Hey, I had a letter in the Sunday Toronto Star and I didn't even know it. It's here. Many thanks to Bob Rae for writing that excellent op-ed.
Too bad the rest of the Liberals are so quiet on this issue. A majority of MPs vote for something, a minority government ignores it, and the Liberals don't make a peep. You'd think they were taking lessons from the Democrats.
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Our social democrats over here in Germany sometimes let themselves get intimidated too easily as well, unfortunately...
How common/rare it is that a minority government gives the finger to Parliment (i.e., the wishes of the Canadian people)?
Is it noteworthy or politics as usual?
What a sad precedent. Redsock, I think it's noteworthy in the sense that Harper is such a bully, and he's quite open about it. He flips everyone the finger - with the exception of western Canada and occasionally Quebec. Fortunately he has shown that he is not entirely immune to public pressure. "Global warming? The former climate-change skeptic now puts it near the top of his agenda. Quebec? He once rejected courting Québécois nationalists; as Prime Minister he declared the Québécois a nation." - McLeans This is still Canada, he can't squash Canadian values and *thankfully* this government won't last forever. We just have to try to mitigate the damage while it's in power.
You'd think they were taking lessons from the Democrats.
Excellent analogy, L-Girl . . . .
This is still Canada, he can't squash Canadian values and *thankfully* this government won't last forever. We just have to try to mitigate the damage while it's in power.
You sound just like me.
Or I sound just like you. :)
Well, Minority governments themselves are rare, Redsock. We're kind of in unknown territory here, where we have what looks suspiciously like semi-stable minority territory. This is not a condition that the designers of Parliament envisioned. Normally minority oppositions simply kill the government and trigger an election. I'm unaware (off the top of my head) if we've ever had such a long-lived anti-suicide pact before, where all parties seem afraid of what might happen if they go to the polls.
It could be worse: no one imagined what would happen if a US President simply ignored elements of the constitution he didn't like and Congress refused to call him on it, either.
Not, of course, that I am speaking about any particular US President. I could mean anybody!
Yes indeed, things could be worse.
But I understand that now as a big problem for Canada. As long as we're better than the US, people can be content. But that sets the bar way too low.
where we have what looks suspiciously like semi-stable minority territory.
Dion's Liberals have handed them a de facto majority.
Well said L-girl: waaaay too low a bar! The problem with raising it even slightly is that such a move would require defeating the government on a confidence motion and going to elections on (gasp!) a principled issue. The Liberals would shy away from triggering elections over e.g. sanctuary for war resisters, or even ending the Afghan mission: not because the Conservatives would win on those issues (both positions could actually fare well with the electorate) but because they would tear their own party apart in the process, likely to the benefit of the other smaller opposition parties. The Liberals have become such a "big tent" party (including a hawkish Bushite like Iggy along some others who might have quite reasonable positions on these issues) that they can't afford to take positions on issues that might tear themselves (even further) apart, which ends up being any issue that matters, really.
OMG, this particular minority government obviously thinks they can get away with everything. I do agree 100 % with refering to what they have been doing as bullying and as aiding and abetting Bush and his Administration and as being disrespectful of democracy!!! I agree they can't be in power forever (neither can Bush!!!) and it's the job of all who oppose them to restrict the damage they cause as much as possible. But how I hope they will soon be taken to the ballots and voted out of office...how much I long for that day!!! I am also not happy at all with the unsufficient actions the Liberals have taken against the Harper club, of course, but for me as a German, it was interesting to read why they are finding it so hard to finally take a stand efficiently...I guess the Harper government still seems to think they can get away with everything, but they will definitely find out at the ballots they can't - but the sooner, the better and I hope it won't take long any more....ugh!!! What a horrid amount of damage they have been causing...awful!!!
Cornelia, I'm not sure if you know, you actually don't see all of this blog, you only see the posts labelled "war resisters".
If you already know that, and that's what you prefer, that's totally fine, you are more than welcome to continue to click through the WRSC site.
But since you're such an ardent reader and commenter, you might be interested in the rest of the blog. If so, bookmark wmtc's main page. Enjoy!
I certainly agree it's a low bar. There's a couple reasons why that don't get a lot of press, though, and some readers might not have thought about them in quite this way.
This isn't a defense of our ability to be easily contented (or, as many have put it, smug), but rather an acknowledgement that things haven't developed this way by accident.
For one, what's easy to forget is just how far away Canada is from anywhere that isn't the US. As the exercise goes, take a globe. Cover the US and Alaska with your hand, and note how isolated Canada is, almost as remote as Australia. Many Canadians reflexively use the US as the sole yardstick without even thinking of it, for that reason.
The other factor is that we spend so much of our cultural and economic energy trying to paddle upstream to avoid being swept over the falls and into the US way of doing things, that I think there isn't a lot of energy left to think about other models entirely.
It's not an irrational fear, far from it: but it would be better of we could somehow leave fear behind as a cultural motivator.
I like Rae a lot. He's always struck me as a decent man who had the misfortune of becoming Premier while surrounded by an inexperienced and gaffe-prone cabinet. (See also, Mike Harcourt in BC).
The general howling for Stephane Dion's head has obscured the fact that either Rae or Michael Ignatieff will very likely be the next Liberal leader, and subsequently, Prime Minister at some point in the future. Rae would be as good a choice internationally as Ignatieff would be a bad one, so this will be something to watch.
Thanks so much, Laura! I am particularly interested in the war resisters and refugee issue but I will also check your main homepage out!
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