As of this writing it, looks like the minority Conservative government may last through the week, if their budget-related ‘ways-and-means motion’ is supported by either the NDP or the (GASP!) Separatists. This after an election looked downright inevitable after Michael Ignatieff suggested his Liberals would no longer support the Conservatives and would instead send the country back to the polls at the first chance they got.

The mood amongst Canadians generally seems to be anti-election, with polls suggesting that 71% of Canadians don’t want or see a need for an election, sentiments which I would share. This would be the fourth election in less than six years, and less than one year after the last one of October 14th. Not much has changed since then, and public opinion has only slightly swayed back and forth (although the Liberals have a new leader, and the country has since descended into, and then begun to recover from, a recession, so perhaps that’s really poor analysis on my part).

Don’t get me wrong; I’m no fan of Harper or the Conservatives. I was in full support of the failed coalition from last winter. But that didn’t work out, and now we’re in a different situation, which must be dealt with as it plays out. And I think that’s where Canadians are becoming put-off. Like Jack Layton before him, Iggy and the Liberals have promised to vote against the government at the earliest opportunity, before anything has even been tabled. Bob Rae has gone on about ‘confidence in the government,’ saying with Bairdian incredulity: “for whatever reason, if the other parties decide that they now have confidence in the government, which I find a little strange; they are free to [support the government].” But the way Gilles Duceppe explains his party’s support is that they still don’t have confidence in the house, but they support the motion being tabled, considering it contains components that the Bloc had been insisting be included. It would be a complete waste of democracy if you were even going to oppose concessions you had asked for.

So the Liberals are left looking sheepish on this one; as it seems they were acting in their own best interest. Now let’s not give the Bloc and the Dippers too much credit: I suspect had the Liberals promised to support the measure that decision would have been met with a chorus of outrage from the other two, grumbling about the Liberals once again propping up a Conservative government. But being in poor shape to run in an election on short notice with low poll numbers, they made the moves they had to to ensure an election would be delayed. So they’re really all just acting in their own best interests; making decisions on the fly. The next step is for the Conservatives to table increasingly unfavorable motions in an attempt to provoke an election that nobody wants to be responsible for. Whoever finally brings the house down will face the wrath of the other parties’ finger-pointing, and presumably the wrath of voters. Which is why the Liberals got the hell out while they could.

Which is what makes Canadians so frustrated. Whether the election is next month, the month after that, or next spring, we are going to have one. And it will likely be another minority. So somewhere along the line these politicians are going to have to work together. Which is what is somewhat promising about this week’s vote. Duceppe mentions the home renovations tax credit as being good for Québec and his constituents, so he supports it. Even more promising is Conservative concessions on increasing Employment Insurance to support recession victims at the behest of the NDP. The only way this country is going to run for the next little while is if the parties can find a way to work together, and elections don’t see that realized.

Related posts:

1. The Near Completion of the 2nd Session of the 40th Parliament of Canada T...
2. Liberal and NDP Alliance I think Harper must be dizzy from all the turning...
3. Unite the Left? Democracy is about choice. It’s about the right to look...
4. Harper Bites Liberal Budget Bullet MPs voted 214 to 84 in favour of the Liberal...
5. The 2010 Post Olympic Federal Election So now that Lord Ig has wisely and graciously bowed...

Tags: conservatives, election, liberals, NDP, separatists

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 19th, 2009 at 1:05 pm and is filed under Federal Government. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.