Campaign Crawlers
Canadian Coup
A left-wing coalition threatens to topple Canada's recently reelected Conservative government.
Compared to the raucous atmosphere in the United States, politics
in Canada is widely perceived as the country is itself: tranquil,
polite, and clean. That stereotype was shattered last week with
news that a coalition made up of the left-of-center Liberal Party
and the socialist New Democrats -- supported by the separatist
Bloc Quebecois -- would attempt to knock off the Conservative
government of Stephen Harper and take power
themselves.
Although coalition governments are fairly common in other
parliamentary democracies, Canadians haven't seen one at the
federal level since 1917, when Robert Borden's Conservatives
teamed up with disaffected Liberals and independents for three
years to form the Union Government. Canada's Conservatives,
re-elected to a minority government just seven weeks ago, could
conceivably be replaced by a coalition government early next
year.
According to the opposition parties, the crisis was sparked by a
Conservative refusal to include a multi-billion dollar forestry
and auto industry bailout in a recent economic update, a now dead
plan to end political subsidies for political parties, and an
attempt to remove the right to strike for federal employees,
among other alleged indignities. Claiming that Prime Minister
Stephen Harper's Conservatives had lost the confidence of
Parliament, the parties announced their proposed
coalition.
The announcement plunged the country into an unprecedented
political crisis, forcing the hasty return of Governor General
Michaëlle Jean from a European trip. At the request of Harper,
Jean announced December 4 that she would prorogue Parliament --
essentially suspending it -- until January 26 when a federal
budget would be introduced. Regardless of what she decided, she
was likely to anger wide segments of the Canadian population that
would have seen her as either helping the government stay
in power over the wishes of Parliament or aiding an opposition
scheme to take command.
A fairly salient question among all of this concerns Harper
himself. Only his most loyal of friends would deny that he's
challenged charismatically -- he's reportedly alienated several
of his own cabinet ministers -- but only the most blindly
partisan would declare him anything but politically astute. How
did a man who helped revitalize the Canadian conservative
movement and was used to navigating the shoals of minority
government find himself in the position to lose power to a
liberal-socialist coalition?
While pundits blamed the current crisis on Harper and his
allegedly high-handed way of dealing with the opposition, a more
jaundiced eye would view this as nothing more than a naked power
grab by a political left rejected at the polls. As Barack Obama's
chief of staff Rahm Emanuel stated recently, "You never want a
serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an
opportunity to do things you think you could not do
before."
For the Liberals that means recapturing power on the pretext of
addressing the economic crisis -- despite the fact that Harper
has hinted a stimulus package is coming next month. After
governing Canada during most of the 20th century they were often
called the nation's natural governing party. Recent elections,
however, have seen their support drop thanks to lackluster
leadership by outgoing leader Stéphane Dion and party scandals
involving corruption. The same October 14 election that returned
the Conservatives to power also saw the Liberal support fall to a
near historic low. With no personality like Pierre Trudeau -- or
even Jean Chrétien -- to inspire the party, prospects for an
imminent return to power via the polls are slim.
That thirst for power saw the Liberals and NDP make a deal with
the devil -- in this case the leftist Bloc Quebecois, a party
dedicated to Quebec's separation and the effective sundering of
Canada. Dion has been noticeably reticent to tell Canadians what
demands the BQ made for its support and what it is entitled to in
the future. And while they claim their proposed $30 billion
industry bailout -- peanuts by any measure -- is necessary, it
also comes at a time when the Canadian economy continues to
expand, 1.3 percent in the third quarter according to the Bank of
Canada last Monday. The bank system is stable, mortgages more
than 90 days in arrears stand at a historic low of 0.2 percent
and unemployment remains relatively low.
The cravenness of the left's actions is made all the more clear
given what they are essentially rejecting. Instead of toppling
the government when they had the chance over its unpopular
commitment to Afghanistan, past budgets, increased military
spending, climate change or any number of other hot topic issues
for the left, they decided to launch their attack over an
economic update -- essentially a brief report card on the economy
delivered a few months before the full budget.
The final result of this crisis will likely be an election, given
that the opposition will likely vote against the government's
budget -- which will likely see another minority Conservative
government or a leftist coalition government. The lone bright
spot may be that Canada's conservative movement could eventually
be strengthened as Canadians realize that the leftist opposition
is willing to plunge the nation into crisis for the sake of
power, giving the Conservative Party something it couldn't
achieve itself: nationwide popularity.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (44) | Leave a comment
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Jason| 12.5.08 @ 8:42AM
How could Canada possibly have a government more conservative than the one in the U.S.?
http://rightklik.blogspot.com/
Tom Wasney| 12.5.08 @ 12:51PM
Harper knew their was a political coup being hatched. Further evidence came when a Conservative was mistakenly invited to listen to a conference call led by the neo-marxist NDP wherein leader Jack Lsyton stated they had planned the coup with the seperatist xenophobi Bloc Quebecois party " long ago".
So, Harper gave them a pretext to act, revocation of welfare for political parties. The left took the bait and the backlash against the far left could not be more resounding right now.
ruth| 12.5.08 @ 1:42PM
Typical leftists' tactics.
Michele San Pietro| 12.6.08 @ 5:52PM
I totally agree with Ruth. Leftists do not hesitate to form ridiculous coalitions in order to put a spoke in the wheel's right. But such a ridiculous move usually meets with disaster, that's what happened here in Italy, after just two years Berlusconi (who is a great man, don't believe shameful propaganda!) is again in power.
P. Carbonneau| 12.6.08 @ 8:17PM
Poor little Stephen, two thirds of Canadians and Québécois never voted for him...
And he is trying to impose his conservative neo-con views "à la Bush" to the majority...
Fortunately in the US, they get rid of his mentor, Bush Jr, and Harper's time will come soon...
Tom Brancato| 12.7.08 @ 3:37PM
There are billions of reasons why the Liberals wanted a coup d'etat. They are in fact the billions of tax dollars that they would give to their corporate buddies and relatives in Quebec .... just as they were doing last time they were in power. This is just a thinly disguised attempt to transfer what's left of Canada wealth to Quebec so the leftist Separatistes and their closet Liberal friends can make Quebec an Independent Nation... their long standing dream since the defeat of the French by the English at the Plains of Abraham, thus making the insuring the future Canada as an English country! Too bad Quebec, you lost fair and square... get used to it! The rest of the country is fed up and ready to send the army in... for a 2nd time! This time we'll make it stick!
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Ramon1982| 2.10.10 @ 4:20PM
Great read
"$30 billion industry bailout -- peanuts by any measure -- is necessary, it also comes at a time when the Canadian economy continues to expand, 1.3 percent in the third quarter " Didn´t know it was really that much.
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Great read
"$30 billion industry bailout -- peanuts by any measure -- is necessary, it also comes at a time when the Canadian economy continues to expand, 1.3 percent in the third quarter " Didn´t know it was really that much.
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