Coalition Deal To Topple Minority Tory Govt- [Update Parliament Prorogued until Jan]

[Jade]

Originally Posted by FLAMESRULE

"Adding to the intrigue, the Bloc Québécois said it is seeking up to $500 million in post-secondary education transfers in the first budget of a proposed Liberal-NDP coalition government, suggesting that — while it has pledged to support the coalition — it won't be a silent backer."

And the collapse of the coalition has already started...

And the extra incentives that liberal supporters insisted would never be a part of this coalition start to trickle out. Can't say no one saw this coming.

[transplant99]

Layton is looking pretty smart in my opinion. He is forcing himself into cabinet and hurting the Liberals while he does it.

Still hurting himself as well IMO...not to the extent the Liberals are, but its still there.

he too has agreed to jump into bed with seperatists to steal power....noyt just topple the government and force an election...but to steal power.

Optics are horrendous for all involved except Duceppe.

[FanIn80]

The unfortunate thing is that I, like many Canadians (I'm sure), treat our election process like it's the same as the US.

I honestly couldn't care less who the guy running my riding is or what he stands for. When I fill out a Federal Election ballot, it's about one thing and one thing only: voting for the person I want to lead my country.

Wrong? Probably. But at the end of the day, Deepak Shakaraka (or whatever his name is in my riding) isn't going to have much of an impact on how this country operates. The Prime Minister, however, does.

[transplant99]

Completely OT...but anyone have a back door way to listen to QR?

It simply wont connect when I attempt it through the website...yet CHED and others are no problem.

[Jade]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

If I'm Ignatieff, I'd be upset right now.

The only thing that was going to heal the Liberal Party was time. All they had to do was act like a responsible opposition and force the ruling party into comprimises. Over time, they would have imporved their popularity. By forcing themselves into government, they are really doing themselves a disservice and Ignatieff will be lucky if he can ever be PM (assuming the Liberals did choose him).

Could you imagine in Harper managed to lure Ignatieff to the Conservatives? The Liberal Party would be set back quite a bit.

Layton is looking pretty smart in my opinion. He is forcing himself into cabinet and hurting the Liberals while he does it.

Yup, Ignatieff had the chance to gain back some of the credibility the liberals lost between Cretien, Martin and Dion. Unfortunately, with this coalition nonsense and the fact that he was forced to not only support it, but will essentially be forced to run it if he wins the party leadership, it's been made a whole lot harder for him. Unless he speaks out harshly against this, he may not be able to recover. Sad too, because he seemed like the best of the liberal leadership hopefuls.

As for Layton, he isn't forcing himself into anything. Him getting a major cabinet post had to be one of the conditions of the coalition. But I do think in the end what he does will reflect badly on the liberals.

[Jade]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

The unfortunate thing is that I, like many Canadians (I'm sure), treat our election process like it's the same as the US.

I honestly couldn't care less who the guy running my riding is or what he stands for. When I fill out a Federal Election ballot, it's about one thing and one thing only: voting for the person I want to lead my country.

Wrong? Probably. But at the end of the day, Deepak Shakaraka (or whatever his name is in my riding) isn't going to have much of an impact on how this country operates. The Prime Minister, however, does.

For the most part canadians do operate that way, although there are exceptions. I myself have never even considered voting conservative. May look into it in the next election, since I am moving out of Rob Anders riding. In some cases it isn't important who is in your riding, but there are some things that just can't be overlooked.

[transplant99]

Rae also defended the coalition’s use of the Bloc’s support and said that, contrary to Tory assertions, the Bloc will not be part of the coalition government or get any Senate seats.

“Nor have they asked for any special concessions with respect to Quebec or any special concessions with respect to their own political position,” Rae said. “None have been granted. None are there. None are in the document. Nor do they have a veto over anything. In fact they’ve given up a veto for 18 months because what they’ve said is for 18 months we’re going to provide stability for this (coalition) government.”

