Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff receives a standing ovation from his MPs Wednesday as he begins debate on the budget in the House of Commons.
NDP, Bloc fume as Liberals say they’ll support amended Tory document
Budget OK KOs coalition - Nova Scotia News - TheChronicleHerald.ca
OTTAWA — Plans for a coalition to replace Stephen Harper’s minority Conservative government blew up in bitter recriminations on Wednesday as Michael Ignatieff offered a novel way to let the federal budget pass — for now.
The Liberal leader moved an amendment to the budget that will require the government to table three detailed progress reports to Parliament starting in March.
If the amendment passes — which it’s expected to do with the support of the Tories — Liberals will not vote against the budget.
But Ignatieff said the Liberals are prepared to defeat the government later should any of the progress reports show that the Tories had failed to implement some budget measures or that the budget wasn’t working.
"We are putting this government on probation," he told a news conference.
"Each of these reports will be an opportunity to withdraw our confidence should the government fail Canadians."
Ignatieff said the December threat of a Liberal-NDP coalition forced the government to include $40 billion worth of stimulative measures in the budget; measures the Tories don’t really believe in.
"And now the job of a responsible Opposition is to hold them to their word, to force them to deliver and, if they don’t deliver, to replace them."
The amendment specifies dates for tabling the status reports — March 26, June 23 and Dec. 10. They are timed to coincide with supply bills, which are automatically considered confidence votes.
Liberal strategists touted the manoeuvre as a way to keep the threat of possible defeat hanging over the government, forcing Prime Minister Harper to actually deliver on the budget commitments and maintain a more co-operative tone.
"We will be watching like hawks to make sure that the investments Canadians need actually reach them," Ignatieff said.
In the Commons later, as he kicked off the formal budget debate, Ignatieff equated the amendment to a "flashing yellow light" and advised Harper to "proceed with extreme caution."
Ignatieff refused to say the coalition — negotiated last November by his predecessor, Stephane Dion — is finished. He suggested it could still "play a useful role" in future.
However, his Quebec lieutenant, Denis Coderre, bluntly declared it "dead." And Ignatieff’s erstwhile partners, NDP Leader Jack Layton and Bloc Quebecois Gilles Duceppe, could not contain their anger, heaping scorn on the Liberal leader.
"That’s the end of the coalition," said Duceppe, calling the Ignatieff amendment "a smokescreen" for Liberals to continue propping up the Harper government, as they did under Dion.
True.
Layton called it "a sad day" and said the newly minted Liberal leader has blown his first big decision.
"Today, we learn that we can’t place our trust in Mr. Ignatieff in terms of defeating Mr. Harper," Layton said.
"We have a new coalition on Parliament Hill. It’s a coalition between Mr. Harper and Mr. Ignatieff. I can tell you we will be opposing this coalition each and every day."
Layton further accused Ignatieff of giving Harper "a get-out-of-jail-free card."
Neither the NDP nor the Bloc will support the amendment, leaving it to Harper to decide whether to agree to don a Liberal leash in order to survive the budget vote.
There was no immediate response from the Prime Minister’s Office. But Harper’s House Leader, Jay Hill, said the government will support the amendment because it had intended to report back to Parliament on the progress of the budget in any event.
"You know, this is nothing new. We’re always accountable to Parliament," Hill said.
So in other words, Layton and Duceppe are right.... Iggy just handed them a get out of jail free card......
I knew he'd tuck and run..... frig, if he was going to support the budget, at least he could have done was make some real amendment requests.
During debate in the Commons, Tory MPs made a point of thanking Ignatieff for supporting the budget. They ignored his criticisms and did not refer to the amendment.
NDP and Bloc MPs sneered at what they called a "Liberal-Conservative alliance."
Ignatieff continued to keep his distance from the Tories’ economic management. He called Harper’s leadership "erratic" and recited a litany of "flaws" in the budget, arguing it doesn’t do enough to help the jobless or encourage green technologies, that it breaks the government’s promise to provide stable equalization payments to have-not provinces and attaches strings to infrastructure funding.
And yet..... the Liberals are gonna vote for it anyways.... brilliant! Just utterly BRILLIANT!
Nevertheless, the Liberal amendment does not attempt to change any of those things. Ignatieff said that’s because he didn’t want to provoke a possible election that Canadians need "like a hole in the head."
Moreover, he said it would have been fiscally irresponsible to demand that the government "give us another $5 billion here or $5 billion there."
Typical.
Well.... might as well suck it all in now.... take a deep breath...... and here we go with yet another couple of years of being screwed over by the Good Cop/Bad Cop routine of the Liberals and Conservatives. :roll:
What a joke.