... by rebels. No, actually, the three opposition parties have let lose and are attempting to oust the government form parliament.
As a bit of background for our non-Canadians (I am pleased to see this is the lead story on the BBC News Website for the Americas). In power is Prime Minister Stephen Harper after he was re-elected once again to a minority - albeit a stronger one. His Conservative Party of Canada got 143 seats out of 308 - just a handful short of a majority with which he could have used to pass laws with impunity as in Canada unlike say, the US, pretty much Ministers of Parliament are made to toe party line and when you vote against your party in votes you risk being thrown out of caucus. So, the three other parties, including the Liberal Party of Canada - Canada's typical ruling party, have reached an agreement. The Liberals (centre/centre-right) plan on forming a coalition with the New Democratic Party (centre-left) and receive support from the Bloc Quebecois (Quebec separatist/Quebec advocate/centre-left)/ The Liberals and the NDP combined have less votes than the Conservatives so the Bloc's support will be crucial.
Now, in Canada, there are certain critical votes in the house of commons called confidence votes - votes on the budget for example - which if the government loses, the PM is obliged to ask the Governor General (the Queen's representative in Canada) to dissolve government and have an election. However, we just had an election, and the people do not want to spend in excess of 300 million on another one. The Liberals and NDP were caught taped in coalition talks by the Conservatives (the NDP is seeking legal action in this matter) before the economic plan was released by the finance minister in which a plan for the economic crisis was not included and a small surplus was planned, as well as the elimination of the $1.95 of public money per vote that the parties receive in funding (I hate that parties get public money - right now, the Conservatives are rich, the traditionally rich Liberals are poor, the NDP always poor, and I dunno about the Bloc - but they are not happy about this). So, when the PM asks the GG to dissolve parliament, it is expected, and there is precedent, that she will invite the opposition to form government which they are expected to do. Apparently, before government forms, especially when there is a minority elected, the GG canvases to determine who governs - in Canada, that is usually the largest party in parliament although I suppose that the opposition coulda done this earlier but I bet wanted the economic plan released so that they could jump on it to get public favour. However, the Liberal leader, Stephane Dion is ridiculed in public squares for his poor English, his poor leadership, and unpopular policies. In fact, the Liberals have a leadership convention coming up in May where three have announced they are running, but it seems to me that Michael Ignatieff will win this and if all goes to the opposition's plan, will accede to the position of Prime Minister when Stephane Dion steps down. The NDP will receive 6/24 cabinet positions and will push for more economic stimulus or bailout packages. I was hoping that the Liberals and NDP would form a coalition and Obama would win, and it looks like I'll get my wishes granted. However, the way this has gone down I think is gonna piss of many, many Canadians and the Conservatives may well get a majority next election if the population rejects this coalition. I think if the GG does call an election, which in my eyes is highly unlikely, I think the Conservatives getting a majority would be a great possibility as a result of backlash against the opposition.
Sadly in Canada, we are not used to minority governments and they don't often last long and end up not even being coalitions - the other parties vote with the government in large enough numbers just to pass legislatoin so that an election isn't called when people don't want it. Fact is, with 4 parties in parliament, and 5 with a shot at seats, it is hard for a party to get over 50% of the popular vote, so if we used proportional representation, we'd likely have coalitions all the time, like some European countries. I hope this works and am optimistic, but fear an even stronger Harper and Conservative party after the coalition. I think that the hope for them is that the economy cleans up (although Canada has weathered the financial crisis maybe the best of any Western nation so the media/government has told me) and they are seen as saviours of jobs and livelihoods.
Recently, people were talking about how boring Canadian politics were in the Canadian media as opposed to the US. As exciting as the US election was, it was still just a normal election - this is something that has not happened ever before in this fashion in Canada and is potentially more dramatic.
Also, Ted Rogers well known by Canadians for controlling all the media died at age 75. And the TSX had the 2nd biggest loss ever. Busy day in the news yesterday.
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Originally Posted by wwgkd
