PM may suspend Parliament

OTTAWA – To save his job and his government, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to suspend Parliament this week while his party blitzes the country with a public-relations campaign aimed at discrediting the notion of a Liberal-led coalition government propped up by the separatist Bloc Quebecois.

The Conservative party began airing radio ads Tuesday while ministers and other Tory representatives were appearing on as many all-news television channels and talk-radio programs as they could to push their party’s message that they will not, in the words of one of Harper’s senior advisers, “allow a new radical government without the people’s consent.”

The key attack line from the Tories is that the Liberals are betraying their federalist principles by agreeing to demands from the Bloc Quebecois.

“This deal that the leader of the Liberal party has made with the separatists is a betrayal of the voters of this country, a betrayal of the best interests of our economy, a betrayal of the best interests of our country, and we will fight it with every means we have,” Harper said in the House of Commons. “The highest principle of Canadian democracy is that if one wants to be prime minister, one gets one’s mandate from the Canadian people and not from Quebec separatists.”

But NDP Leader Jack Layton shot back that Harper himself was prepared to align himself with Gilles Duceppe and the Bloc Quebecois in 2004 when he was the opposition leader trying to bring down the government of Paul Martin.

“I didn’t hear any of this high and mighty language and moral indignation from the prime minister when he signed a document along with myself and Mr. (Bloc Leader Gilles) Duceppe a few years ago,” Layton said.

The Liberals challenged Harper to call a confidence vote.

“Every member of the House has received a mandate from the Canadian people to deliver a government that will face the economic crisis. The prime minister has failed. The prime minister does not have the support of the House any more,” Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said. “Will he allow a vote to test if he has really the confidence of the House as it must be in a parliamentary democracy?”

Dion and Harper engaged in a heated, even explosive, exchange. At one point, Harper accused Dion of removing the Canadian flags from the room before signing the deal with Layton and Duceppe. News organizations, including Canwest News Service, took several photographs which clearly showed there were two Canadian flags, as well as the flags from all the provinces, directly behind the leaders as they read their statements – along with a third separate Canadian flag behind the table where they signed the agreement.

Harper’s defiant demeanour in the House on Tuesday was in marked contrast to the previous day, when he and many other Conservative MPs seemed resigned to losing power.

But sources in the Prime Minister’s Office say he regained his fight while watching the signing Monday of the tri-partite accord. They say Harper was particularly incensed at Layton’s comments at the news conference that followed, during which he called on Harper to accept his fate with dignity and accept his new role as leader of the opposition. According to those close to the prime minister, Harper said he felt Layton and the other leaders failed to show him any respect.

During question period Tuesday, the Conservatives leaped to their feet on several occasions to give the prime minister standing ovations. Insults flew from both sides of the Commons, with the Tories labeling Dion a “traitor” and the Liberals shouting at Harper, “You are not the president.” After question period, the Conservatives showered the prime minister with chants of “Harper! Harper!” in the government lobby before breaking out into the national anthem.

The bare-knuckles politicking followed the unveiling Monday of the historic accord between the Liberals and the NDP to unseat Harper’s minority government and replace it with a coalition supported by the Bloc Quebecois. The new coalition government would be led by Dion until May 2, his previously announced resignation date, when the new leader of the Liberal party would take over as prime minister. Layton and five of his NDP MPs would get seats in the 24-person coalition cabinet.

But several Liberal MPs, asking for anonymity, said that while the deal had the unanimous support of caucus, it was the best of a bad set of choices facing their party, and they privately hoped another way out of this political showdown might be found.

For Harper, it’s the fight of his political career. Many in his caucus are already grumbling that he’s responsible for goading the opposition with unnecessary and incendiary initiatives in last week’s economic and fiscal statement. In that document, the government proposed eliminating taxpayer subsidies for political parties and rolling back wages for public-sector unions while taking away their right to strike. Both those measures were hastily withdrawn over the weekend, but not before they had galvanized the opposition to begin the talks that would eventually lead to the coalition accord.

The Conservative party also launched a new website at canadians4democracy.ca and was trying to organize various anti-coalition rallies across the country. Conservative activists are also being encouraged to call Liberal and NDP MPs to convince them to reconsider.