Honestly....do even the most ardent supporters of the Liberals believe this?

Honest question.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/Harpe...300/story.html

[calculoso]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

Well, this is interesting....

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl.../National/home

They are ALL scoundrels.

How?

"In an interview, Mr. Chipeur played down the importance of the offer, saying he never discussed the matter with Mr. Day or other MPs, and was simply getting ready in the event of a minority government."

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

The unfortunate thing is that I, like many Canadians (I'm sure), treat our election process like it's the same as the US.

I honestly couldn't care less who the guy running my riding is or what he stands for. When I fill out a Federal Election ballot, it's about one thing and one thing only: voting for the person I want to lead my country.

Wrong? Probably. But at the end of the day, Deepak Shakaraka (or whatever his name is in my riding) isn't going to have much of an impact on how this country operates. The Prime Minister, however, does.

And this is where Canadian elections get funny. Because in 90% of cases, the MP you vote for doesn't have any personal opinion, just votes to tow the party line. So in effect, you ARE voting for the leader, because the leadership is what defines the party line. It's so silly..

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

The unfortunate thing is that I, like many Canadians (I'm sure), treat our election process like it's the same as the US.

I honestly couldn't care less who the guy running my riding is or what he stands for. When I fill out a Federal Election ballot, it's about one thing and one thing only: voting for the person I want to lead my country.

Wrong? Probably. But at the end of the day, Deepak Shakaraka (or whatever his name is in my riding) isn't going to have much of an impact on how this country operates. The Prime Minister, however, does.

Maybe you would think differently if you had a d-bag like Rob Anders as your MP.

[metallicat]

Question Period is on right now BTW, not sure when it started.

[FanIn80]

Yeah the Rob Anders thing would definitely throw a wrench in my blissful ignorance.

I don't get why he hasn't been replaced by a different PC, but I guess that's for another conversation.

[octothorp]

I think what we need is a new political party that has only one mandate: that every candidate work for and vote for what they believe are the interests of their own constituents. If this means that half the party votes one way and half votes the other way, so be it. They have the freedom to form coalitions with one another or even with other parties, if appropriate. It would essentially be a party of loosely aligned independents, but with the organizational structure of a political party for better efficiency and national messaging.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

If Harper wants to take a break until January, what is going to happen to our financial crisis during that time. Can he do anything during the 'holiday break'?

Well, despite what the coalition is saying, Canada is hardly in a crisis at this point. We'll be fine for another month.

[transplant99]

LOL...a member of the Libs just blamed Harper for the financial crisis.

I mean...good lord.

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by transplant99

LOL...a member of the Libs just blamed Harper for the financial crisis.

I mean...good lord.

They've been doing that since the election, you would honestly need a room temperature IQ to buy into that.

[flamesaresmokin]

Originally Posted by octothorp

I think what we need is a new political party that has only one mandate: that every candidate work for and vote for what they believe are the interests of their own constituents. If this means that half the party votes one way and half votes the other way, so be it. They have the freedom to form coalitions with one another or even with other parties, if appropriate. It would essentially be a party of loosely aligned independents, but with the organizational structure of a political party for better efficiency and national messaging.

All i want to see is politicians who actually give a hoot about the country and not their own personal agendas. Like him or not, Harper is the closest thing we've had to that in a long time. Layton and Dion are laughable excuses for leaders and the fact they are spearheading this initiave with seperatists only reinforces that fact.

[Bobblehead]

Interesting description by Jeffry Simpson about yesterday's Question Period.

Yesterday, Mr. Harper, normally just an average orator, knocked Mr. Dion around so badly in Question Period that had the verbal combat been a boxing match, the referee would have stepped in to avoid life-threatening injury.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...Story/politics

[malcolmk14]

Is there a place I can listen to the question period? No TV around unfortuntately.

[flames_fan_down_under]

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

Is there a place I can listen to the question period? No TV around unfortuntately.

You can watch it live on cbc.ca.