Canada's leadership in crisis

[Sheriff Roland]

And THIS, from a Swiss (?) newspaper:

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/news/international/Canada_PM_wins_suspension_of_Parliament.html?siteSect=143&sid=10053466&cKey=1228420392000&ty=ti

Canada PM wins suspension of Parliament

Harper's request for suspension was unprecedented. No prime minister had ever asked for Parliament to be suspended so soon after an election, and no prime minister had asked for a suspension to avoid a confidence vote in the House of Commons.

[Front-Ranger]

Thanks for keeping us apprised of this situation, friend.

[Sheriff Roland]

Well it's on google's NEWS for both the U.K. & the U.S. now.

It's gone international for sure.

(but I stated talking about it a week ago - check out the date on the first post.)

[Sheriff Roland]

Harper (and the conservative chorale) has been lying through their teeth the whole week. Hope Canadians are listening to the experts ...

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20081203/harper_undemocratic_081204/20081204?hub=Politics

Harper wrong on democracy claims: experts

Updated Thu. Dec. 4 2008 5:59 PM ET

Jim Brown, The Canadian Press

OTTAWA -- If there's one point on which Stephen Harper has been adamant, it's his claim that the opposition politicians trying to strip him of power are undermining democracy.

"The Canadian government has always been chosen by the people," the prime minister declared in his mid-week televised address to the country.

But now, he told viewers, a coalition of opposition parties is trying to oust him through a backroom deal "without your say, without your consent and without your vote."

Just how valid is Harper's claim that changing governments without a new election would be undemocratic?

"It's politics, it's pure rhetoric," said Ned Franks, a retired Queen's University expert on parliamentary affairs. "Everything that's been happening is both legal and constitutional."

Other scholars are virtually unanimous in their agreement. They say Harper's populist theory of democracy is more suited to a U.S.-style presidential system, in which voters cast ballots directly for a national leader, than it is to Canadian parliamentary democracy.

"He's appealing to people who learned their civics from American television," said Henry Jacek, a political scientist at McMaster University.

Harper signed similar document in 2004

In Canada, there's no national vote for prime minister. People elect MPs in 308 ridings, and a government holds power only as long as it has the support of a majority of those MPs.

"We have a rule that the licence to govern is having the confidence of the House of Commons," said Peter Russell, a former University of Toronto professor and adviser to past governors general.

"I'm sorry, that's the rule. If they want to change it to having a public opinion poll, we'd have to reform and rewrite our Constitution."

Harper himself signed a letter to then-Governor General Adrienne Clarkson in 2004, claiming the right to form a government if Paul Martin's minority Liberals could be defeated in a confidence vote in the Commons.

His ostensible partners would have been NDP Leader Jack Layton and Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe -- now derided by Harper as the "socialist" and the "separatist" in Liberal Leader Stephane Dion's coalition.

"I was just as much a sovereigntist then as I am now," Duceppe sniffed Thursday in a reference to Harper's new-found aversion to any deals with the Bloc.

Such facts are conveniently forgotten by some members of Harper's cabinet who have been even more vocal than their boss in the current crisis.

Revenue Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn has characterized the opposition effort to bring down the Tories as a "coup d'etat."

Transport Minister John Baird spoke Thursday of the need for the Conservatives to go "over the heads" of both Parliament and Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean to take their case straight to the people.

There's no doubt the central Harper claim -- that he can't legitimately be dumped from office without a new election -- is dead wrong, said Jonathan Rose, a Queen's University political scientist.

But as a communications strategy it has the virtue of being simple, direct and powerful.

"He's using this bludgeon of an argument (but) most people just see the word democracy and have some intuitive connection to it," said Rose.

By contrast, the theory and practice of parliamentary confidence and responsible cabinet government take some explaining.

But Harper may have undermined his own effort Thursday with his visit to the Governor General to get permission to shut down Parliament for seven weeks.

It was the only way he could dodge a confidence vote that would have toppled his government next Monday. But it also presented the Liberals, NDP and Bloc with a ready-made response to the prime minister's claim of democratic superiority.

"You need something visceral and simple," said Rose. "The opposition metaphor of locking the doors to Parliament does it. I think people understand that."

[injest]

you need us to come up there and straighten them out for you there, Roland??













*Jess ducks and runs out of the blog*

[welliwont]

Just another reason for the West to separate from Canada.  I wish they would.  Freakin' politics.  What a waste of money, one election after another.  The Conservatives won, and now less than two months later, the politicians want another election?!!  And now the politicians are off work for the next nine weeks?!!  I hate politics.

[Kelda]

Really interesting Roland.. I had no idea about this.

Thanks for posting - partic for me since the Scottish Government - who I work for are a minority government currently.

The SNP won by only one seat against Labour in the May '07 election.

Scottish National Party    47 seats
Labour Party    46 seats
Conservative    17 seats
Liberal Democrats    16 seats
Scottish Green    2 seats
Other    1 seat

At the moment it works on a case by case basis whether other smalller parties work with SNP to get things through, and this so far is working.

We've always had a minority government (see stats below) but never to that extent. At the mo, SNP are pretty damn popular but things might move along the track to where you are at some point....

Does Canada use proportional representation in voting?





In '03:

Labour Party     50 seats
Scottish National Party    27 seats
Conservative & Unionists    18 seats
Liberal Democrats    17 seats
Green Party    7 seats
Scottish Socialist Party    6 seats
Others    4 seats

In '99:

Labour Party     56 seats
Scottish National Party    35 seats
Conservative & Unionists    18 seats
Liberal Democrats    17 seats
Others    3 seats

[Sheriff Roland]

I am aware of 'Proportional Representation' as this was something that was suggested in a referendum in our last provincial election. It was voted down (33% in favor). I voted against it because I think it would cause even more minority government situations.

Of course, this country has been so fractured in the last little while that the last 4 elections have produced minority governments (two with Paul Martin's Liberals and two with Stephane Harper's Conservatives). The Green Party got 6% of the total votes in this last election but didn't get a single seat ... And furthermore, the people who would be selctedfor their party's % of the vote would have no responsability to the people in any one district - only to their own party.

I don't like fractured governments. Though I'm quite happy to not see a Conservative Majority Government.

The second Paul Martin minority government was subject to confidence votes on a monthly basis. He NEVER prorogued (suspended) parliament to delay a non-confidential vote. Harper's made history this week.

I think I'll be participating in the pro-coalition rally at Queen's Park tomorrow. Just because the Block Québecois is a seperatist party doesn't make them evil. Those members were elected to the House just as the Conservatives were.

[Kelda]

Howd the rally go?

Yeah Proportional representaion does have that effect but actually certainly in Scotland its produced some really good bills & then laws as a result. The socalist party and green party have been been able to exert their power of votes over the other parties for exampl and in the last 2 terms before the SNP took over 99-07 the liberal democrats and labout came togtether and that saw things like abolition of tuition fees

[Sheriff Roland]

Howd the rally go?

Wasted 2 hours.

I unfortunately went to the 'pro-Canada' (or anti-coalition) rally at Queen's Park.

Only learned, after the fact, that the pro-coalition rally had been held at City Hall.

I'm sure there'll be other opportunities.