An Election, Please
It takes a lot to get me out of my cynical fog to write a post these days. Thankfully, Stageleft has given me the keys to come and go as I please. The insanity that is our current Parliament is enough to push me over that edge. The last week’s events on Parliament Hill demonstrate how cheap and childish our politicians can be and how utterly absurd many aspects of our democracy are, or are about to be. Let me be the first here at Stageleft to suggest that the only sane course forward is for the Governor General to dissolve the House and insist on an election.
Make no mistake about it, this is the Prime Minister’s mess. Harper’s “arrogance or stupidity”, to quote Rex Murphy on CBC’s The National last evening, set the wheels in motion for this crisis. Apparently, Harper in his vindictive, authoritarian and bully-like nature failed to heed a basic political concept: Never give your enemies a reason to unite. He has lost the confidence of the House by his own hand and should be taken to task by the voters for his lack of judgment and leadership.
An election should also put to rest the nonsensical coalition that has come together between the Liberals, Bloc and NDP. If it is not enough that we are supposed to hold our noses at the sheer absurdity of the Bloc holding court in this country, we also must endure a new Prime Minister who doesn’t even hold the confidence of his own Party, let alone the electorate. We are supposed to believe that the three parties are going to govern in the best interest of Canadians yet coalition governments are a breeding ground for corruption. Every piece of legislation, every initiative has to be washed through the other two parties before it goes anywhere. Nothing gets done without a deal between all three co-conspirators. That is a recipe for all sorts of back room shenanigans. The Bloc, who has no interest in sitting at the Cabinet table will instead ask (extort) money for a whole list of goodies in the Province of Quebec at every single opportunity to prop up the government. Is that really what we voted for a month ago?
I don’t believe all of the hysterical rhetoric out there suggesting that the coalition is a “coup d’etat”; that Canada “looks bad to the rest of the world”; that Canada is now representative of some “third world democracy”. I do believe that the only reasonable course is to put this rabble Parliament to the test of the electorate one more time.
I don’t disagree, but then, I don’t vote.
That being said, I think concerns about the Bloc are overblown. The Bloc has been able to maintain is relative popularity in Quebec because it has softened its separatist stance and has appealed to Quebecers who are not separatistes. Many of the people it represents vote for them because they do a good job for their riding and their province.
My anglo wife has said that if we lived in Quebec, she would have not compunction about voting for the Bloc.
Beyond that, they Bloc has signed an accord outlining what it will support and its pretty tame stuff.
But hey, another election? Sure.
I wonder if a part of this deal is to run as a coordinated coalition in that event?
An election right now would solve nothing, IMO.
The Liberals are in disarray and between leaders and would not be able to campaign effectively let alone win enough sets to take Harper to task. The NDP’s policy positions limit their seat potential to about where it is now — same with the Bloc.
If an election were held now we’d have one of two outcomes: a conservative minority or a Liberal/NDP coalition. A election is unlikely to make Harper tread any more carefully than he will now anyway. Would a Liberal/NDP coalition now act any differently than one is 3 months? Unlikely.
The Bloc — whose MP’s seem to treated by many as being somehow illegitimate because they come from a regional interest party — will do what the bloc has always done and with the same or less efficacy. They have agreed not bring the government down for a year. That’s one year where extortion is less likely as long as the Coalition doesn’t do a Harper and try to screw them.
No, I wouldn’t support an election as the best way forward. I Harper can pull his ass out of the fire, fine. If not, let a coalition form and govern until an election will make a difference.
KevinG,
The Liberals are in disarray but presumably they have a constitution that has in place rules to deal with extraordinary circumstances such as another election before a leadership convention. It would probably fall on caucus to choose a leader to be ratified at a later date by the Party.
I also think that we all might be surprised at the outcome of another election given Harper’s current implosion and the amount of bad press he is getting.
[...] still some want to pay another $300,000,000 rather than watch politicians work out their [...]
Harper would not lose his minority power in another election, unless the NDP, Greens, and Liberals worked out a coalition to go into the election.
“Harper would not lose his minority power in another election, unless the NDP, Greens, and Liberals worked out a coalition to go into the election.”
Harper has his hands full holding onto the reigns of his Party at moment. The daggers are out in impressive force already. I am not so sure that the electorate will be any kinder to him.
Treehugger,
Certainly the Liberals would have a leader in place. It would have to be Dion because you couldn’t possibly unite a party behind a leader whose leadership would be ratified later.
Political outcomes are difficult to predict though and you may be right that Harper would pay a steep price for his miscalculation.
That’s not the way it looks to me. It seems like support Harper is strong among people who voted for him and support for the coalition is strong among those who voted for the coalition parties.
[...] tested. Let’s remember that this mess proves how well it’s been working up to now. A coaliton could make a lot of people – and not just in Alberta – question the country. But an elect…. Let’s keep in mind that Canada’s been through parliamentary mess - even one that was [...]
the only sane course forward is for the Governor General to dissolve the House and insist on an election
Yeah…that’s probably the best way to deal with this absurd situation. I don’t see how any of the so-called “leaders” or their parties can claim to have any sort of superior confidence or support of the folks on the street.
An election could realistically be considered, unofficially, as a run-off election to the one we had in October 14. If this is the case, perhaps this should be the policy of the members of the coalition:
1. Run the candidates who ran in the previous election (save money on signs, et cetera)
2. In ridings where a Liberal/New Democrat/Bloc member won, have the other members of the coalition sit out the election.
