Close To Coalition Agreement

December 8th is my birthday and getting rid of Harper would be a GREAT birthday present!

I think we will look back in 5 or 10 years and realize that this is the moment we turned away from a road to fascism

Hmmm. December 8th is my birthday too, and the date of the Immaculate Conception on the Roman Catholic calendar. Here's looking at ya, brother.

Coyote

I'm actually a sister, but cheers to ya just the same
Scout, as in "Scout Finch", Atticus's daughter from "To Kill A Mockingbird"

For Canadians, the Conservatives have been wrong on almost every issue that has defined what Canadians believe in. On the questions of universal healthcare, and small "l" liberal community standards, the Tories have been swimming upstream. As a result they've spent 90% of so of the last century on the outside looking in. Those of us "of a certain age" remember the vicious lying fight they put up against universal health care.

Harper has "won" two minority governments. Despite an historic Liberal collapse in Quebec he was unable to win a majority. Why? Because Canadians are not ready to hand over our "social network" to the "tender care" of the Religious Right and the Reaganite "Trickle Down, Deregulate, Government is the enemy" crowd.

As in the USA, the "right" doesn't want government "leaner" it wants Government "gone." The US shows us the end game of that philosophy. Canadians know better.

Polls always show a majority of Canadians as being "center/left." Harper's hatred and disrespect of the opposition may have now created the "New Liberal Democratic Party" of Canada.

Thank you Mr. Harper, your disrespect is going to give Canadians the opportunity to elect, "Change we can believe in!"

I think Harper is pissed because he should have won earlier, when his mentor Bush was at the height of his popularity. Instead, he "took power" when Bush was on the slippery slope, and the only ally he had in the world was heading into the toilet............

Canadians actually want the policies put forward by the NDP -- but they want the Liberals to do it, not the NDP. And the Liberals have turned out to be conservatives (just without the religious right aspect), in that the one thing they can be judged by is the huge increase in dependency on the US marketplace they engineered over the 13 years of (mostly) Chretien leadership.

Hmmm. Even better.

Coyote

Excellent citations, Sue. Thank you.

We're getting loads of good civics lessons, reluctant as many of us are to learn from anything but TV.

It seems Mr. Harper has at least three options (and Hara Kiri makes 4):
-make the opposition an offer it can't refuse,
-call the vote, and force/allow the opposition to fish/cut-bait,
-go for prorogation.

Here's a pretty good civics lesson on the proper etiquette of British *prorogation*. I strongly doubt that our Canadian law differs in any substantial way.
And, yes, I am hinting that the authority to prorogue is vested only in our sovereign HMTQ.

http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/occa ... gation.cfm

Vive la Reine.
e.p.1

Just heard on CBC radio (01 Dec'08): The opposition parties have signed a formal agreement, in which the Bloc will support the Lib/NDP coalition for at least 18 months on any confidence votes. They say it doesn't matter if Harper shuts Parliament. When he opens it again -- c'est fini!

Darn good, I say! Harper doesn't represent what Canada is all about. He originally got in on an anti-sponsorship vote (with a touch of Chretien arrogance thrown in, even though it was Martin in office at the time).

Power to prorogue is with GG.

A constitutional expert indicated on CPAC that the letter from Dion to the GG indicating he has the support of the house should be sufficient for the GG to deny a request for prorogue or election.

Guess we'll have to wait and see.

After seeing the complete mess created by a NeoCon Christian FunnyMentalist Party south of the border, I don't think Canadians will ever accept that type of similar Government. GWB's catastrophic drop from ultimate ruler of the universe to street sweeping duties pretty much sealed the deal for his buddy, Stevie. That's what happens when you put all your eggs in one rotten basket. You go to bed with a whore, you wake up with a whore...good riddance!

Although I`m all for giving Harper and his fascists the boot, I smell a rat here. Over these past few years, the liberals and NDP have not given me any indication that they represent the best interests of most Canadians. I`ve written to various liberals and NDPers about key issues like public health care and scrapping NAFTA, and of course the answers I receive are either a run around, or non-existent. And what, exactly, is the Bloc`s role here? When will they conveniently play spoiler? There obviously must be something grand in it for them to go along with this game. I`m deeply suspicious about this whole thing.

" I`m deeply suspicious about this whole thing."

And so you should be, Dave.

However, it gets rid of Harper, hopefully for good, and his destructive little psrty, for the time being at least, and will give the other parties a look at the nation's finances to see where things really stand.

My hope is that this wakes Canadians up to the fact that if this coalition government is possible, maybe other things are as well. Might reduce apathy and the feeling some have that nothing will ever change.

We'll just have to wait and see.

This is a disgrace. Regardless of whether you respect the government, respect the choice of the people. How would you feel if you won your sweetheart's hand in marriage, and some King claimed Prima Nocta on your wedding day?

I have nothing against Canadians voting for a party I disagree with, because I respect the choices of my fellow Canadians. It stinks to high heaven that an unelected person can just seize power like that just for the heck of it. What happened to working together, and trying all avenues FIRST before doing such a drastic thing?

I am honestly ashamed of all of you who support this. So what if you hate Harper? Respect the votes of the people. Love your people and respect them, even if you hate their choice. Turn the tables and see whether a CPC-Bloc coalition would seem fair to you, and support what is fair.

Democracy has come a long way from the dark days of Dictatorships and Monarchies where people seized power without the consent of the people. How can you support such a regressive notion of a coup given you're the same people who hated George Bush for doing the same thing? Are you proud that the progressive nation of Canada ranks side by side with unstable countries like Thailand? You should be ashamed of your selfishness.