Coalition government

[Some dude]

Harper moves to avoid political showdown

I'll just leave this here.

[Grapes]

Really weird play by the Liberals and NDP.

The Conservatives were democratically elected under our current system. They are the government, and much as I might not care for them, they haven't done anything NEARLY drastic enough to warrant....... what, a coup??

[miss.myra]

hey remember when the conservatives forced our country into an election by making an alliance with other parties? i guess it's only ok when stephen harper does it.

[miss.myra]

oh and ps, i think the economic recession this country is facing is FAR FAR more serious than the sponsorship scandal that ousted the liberals.

[Grapes]

I entirely agree, but I have a hard time blaming the Conservatives for it. What exactly would the situation be if the Liberals were in power? No economic recession?

I don't like it when governments get blamed for things that are bigger than them and out of their control. The key will be to see how the Conservatives manage the country through these rough waters. But they didn't make the waves.

[Grapes]

Are the Liberals and NDP trying to force another election? Because the impression I got was just that they were trying to overthrow the government outright. (I might be wrong, I only started getting into this story this morning)

Two very very different things.

[Some dude]

Originally Posted by Grapes

Really weird play by the Liberals and NDP.

The Conservatives were democratically elected under our current system. They are the government, and much as I might not care for them, they haven't done anything NEARLY drastic enough to warrant....... what, a coup??

Pretty much what I thought. To the best of my knowledge, we haven't had a coalition government since world war one.

This is different from forcing an election, we just had an election where the economy was the number 1 issue, nothing has changed since then. If the Conservatives said "no bailout ever under any circumstances" then I can see why the opposition parties would act this way, but that isn't the case.

[miss.myra]

globeandmail.com: Tories reverses decision on political subsidies

[Some dude]

Originally Posted by Grapes

Are the Liberals and NDP trying to force another election? Because the impression I got was just that they were trying to overthrow the government outright. (I might be wrong, I only started getting into this story this morning)

Two very very different things.

No election. The Liberals and NDP will merge (temporarily, one would assume) and form the new government of Canada, even though they hold fewer seats than the conservatives. I don't quite understand how that works, tbh.

[b0ld]

Originally Posted by Some dude

No election. The Liberals and NDP will merge (temporarily, one would assume) and form the new government of Canada, even though they hold fewer seats than the conservatives. I don't quite understand how that works, tbh.

Actually the liberals and ndp are already threatening to have a non confidence vote for the "fall fiscal update" to which the prime minister would have no other choice but to dissolve parliament. They were gonna do this this coming monday however Harper has decided to delay the fiscal update proposal for at least a week. However Harper is launching anti-coalition material to be distributed among conservative members to give out to the public aswell as well as using airtime from the media network. So you'll most likely see some pamphlets this coming week telling you why you shouldn't support the coalition government.

If indeed the Liberals and NDP merge as 1 party (which is what they are planning) it will mean that there will be a single Liberal-NDP leader.... Something that the country hasn't seen since John Abbott was elected.

I've been brainstorming some interesting scenario's though... So if the Liberals and NDP merge, the only way that the Conservatives will be able to hold power is to essentially merge with the Bloc.
After all one of the first things that Harper said when he first was electred prime minister is that he recognizes Quebec as a "nation" within a "nation". So it will be rather interesting.

But it also makes you wonder how both ndp and liberal supporters will stomach the thought of both parties merging. Will we see party strong holds for west, central, east, and atlantic canada now?..

Its going to be an interesting 2 weeks thats for sure.

[Grapes]

The New Liberal Democratic Party? NLDP? Sort've has a nice ring to it...

They can't force another election with the status quo. But if they can give the people of Canada a genuinely new and powerful option..... very intriguing.

The question is: Do they end up with the best or the worst elements of each merging party?

[Senior]

still reserving judgment until I figure out what the hell is going on. I've heard a bunch of different stuff about it but it all sounded very partisan one way or the other.

[Some dude]

I don't think anyone knows what's going on... the conservatives must have known this would happen, or maybe they thought the opposition didn't have the balls to vote them down so soon after the election.

