I agree with limiting raises for civil servants but stopping public grants for political parties clearly indicates that Harper is trying to eliminate his opponents.
We all know that if public grants stop, the NDP, Liberals and the Bloc will go bankrupt. The conservatives accept funding from the private sector (rich businessmen and corporations) which goes agaisnt what Canadians believe. The goal in having public funded parties is to eliminate the grasp that the rich and corporations have on Canadian politics. If we didn't have the federal grants for parties, Canada would be like the US and that's something Canadians don't want.
Harper knows damn well that his party would be the only survivor and this goes to show Harper's hidden extreme right-wing agenda. He wants all the power for himself... This is dangerous and undemocratic.
Good evening Ron, where is the link to this info? the 77 seats Grits and NDP1/3 of the cabinet positions?
This is what happens when a bean counter becomes prime minister they really don’t have what it takes to be a leader and a true leader at that.
This bean counter that dealt with statistics and made some waves when he was leader of the National Citizens’ Coalition for three years.
If Stephen Harper wants to stay in power he has to cut his finance minister immediately and bring in a new one and this new finance minister has to bring in a new mini-budget that satisfies all sectors of the Canadian economy and he has less than a week to do this.
If he does this the coalition will fail and the Canadian people will see that there is a leader in the House of Commons.
If Harper does this then Ducceppe and Dion will support the government, if they don’t they will lose voter support and for the NDP they might support it too.
If Harper decides to defend his finance minister and stand firm, the Conservative government will fall and Canada will have a coalition government.
When you think about it Harper was good as an opposition leader.
Ron, couldn't have dreamed to say it better myself. Awesome, well writen post.
So what your saying is they need to give lots of money to the Auto Sector and all will be good. Well sorry to say it but the Auto Sector is dead, a influx of money will just delay what is going to happen. They priced themselves out of a job, its the employees own fault. I have friends and family in it, and for someone with a grade 10 education, making 100,000 dollars a year, doing what they do is just insane.
With or without the money, the autosector is dead, why throw good money at a bad problem and turn it into bad money. Take that money either hold onto it or use it for a problem that is worth it.
The autosector is dead, has been for a long time, and should have died about 5 years ago. The CAW is a great propoganda machine, probably one of the best, they make it seem like the world will end without them, it won't.
Conservatives did not ‘win’ the election, as you put it; they got more seats than any other party. If a party gets more than 50% of the seats, it has won the election, if it simply gets more seats than any other party but less than 50%, I don’t think they really can be said to have won the election.
I don't think you are making too much sense here Sir Rupe- if the Conservatives didn't really win the election, who did? I think in the long run this will do Harper more good than harm, as it shows the true colours of Dion and Layton. We know now that each of them will do ANYTHING for power, including joining forces with someone who is hell bent on destroying the country. In other times they both would have been taken out and shot as traitors and probably should be.
JLM, who won the election? Nobody did, there was no clear winner. Now, in Canada, it is customary to invite the party with most MPs to form the government. However, in many European countries, being the largest party will get you squat. It is important who has the backing of more than 50% of the MPs, not which is the largest party.
In Canada, minority government is customary, coalition government is not. However, that does not mean that the coalition government is any less legitimate, nothing of the sort.
I just wanted to share with you my views on the power of democracy.
As we all know, the 3 opposition parties are going to vote against the mini-budget and overthrow the minority government of Stephen Harper.
This goes to show the power of democracy will prevail. What some are forgetting is that the MAJORITY of Canadians did NOT VOTE FOR THE CONSERVATIVES. So this means that 3 opposition parties elected by the MAJORITY of Canadians are going to kick a MINORITY government out. This is democracy folks. nothing undemocratic here.
I have read countless posts on CBC from whining right-wing Western Canadians and all I can do is laugh.
I can't wait until Monday when I'll be able to say: Goodbye Conservatives and Hello Coalition!!
In a two party system a majority is needed for "a win"- but in a multi party system a plurality is needed for "a win"- at least that's what they taught me in school.
That is the problem JLM, isn’t it? When a party has to depend upon another party to form a government, can it really be said to have won the election? Let me give you a hypothetical example.
Let us say Cons had 130 MPs, Libs 120 MPs, NDP 40 MPs. Now both Cons and Libs need the help of NDP to form a government, with the help of NDP, they have a majority. On their own, neither Cons nor Libs can form a government; such a government can be brought down at any time by the other parties.
In this situation, are the extra 10 MPs for conservatives really that important? They are important in our system, because Conservative party (being the largest party) will be called on to form a government. However, in many countries it won’t carry any weight at all. The party, Con or Lib which can muster the support of NDP will be called on to form the government.
So it depends upon how one defines a win.
I just wanted to share with you my views on the power of democracy.
As we all know, the 3 opposition parties are going to vote against the mini-budget and overthrow the minority government of Stephen Harper.
This goes to show the power of democracy will prevail. What some are forgetting is that the MAJORITY of Canadians did NOT VOTE FOR THE CONSERVATIVES. So this means that 3 opposition parties elected by the MAJORITY of Canadians are going to kick a MINORITY government out. This is democracy folks. nothing undemocratic here.
I have read countless posts on CBC from whining right-wing Western Canadians and all I can do is laugh.
I can't wait until Monday when I'll be able to say: Goodbye Conservatives and Hello Coalition!!
This kind of government is traditional in both Italy and Israel.