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Rally to Make Parliament Work, Thursday
Tue Dec 2, 2008 Miss Vicky
It's been difficult to keep abreast of new developments over the last week, much less blog about them. It's also quite stunning, the way the Harper government seems to be unraveling. After all, they sealed their fate with that ridiculous and provocative fiscal update last week - there was something for everyone to hate in that thing, so what exactly did they expect the opposition parties to do?
So, Harper's getting his comeuppance for pretending he doesn't have a minority government... finally. But with all the twists and turns over the last few days, one can only expect that a few more are on their way. Who knows what the situation will be a week from now... or a month from now... or six.
As fascinating as the Hill is these days, the discourse outside the Queensway is just as fascinating. Maybe not in a good way - I am actually quite appalled at how little folks seem to understand about how our parliamentary democracy works. And how much traction the Conservatives' spin about "power grabs" or "coup d'etats" seems to have. Look folks, we don't elect a government in Canada. Or a Prime Minister. We elect a Parliament and the composition of the seats determines who forms government. Sure, Canada doesn't have much experience with formal coalitions, but the fact is that when no party forms a majority in the House, then they HAVE to cooperate to keep things going. If the governing party doesn't want to cooperate, well, then we have a problem. So rather than play electoral chicken with the Conservatives for vote after vote, it only makes sense for the other parties to seek some way of achieving some stability in Parliament.
Conservative claims that the Liberal/NDP coalition would "overturn" the results of the recent election are simply unfounded. The election gave no party a majority, and if the Conservatives don't have the confidence of the House, then the Governor General is well within her rights to determine whether another functional government is possible within the existing Parliament. The accord between the three other parties clearly shows that it is. Seems to me a fellow whose party received less than 35% of the vote should not be quibbling about who has a mandate to govern... but that's another point altogether.
See you on the Hill on Thursday!
Some people were moved to reply
Emphasis mine :
---snip---
September 9, 2004
Her Excellency the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson,
C.C., C.M.M., C.O.M., C.D.
Governor General
Rideau Hall
1 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A1
Excellency,
As leaders of the opposition parties, we are well aware that, given the Liberal minority government, you could be asked by the Prime Minister to dissolve the 38th Parliament at any time should the House of Commons fail to support some part of the government's program.
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.
Your attention to this matter is appreciated.
Sincerely,
Hon. Stephen Harper, P.C., M.P.
Leader of the Opposition
Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada
Gilles Duceppe, M.P.
Leader of the Bloc Quebecois
Jack Layton, M.P.
Leader of the New Democratic Party
oh yeah. Also keep in mind that he was only too happy to be propped up by the "separatists" during the budget votes of 2006 and 2007
"If the Liberals can't pass their Throne Speech, then they aren't able to form an effective government."
- Stephen Harper in Opposition
"We're doing what governments should do, which is examine the Throne Speech - if I were Prime Minister, what I would have done is I would have talked to all three other parties extensively to find out what would pass in the Throne Speech, and what might not pass..."
- Stephen Harper in Opposition
"Canadians want the Parliament to work - but look we're not going to roll over to agree with the government just so they can stay in office. ... There's going to be other parties, the third parties and that's usually where the government's going to have to seek its mandate to try to get a majority in the House of Commons and it's - that's really their primary responsibility. They've got to get these other parties supporting them regularly or they can't command the confidence of the House. And the same would be true for me if I had the most seats, I would have to find a way of governing."
- Stephen Harper in Opposition
Here's a good piece from Constitutional historian Peter Russell.
It is really appalling how little Canadians understand about their own system.
A very interesting blog and I agree with the historian Peter Russell that a lot of people don't understand the parliamentary system at all. I don't even think Stephen Harper understands it.
"Canadian leader shuts Parliament to keep power"
We are now officially known around the world as a conservative dictatorship. No need for a government to be responsible before the House of Commons! Just get the vice-regal to close down Parliament so that the government NEVER has to face the people... Dark day for democracy in Canada...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200 81204/ap_on_re_ca/canada_polit ical_crisis;_ylt=AinE2ih1T_2SP 4NO.0XZyJMDW7oF
[Edited By ouest-ender Dec 08, 2008 12:11 PM]
I hope everyone heard Miss Vicky on the CBC today - sounded great...too bad they didn't give out the URL of the blog, though!
I agree with Sam - nice job on the radio this morning! I didn't hear the whole thing, but thought you made excellent points (particularly regarding the way a parliamentary democracy works). It's a shame that the other interviewee seemed to think that parliamentary cooperation and compromise is such a frightening concept, and should be shut down if there's any chance of it happening.
What I haven't heard anyone say yet is that the coalition only relies on the support of the 'separatists' if the tories oppose any particular vote.
CJP
PS. I have to admit that when your name was announced, I spent several minutes thinking 'I know that name - but how?'. It was only when you mentioned the blog towards the end that I figured it out!
Great job this morning Vicky! When they first announced you and Jack, I was like, oh oh what has Vicky got herself into. But he was pretty quite once you got to talk about how we vote for MP's not a prime minister.
Thanks, everyone. I really tried to be polite up until that point but I couldn't let him keep repeating the Tory lines misrepresenting our democracy. It drives me bonkers.