What I find funny is that it's the Bloc who win big in all this. Not even the Liberal-NDP alliance will have a majority, so either side will need Bloc support to do just about anything.

[diva]

Interesting Harper speech from 1997:

http://web.archive.org/web/200512170...h_txt_only.pdf

"First, facts about Canada. Canada is a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term, and very proud of it. Canadians make no connection between the fact that they are a Northern European welfare state and the fact that we have very low economic growth, a standard of living substantially lower than yours, a massive brain drain of young professionals to your country, and double the unemployment rate of the United States"

[b0ld]

Its pretty ironic right now the conservatives are shitting bricks and have now scrapped the proposals for the fall fiscal update.
This go's to show that harper and the conservatives absolutely refuses to negotiate with the opposition party. Instead the parties have to take drastic measures to ensure that there voices are heard. This has pretty much been the same scenario since last parliament before the election.

I don't know what ideology the conservative government think there in. But it sure as hell ain't a "Democracy"

[stephen_c]

let's all swarm the airports! bring ur t-shirts.

[SEAN!]

KILL WHITEY!!!!

0

[Grapes]

Sean that's your answer to everything

[decypher]

sorry finger twitch on this duel monitor made me give Bold bad karma by accident, oops.

[mapleleaf4ever]

Originally Posted by Grapes

I entirely agree, but I have a hard time blaming the Conservatives for it. What exactly would the situation be if the Liberals were in power? No economic recession?

I don't like it when governments get blamed for things that are bigger than them and out of their control. The key will be to see how the Conservatives manage the country through these rough waters. But they didn't make the waves.

DING DING DING DING DING!

quoted for truth.

Sometimes I get the feeling that these parties are only doing whats best for their own party rather than whats best for our country as a whole. Shame on all of them, Im so sick of them bashing and blaming each other to trying to per-sway voters opinions.

Whats happening to our economy is going to effect everyone. Why cant they just sit down and work together and do whats best for everyone in this country. This is why we're made to do group projects in school. My overall impression is that every party is just being selfish for their own needs and doing what ever they can to get the most power.

[b0ld]

Originally Posted by R Wellbelove

Why cant they just sit down and work together and do whats best for everyone in this country.

The opposition wants to sit down and work together. However the conservative government refuses to do so. Often when ever it would come down to fiscal and/or budget proposals the prime minister would call leaders of the opposition to his office to discuss the plan. If the opposition party voices difference's of various spending policies and what not then it is up to the prime minister to work those proposals out. If the leaders of the opposition came to an agreement then they would show the proposal to there party and urge them to vote in favor for it to pass.

In harpers case... He isn't even budging... He doesn't give a shit about what the opposition thinks. He will only do something when something as big as an opposition coalition occurs.

[dj_soo]

this has nothing to do with blaming the recession on the harper government and everything to do with how the cons proposed to deal with it (which is pretty much do nothing and hope the market corrects itself) which is pretty contrary to suggestions from the opposition and oh... the rest of the world...

Couple that fact with the attempt to include a cut for public funding to parties into the budget which essentially harms pretty much every party except the conservatives (who generally have the richest backers giving donations) shows that the main motive for the conservatives is not the best interests of the country but rather an attempt to harm the opposition.

It's complete and utter arrogance that they would include such a measure in the budget - which is a confidence issue - essentially daring the opposition to do something about it (which the opposition is).

Remember this is the same party that called an election and then basically didn't have *any* platform other than talking shit about the opposition (unfounded, untruthful attacks at that) until the looming economic crisis forced them to scrape together a loose platform mere weeks before the election. Add onto that the fact that this government will say one thing only to do the exact opposite, I would love nothing better than to see this party go down - whether the country is ready for an election this soon however is another story...

[Alex]

hey dj_soo, remember that law where individual donor contributions are CAPPED?

Richest donors argument out the window

[b0ld]

hrm check this article out. Was just released an hour ago..
.
The Canadian Press: Conservatives listen in to NDP caucus on coalition