3. In ridings where a Conservative won, have the members of the coalition look to see who placed second, then have the other members of the coalition sit out the election.
Put this into place, and we might finally have a big load of ridings with MPs who are elected with 50% of the local popular vote, or more.
Harper will need to resign before any of the above takes place. He will not accept anything less than the throne so long as he remains leader of CPoC. This includes an election, a coalition or any other working alternative. So far, every scenario hinges on Harper and what he decides to do – and not do – in the next few days. Given the past few days, don’t expect sanity as he’s taken us all from a minor fender bender to massive train wreck piling disastrous reactions upon bad decisions.
Given the past few days, don’t expect sanity as he’s taken us all from a minor fender bender to massive train wreck piling disastrous reactions upon bad decisions
You’re right, of course–but usually the other folks at the scene of an accident don’t get busy smothering the occupants in hopes they can abscond with what’s in the trunk.
There are no good guys in this scenario. It’s just chimps, hyenas and buzzards.
I’m not at all interested in another election less than two months after an election that gave this country its second minority government in a row. I don’t think anything will change, and then what…do it again?
And who’s paying for all this? And how?
No. Let’s see what a coalition can do.
There really is no need for an election. We don’t elect governments, we elect parliaments. The mandate of our local members of parliament to represent us is still valid, even if Harper has failed to obtain the confidence of the majority of those members. There’s a fair argument that these MPs are within their mandates to decide for themselves who should be prime minister, since Harper has so spectacularly failed in his post.
And, given that, what we should be doing is telling our local MPs how we think they should react, since right now they are our direct connection with this parliament.
TH said…”The insanity that is our current Parliament is enough to push me over that edge. The last week’s events on Parliament Hill demonstrate how cheap and childish our politicians can be and how utterly absurd many aspects of our democracy are, or are about to be”…
WTF..now I would agree if you said how childish Harper was being,but to tar the other three party’s with the same brush is well,cynical.The parliamentary system is a parliamentary system after all,Harper is the PM not the president,part of his responsibility is to build house confidence,he failed,he chose to play political/partisan games.The Libs ,NDP and BLOC did the only thing they could do,that’s how our system was designed to work.
TH said…”An election should also put to rest the nonsensical coalition that has come together between the Liberals, Bloc and NDP. If it is not enough that we are supposed to hold our noses at the sheer absurdity of the Bloc holding court in this country, we also must endure a new Prime Minister who doesn’t even hold the confidence of his own Party, let alone the electorate”…
Nonsensical coalition,wtf… your going to have to explain that one.Also this fear of the BLOC is totally over blown,look at it positively,.i.e Canadians of all political persuasions working together to solve/deal with issues that affect us all( including the people of Quebec) Pray tell,what could possibly be wrong with that ?
With respect, this is interesting, from Treehugger: “The Liberals are in disarray and between leaders and would not be able to campaign effectively let alone win enough sets to take Harper to task. The NDP’s policy positions limit their seat potential to about where it is now — same with the Bloc.”
They’re not in such disarray that they can’t agree on a coalition, set a schedule for a change in leadership, campaign for that coalition quite effectively *and* take Harper to task.
They’re managing all that while I write this, are they not?
You’re exactly right about the NDP and Bloc policy positions, though, at best.
From Dirk: “now I would agree if you said how childish Harper was being, but to tar the other three party’s with the same brush is well,cynical
Cynical maybe, but not incorrect. Look on it as a game of Cheat or Tegwar, and think about how people act when they think they’re winning.
From James: “There really is no need for an election. We don’t elect governments, we elect parliaments.’
Technically you’re correct–and I visited your blog and I certainly respect your position and thoughtfulness.
But all technical arguments aside, I think most folks actually don’t vote for their local rep in federal elections; they vote the party or the leader, or both, and the way they register that preference is to elect the candidate who wears that mantle. That’s maybe not how it should be, but I think it’s pretty much how it really is.
“With respect, this is interesting, from Treehugger: ”
Ron, you have the wrong attribution. It was KevinG that made that comment.
Dirk said, “Nonsensical coalition,wtf… your going to have to explain that one.”
I did explain it, read the whole paragraph. One man’s cooperation is another’s corruption. Also, I have stated no “fear” of the Bloc but have only pointed to the absurdity of it being part of the government.
They’re not in such disarray that they can’t agree on a coalition, set a schedule for a change in leadership, campaign for that coalition quite effectively *and* take Harper to task.
Fair point. There might be a difference though if they had to put together an effective campaign for the electorate. For one thing, it doesn’t take any money to form a coalition.
But all technical arguments aside, I think most folks actually don’t vote for their local rep in federal elections …
This is an interesting point. By interesting I mean, I agree.
Treehugger and KevinG: my apologies. Probably a combination of a late night and something I ate in the 60s
Can’t see an election solve anything if the three parties remain three parties.
If the Lib/NDP run together then we may get a majority either way.
I think Harper will Prorogue parliament and then resign.
What will the coalition do then?
“I think Harper will Prorogue parliament and then resign.
What will the coalition do then?”
Tracey, interesting observation. I think he will try to prorogue but doubt he will resign; it’s not in his DNA as I think one commentator on TV put it.