Meanwhile, Gov. Gen Michaelle Jean, who will play a key role in breaking the parliamentary logjam, is cutting short a state visit to Europe to return to Canada on Wednesday.

The government has the authority to suspend Parliament indefinitely, a process known as “proroguing.” However, the prime minister must ask the Governor General for approval before doing so.

Typically, the Governor General grants the request as a matter of course at the end of a long Parliament, but Jean will be facing unprecedented circumstances, namely, the prospect of a government trying to suspend Parliament in the face of certain defeat.

If Parliament is prorogued, it would most likely reconvene just before the Conservatives table a budget on Jan. 27, giving the Tories nearly two months to conduct their anti-coalition campaign for nearly two months.

Many Liberal and NDP MPs said Tuesday they fully expect Harper to prorogue. Conservative officials were non-committal when asked, saying only the prime minister would use “any legal means necessary” to secure his position. The prime minister is expected to make a televised address if and when he decides to prorogue.

Prorogation could happen as early as Wednesday, although Liberals and Conservatives are betting Harper will wait until the end of the week while his party’s public-relations campaign builds some steam.

If Harper does seek a prorogation – or suspension of the current session of Parliament – and if the Governor General refuses his request, the government would face its first and likely last confidence vote in the House of Commons on Monday. Although Jean could choose to call a new general election, should the government lose a confidence motion, constitutional experts and many Conservatives themselves believe that, given how little time has elapsed since the Oct. 14 general election, she would simply invite Dion to form a government and become the country’s 23rd prime minister.

Jean said in a TV interview in Prague that she has received the letter Dion sent Monday on behalf of the coalition that has formed to replace the Conservatives.

“I received his letter, and the message in the letter is clear,” Jean said. “I think that my presence is required in the country, so I will be leaving tomorrow.”

Asked what she would do if Harper asks for a prorogation, Jean replied that her door is open when she returns.

“Before I can answer this question, I have to see what the prime minister has to say to me, and what he is actually thinking of doing. I don’t know exactly anything about his intentions yet.”

http://www.montrealgazette.com/suspend+Parliament+avoid+confidence/1021160/story.html

NDP, Liberals reach deal to topple minority Tory government

The NDP and Liberals have reached a deal to topple the minority Conservative government and take power themselves in a coalition, CBC News has learned.

A deal has been negotiated between NDP Leader Jack Layton and Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion that would see them form a coalition government for two and a half years, the CBC’s Keith Boag reported, citing sources.

The NDP would be invited into cabinet and get 25 per cent of seats, Boag said, adding that the party wouldn’t get the position of the finance chair or the deputy prime minister’s post.

“That’s the big step forward tonight,” Boag reported.

The Bloc Québécois wouldn’t be a part of the coalition, but would have to support it, he said.

“The most difficult question is who’ll be the leader,” Boag said, adding that Dion, who negotiated the deal, believes he has the right to be prime minister.

Opposition parties say they have lost confidence in the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper after Thursday’s economic update by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty failed to provide a stimulus package for Canadians.

Since then, the Liberals have been in negotiations to form a coalition with the NDP, and the concessions made by the Conservatives this weekend have done nothing to change the party’s view that Harper must go.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/11/30/canada-coalition.html#socialcomments

Canadian Election A Warning To Americans

What’s With The Apathy?

The decline of democracy in North America was starkly illustrated in the recent Canadian elections, laments Eric Walberg…

The Canadian people woke up 15 October to a new government that looked remarkably like the old government. “Basically, we have just gone through a $300 million-plus election that we could ill afford and the Conservatives are still stuck with their irksome minority government situation that led them to call the election in the first place,” said Terrence Downey, president of St Mary’s University College in Calgary, Alberta. “Nothing much has changed except for increased levels of voter apathy and cynicism.”

This election saw the lowest national voter turnout in Canadian history at 59 per cent, even as a global financial crisis threatened to plunge the nation’s economy into recession. This broke the previous record low of 61 per cent in 2004. Canadian voter turnout peaked at close to 80 per cent in the general election of 1958. The last four Canadian federal elections have all been under 65 per cent, the first time since 1896.

