as leader of a minority opposition. Maybe you and Cheney can go hunting.

reply to post by matth


OK... but those who voted Liberal, DID NOT vote for NDP. Or vice versa. you think the liberal platform they voted for will be complemented by the NDPs or will it be compromised?? 62% did not vote for Harper sure, but NONE of those 62% voted for a coalition.

With the amount of $#!+ talking dion threw layton's way and vice versa, do you actually expect them to work together, or do you think it will inspire more secrecy, backstabbing and behind-the-scenes turmoil? I mean the fact that they need the BLOC's support in order to make this happen, when the Bloc doesnt even run outside of Quebec and has a platform of seceding from and dividing this great country, makes me wonder what these people are thinking.

And Dion being the leader for the first 18 months (if my memory is correct from what ive read -- too tired to double check that duration) is enough to give me a stomach ache. They keep throwing at harper the claim that he's more concerned about his own job than the economic security of Canadians, well this is what this whole deal reeks of to me, that and desperation.

On the other hand: I'm all for revolution.

I did not vote for Harper, BTW.

This thread is ample proof that most Canadians have a drastic lack of understanding of politics in Canada. There have been accusations that the Conservatives in Canada are identical or similar to the Republicans in the United States. However, an accusation like that crumbles when it's actually scrutinized. The Conservatives are actually left wing on a continental scale, left of even the Democrats in the USA. There are the constant accusations of "what Harper wants to do", yet in almost 3 years of being Prime Minister he hasn't once even whispered anything akin to what they are accusing him of.

There are accusations that Harper has hijacked government, called an election against his own law, and forced opposition parties to vote with him.

Hijacked government? How can anybody hijack a government when they are duly elected to be that government by a democratic election?

Called an election against his own law? First of all the Prime Minister cannot call an election, he can request that the Governor General call one. Furthermore, the law states that there will be fixed election dates, however the power of the Governor General to call an early election cannot be compromised.

Forced opposition to vote with him? It is a Parliamentary vote, which ALL elected MP's vote in. The fact that the opposition parties had neither the policy, the money, nor the will to force a new election so they voted with the government was THEIR choice, it wasn't forced on them by anybody.

The candidates representing the Conservatives earned more votes and seats than the other candidates representing their parties. What that says that the Conservatives have the support of a greater percentage of the population than the other individual parties, so when somebody says "most Canadians don't support the Conservatives" they are only telling part of the truth. What they neglect to mention is that even MORE of those Canadians don't support the party that that person supports.

What we saw with this coalition was little more than sour grapes by both the losing parties and their supporters. The fact that ANY Canadian would throw their support behind this coalition is quite frightening. Two of the parties previously insisted that they are so fundamentally different in policy that they could never merge or form a coalition, and the third one has 1 dominating policy, which is their desire to separate Quebec from Canada to form a sovereign nation of it's own, effectively breaking up the country that they would have been having a hand in governing.

I also find it ironic that those complaining that Harper only got 38% of the vote means that the majority don't want him didn't seem to find it an issue when their own party only got 40 percent of the vote. Where was their petition then? That's the way Canada works. With so many parties and a parliamentary system, getting over 50 percent of the popular vote is a very difficult task. What matters more in Canada is where exactly the votes come from. Canadians should realize the fact that a majority government with less than 50% of the popular vote is actually MORE likely than a majority government with more than 50% of the popular vote. This "the majority don't want him" B.S. is rather humorous. Those that are making that complaint should really delve a little deeper into the parliamentary system of government.

Ah the beauty of Canadian politics. In Canada it truly appears that many people actually want the blind to lead the blind.

[edit on 2-1-2009 by bronco73]

Originally posted by pigwithoutawig
reply to post by matth

 

I think Harper brought this on himself. Imo people don't trust Stephen. He should know, to have a minority gov., you have to keep the other parties in the loop, let them think they have some control. Instead Harper tried to hit them in the wallet and now look. As far as I'm concerned Stephen Harper is too controlling, his way or the highway. He even refuses to talk to media unless he needs to. See ya Former Prime Minister Harper, have fun as leader of a minority opposition. Maybe you and Cheney can go hunting.

We are heading into what could be a severe recession, when all Canadians are going to have no choice but to considerably reduce their spending habits. Why would you think that the political parties should not be expected to do the same? What the people who bitterly hate Stephen Harper and the Conservatives fail to realize is that when he proposed to "hit them in the wallet", he was hitting himself and his own party harder than the other parties. He was cutting over 10 million dollars worth of funding to the Conservatives, about as much as both the NDP and Liberals COMBINED. The political parties DO NOT have a right to our federal tax dollars. This waste of OUR money was put in by Jean Chretien as a means to continue funding for his own party. It was wrong then and it is wrong now.

Originally posted by matth
Wow I didn't realize when I started this thread that people such as yourself would "contribute" to the discussion. Could you maybe next time use some numbers or examples to your Conservative blind talking points? I don't even think you're serious...you sound like a sketch out of an episode of This Hour Has 22 Minutes, where you play the crazy Conservative.

What? Did you only expect replies from people that agreed with your point of view? You didn't want pesky little things like actually debating the merits of your argument?

Originally posted by matth
I'm not sure about what the Conservatives are talking about when they say that Canadians would vote for a Conservative majority if they went to the polls. Do they think that we Canadians are that stupid? The fact is that a combined 62% of Canadians voted for the Liberal and NDP parties 6 weeks ago in our last election. 62% of Canadians that DID NOT vote for the Conservative party of Canada. So, no matter how the Conservatives try to spin it, this coalition is democracy working at it's finest, and the majority of Canadians, who would now have the political parties that they voted into the House of Commons in power, would be fine with it I'm sure...I know I would be.

Sign the petition!
I'm Part of the 62% Majority Petition

You've been throwing that 62% didn't vote Conservative stat out throughout this thread, yet not once have you mentioned that 100% of the people did not vote for a coalition government. Nor did you even supply the data that all major polling firms have released showing support for a coalition government as low as 22%, and none of them show support at over 40%. I wonder why that is? Perhaps because it's rather devastating to your argument? Sir, there is no spin here, very few Canadians are actually in favor of a coalition comprising a party that wants to institute the single largest tax restructuring in the history of Canada, a party that wants to pull Canada so far left that Castro would be envious, and a party that wants her home province to secede, leaving our country broken and defeated.

And, I'll ask again, where was your petition when Paul Martin had his minority? or when Chretien won his majority with only 41% of the popular vote?