9 replies to this topic

[Aereshaa]

I don't know if you've been following the Canadian news, but we had an election two months or so ago. The winning party, the conservatives under Stephen Harper, formed a minority government with less than 50% of the seats, but more than any other party. However, the Conservatives' policies are not supported by any other party, and therefore when they are put to a vote of confidence, the Conservatives will lose. Under Canadian law, this means Harper and his party will no longer be the government, since the majority do not support his policies. Normally there would be an election at this point, however, the three other major parties, the Liberals, the National Democratic Party, and the Bloc Quebecois, have made an agreement that when the Conservative government falls, they will form their own majority government. This has never happened before. What do you think?

[Aereshaa]

Why would they interfere? I consider this totally democratic, since the majority of Canadians support one of the three parties in the coalition. But yeah, it does sound like something that they would interfere in.

[Aereshaa]

So Bush will try to bungle our gov't as a last act as president? Lol.

[TkTech]

Lol. We're getting a coalition government because the first thing Harper did was screw over every public servant (I'd like to see how many vote for him in the future) and remove the $1.95 per vote every party gets. The conservatives don't need this money, but the other parties do to keep running (So, essentially, he's taking out the competition in the name of 'Economic savings')

Now, if he had done this as part of his crown speech, this wouldn't be an issue. But he didn't, instead passing it as a direct act.

Since he's lost the vote of confidence, he'll have to go to the Governor General and either ask for a new election, or suspend parliament. The Governor General can then say, oh, no, its too early, the Country needs a government, and here's a group willing to make one (The Coalition)

Another thing to note, is that a coalition really isn't a big deal. Its happened several times before and is only a temporary measure.

[Aereshaa]

Only once before, I believe, during the great war.

[TkTech]

Sorry, lol, meant in general not just Canada.

[Aereshaa]

Yeah, many European democracies have coalitions as the norm.

[KeilanS]

I don't think Harper should have cut the funding. (Ideally I think it would be cut, but right now was kind of just a kick between the legs to the opposition).

However, the coalition is crazy in my opinion. Just because you support one of the 3 parties, doesn't mean you support the whole thing. People who supported the liberals want a liberal government, not some crazy liberal/NDP thing with seperatist support, so acting like you can just mush all the parties together is irrational.

For example, there is no way I would have voted for Harper if I'd thought I was voting for Harper/Bloc and I think a lot of liberal/NDP voters are the same way.