Prime Minister Steven Harper observed that “it’s been low and getting lower for some time now.” What he didn’t say is exactly what the Conservatives want, since this works to the advantage of the wealthy and not-so-wealthy supporters of the status quo. It was Harper who pushed through new stringent proof-of-identity requirements, emulating United States President George W Bush, contributing to the low turnout.

But Americans can only envy Canada. The US hasn’t had a voter turnout as high as 59 per cent since 1968, when 60.8 per cent voted. The last three national election turnouts were 56.7 (2004), 51.3 (2000), and 49.1 (1996) per cent. Part of the problem is the vindictive voter registration system that discards many of the poor and in most states, anyone who has ever been in jail, no matter what the offence. Recall that the US prisoner population, at two million, is the highest in the world and the highest per capita in the world.

But what is the underlying explanation for this mysterious aversion that Canadians and Americans have shown to their political systems in the recent past? Canadian voter fatigue from a succession of minority governments just doesn’t wash. Everyone has strong political preferences, and given worthy candidates addressing issues that are important, people will take the few minutes required to vote. Canadians pay a considerable amount to fund each election and spend hours listening to political ads, commentary, debates and “news”.

Could it be that no politicians are addressing the burning issues? That voters realise there is no difference between the two ruling parties? The US political system was aptly described by Carroll Quigley, Bill Clinton’s politics professor, as follows: “The two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can ‘throw the rascals out’ at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy.” This is easily applied to the Canadian situation.

And who controls the policy? Could it be the Zionist establishment in North America, politely called the Israeli lobby if the critic dares mention it at all? Canada has pumped thousands of troops into Afghanistan since the US invaded it seven years ago and has suffered the third highest casualties after the US and Britain, with only resentment and despair on the part of Afghans as thanks. More than 60 per cent of Canadians want out immediately. The natural party to lead the campaign against this betrayal of Canada’s image as peacekeeper was the Liberal Party, led by the French Canadian Stephane Dion – French Canadians are traditionally pacifist.
But the Liberals have been paralysed, unable to voice the popular will, and were routed last year by the small socialist New Democratic Party (NDP) in a Quebec by-election that NDP leader Jack Layton called “a referendum on Afghanistan”. Could it be that the continued failure of the Liberals to show some backbone and promise an immediate withdrawal of troops left voters too depressed and resigned to bother turning out this time? Could it be the aggressive lobbying of the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) and the virtual silence of the Zionist-controlled media that is the problem?
Instead, the Liberals campaigned on the environment, and deservedly suffered their worst electoral showing in a quarter century. Knives are now drawn by pretenders to the mild-mannered, bookish Dion, including Michael Ignatieff, a sometime Canadian but better known as a neo-con British writer who even supported the invasion of Iraq, and Bob Rae, ex-socialist, whose wife just happens to be vice-president of the CJC. Yikes. What if they hold another election and no one bothers to show up at all?
The stranglehold on foreign policy which the Zionists have is clearer than ever this time round in the US. Early worries by American Jews that Obama wasn’t sufficiently pro-Israel prompted Obama to travel to Israel to vow his unwavering support and to choose as his running mate Senator Joe Biden, an outspoken Zionist (“You don’t have to be Jewish to be a Zionist”). At the vice presidential debate, the sparring to outdo each other reached ridiculous heights with Sarah Palin’s comment: “I’m so encouraged to know that we both love Israel, and I think that is a good thing to get to agree on.”
While most Americans are so inundated with pro-Israeli and anti-Arab propaganda they don’t openly question the extreme bias in their foreign policy, they know something is seriously wrong with the state of the union – 91 per cent, last count. However, they are again being served up virtually identical foreign policies by the two candidates. Could despair be one of the reasons so many Americans don’t bother to vote?

The other poison infecting the US electoral system is the spectre of rigged elections. Fortunately for Canadians, the Conservatives don’t have a monopoly on voting machines, like the Republicans. Voter fraud in the US, including dubious voting machine tallies and illegal disqualification of thousands of poor and black voters has been well documented in the past three presidential elections. Among early voters this time, there have already been dozens of complaints that the touch-screen voting machines moved voters’ ticks from Obama to McCain. In Alabama, scores of voters have been labelled convicted felons on the basis of incorrect lists. Michigan must restore thousands of names it illegally removed from voter rolls over residency questions, a judge ruled this week. Officials in Wisconsin admit that their database is wrong one out of five times when it flags voters, mistakenly rejecting tens of thousands.

