With the Stephen Harper-led Conservative Party in a tailspin, he and his supporters are pulling out all the stops to paint a Liberal and NDP coalition with the Bloc Quebecois as a deal with the devil that will "destroy Canada."
The problem for Harper in this whole smear campaign is that in 2004 he proposed to the Governor General a coalition with the Bloc Quebecois.
The Globe and Mail has an excerpt from a 2004 letter from Harper to the Governor General in which he states:
"We respectfully point out that the opposition parties, who together constitute a majority in the House, have been in close consultation. We believe that, should a request for dissolution arise this should give you cause, as constitutional practice has determined, to consult the opposition leaders and consider all of your options before exercising your constitutional authority."
Now at the time, the Liberals had 135 seats, the Conservative Party had 99 seats, the Bloc Quebecois had 54 seats and the NDP had 19 seats.
So when Harper said that "the opposition parties, who together constitute a majority," that included the Bloc Quebecois. He could not have formed a minority coalition government without the 54 Bloc Quebecois seats.
Kevin Grandia contributes to the Vote for Environment blog, where a version of this post first appeared.
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Luke Skywalker
4 years ago
Methinks The Word "Coalition" Is ...
... being thrown around too much.
I've never heard of a coalition government in Canada before, either federally or provincially, aside from the federal "Union" government of WW 1 and the BC "coalition" government from 1941 - 1951.
There's a big difference between a coalition government whereby various parties have cabinet posts and minority governments with agreed support between parties in Parliament/legislatures.
Eg., the 1979 Joe Clark Conservative minority government had the support of the conservative Quebec Social Creditistes, but the Creditistes never formed a coalition with the Tories.
Ditto the Liberals and NDP in 1972.
G West
4 years ago
Coalition
It's a perfectly good word for a perfectly good arrangement which was perfectly fine for Pee Wee to propose when it would work to his benefit.
The real problem here is the utter hypocrisy of a man and a party who started out their exercise of cynical power by enticing one of the Liberals' star candidates to join the cabinet before their government had even been sworn in.
The level of phony umbrage by this government is spectacular both for its lies and for its purblindness : Something which several posters here at Tyee have been demonstrating - with examples - for years.
They should all be too embarrassed to show their faces in the light of day. The level of ignorance and vitriol spewing from Mr. Harper’s erstwhile supporters tells us pretty much all we need to know about the ‘quality’ of the man and his ‘vision’ for the country.
I don’t know how this is going to shake down, but the only honourable thing for Harper to do is apologize and resign – God knows the country would be better for it.
And, just for your edificatio, in British Columbia, a Liberal-Conservative coalition held power for ten years from 1941 to 1951 - it was the method they used to deny power to the CCF.
Y'see, the Campbell government is, in its own way a kind of coalition too.
DPL
4 years ago
Begone Steve,time to leave
GWEst makes a lot of sense:I don’t know how this is going to shake down, but the only honourable thing for Harper to do is apologize and resign – God knows the country would be better for it. Sort of reminds me of the time King Gordo was caught drunk as a skunk, convicted of drunk driving, came back in tears and a lot of folks felt sorry for him.Gordo if he had any honor would have bowed out of politics that day. Power sure corrupts some folk. Nobody feels sorry for Steve Harper, the majority simply want him to go away
SharingIsGood
4 years ago
Methinks
GG [for the queen]: The Luke (and the Harper) doth protest too much, methinks.
Frank
4 years ago
The Globe
Even the Globe and Mail editorial thinks Harper should resign.
G West
4 years ago
The longer Harper hangs on the worse for the country
The man is a disaster - as someone from the prairies I spent my youth apologizing for John Diefenbaker and some of his bizarre behavior. Now another generation of young people from the West are going to find themselves making excuses for this klutz. Couldn't we just once have a sane leader with some ethics and morals from the West?
Jeez!
crh
4 years ago
Do the Cons really see him
as a good leader? Surely this blind faith will eventually crack, and then the calls for another will come flooding in . Real leadership creates commonality between enemies. Harper only manages to polarize the country further and further apart.
Harper should go up north and spew his hot air where it may do some good.
G West
4 years ago
crh
Good one!
I'm not sure he isn't becoming a major source of greenhouse gases!
OilbertaRedTory
4 years ago
Harpocalypse
"Then I saw an angel come down from heaven with the key to the Abyss and an enormous chain. The Angel overpowered the Dragon and threw him into the Abyss and sealed the entrance over him to ensure he would no longer deceive the nations for a thousand years."
Rev ch20
Who will be our Angel for the Harpocalypse ?
bcandbeyond
4 years ago
Oh, the Irony
Much in Harper's political history makes these very ironic times for him in Parliament. I can't help drawing an analogy between the Coalition's move to dethrone Harper and David Emerson's crossing of the floor.....back then, Harper admonished those who protested the move, saying their partisan concerns were irrelevant and it was best for Canada and Emerson was best for Canadians in government, not sitting in opposition. You can't have it both ways, Steve.
www.bcandbeyond.wordpress.com
Van Isle
4 years ago
There is only one word to
There is only one word to decribe Stephen Harper; psychopath. Look it up, it fits him to a tee.
Skywalker
4 years ago
Thanks Luke!
You opening post provide me with what I am sure will be the chuckle for the day.
OilbertaRedTory
4 years ago
Chuckle ... chuckle ...
This cryptic history of coalitions with Separatists goes back to Y2K.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081203.wquebec1203/BNStory/National/home
Will Stockwell Day now join the new Coalition ?