Obama’s new voter registration campaign ACORN has put more than 1.3 million new voters on lists. But the Republicans have accused it of fraud and succeeded in launching an FBI probe into ACORN, called by Obama’s campaign an “unholy alliance” with the Republicans. Obama called for a special prosecutor to investigate any claims of registration fraud. In Ohio, the US Supreme Court overturned a lower court order that required extra information on these eager new – Democratic – voters, which could invalidate up to 200,000 voters. The Republicans immediately launched an appeal. Given the odds, unless Obama leads by at least 10 per cent next month, he will likely “lose”.

No matter who inhabits the White House next year, both the US and Canadian electoral systems will continue to fester as long as foreign policy remains in the Zionist vice. At least the Obama factor has empowered blacks and liberals and has brought to life an otherwise moribund campaign. Ralph Nader, the only honest candidate, will finish a distant third, but has at least been able to act as America’s conscience. Canada’s NDP gained a healthy eight seats this time, bringing their total to 37 and they will play a key role in keeping the minority Conservative government from undoing what’s left of Canada’s welfare state. Such faint but important voices are all that keeps faith in democracy alive these days across the Atlantic. Perhaps eventually the forces they represent will be able to pick up the pieces of the shattered political system.

http://rense.com/general83/cana.htm

Instant poll finds Dion clear debate winner

French-speaking Canadians surveyed by Ipsos Reid immediately after Wednesday’s debate said the Liberal Leader won the night, and one in five viewers say they changed their mind.

TORONTO — Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion clearly prevailed in the French-language leaders’ debate, according to viewers surveyed by Ipsos Reid immediately after Wednesday’s telecast.

The online poll found 40 per cent of voters said Mr. Dion won the debate, compared with 24 per cent who gave the contest to Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe. Conservative Leader Stephen Harper came in at 16 per cent, NDP Leader Jack Layton at 11 per cent, and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May at just 1 per cent.

A Crop poll for La Presse with a smaller sample size found Mr. Dion ranked second, trailing Mr. Duceppe by only 6 per cent among viewers who rated their performance as “excellent” or “very good.” Only 18 per cent said Mr. Harper had won the debate.

While there was no knock-out punch, Mr. Dion was at ease in his native tongue and set the agenda by promising he would implement a five-point economic action plan within 30 days of becoming prime minister. He may have also benefited from low expectations after a rocky campaign plagued by poor polling numbers.

First televised leaders’ debate of the 2008 election campaign turns into a wide-ranging and substantive discussion of policy.

The Ipsos Reid poll found 36 per cent of viewers rated Mr. Dion as the leader who sounds and acts most like a prime minister, ahead of Mr. Harper at 31 per cent. One in five respondents – 20 per cent – said they had changed their mind about who to vote for as a result of viewing the debate.

The debate, which took place at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, was seen as critical to Mr. Harper’s effort to win a majority government and to Mr. Dion’s efforts to revive the faltering Liberal campaign. The bout saw Mr. Harper raked over the coals, smiling thinly as his opponents did most of the talking. The multipronged barrage appeared to leave the Conservative Leader resigned to having to weather the onslaught.

Other findings:

• 41 per cent of voters said Mr. Dion offered the best policies and ideas during the debate. In second was Mr. Duceppe at 22 per cent, Mr. Layton at 19 per cent, Mr. Harper at 13 per cent and Ms. May at 1 per cent.

• Mr. Layton was ranked most likeable and the person voters would most like to go out with for a bear or coffee. Mr. Layton was also viewed to be the most visually attractive (33 per cent), following by Mr. Duceppe at 22 per cent, Mr. Dion at 19 per cent, Mr. Harper at 15 per cent and Ms. May at 5 per cent.

A total of 637 French-speaking Canadian voters were polled online immediately after the debate. The results are considered accurate plus-or-minus 3.9 per cent, 19 times out of 20. The data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample’s age, sex, regional and party support composition reflects that of the actual French-speaking voter population. The sample was drawn from a pre-recruited panel of 12,000 voters from Ipsos Reid’s internet panel.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081002.welxndionlead1002/BNStory/politics/home