Layton Musings

[Jersay]

On CTV Mike Duffy Live, they broke out with information that Jack Layton on the plane ride to Winnipeg mused to media outlets that conservatives are intent on breaking up Quebec and by working a budget with the Bloc.

(Note Conservative guy who wrote for Alberta seperation, and the Reform Party was just another seperatist party just like the Bloc.)

So, it appears that the NDP will not support a conservative government. It could also be just talk, where he is trying to scare voters in the West to vote NDP because they are the better chance to the Cons.

 

[FiveParadox]

Interesting Dynamic

That could be an interesting dynamic to the Thirty-ninth Parliament; once the session opens after the election, even if the Liberal Party of Canada doesn't come out with more seats than the Conservative Party of Canada, the Rt. Hon. Paul Martin has a chance to secure confidence before Mme. Jean would appoint Stephen Harper, according to Canadian Parliamentary convention. If the NDP would be willing to support the Liberals instead, then we could end up with an extreme minority (where the governing party wouldn't even have the most seats).

 

[Finder]

Harper said just before Xmas if he got a minority he wouldn't seek have a coalition with any party. Plus with what Harper has said about the NDP and Jack Layton in the past I don't blame Layton with not wanting to work with Harper. I'd prefer to see them work together but really Harper is way too extreme and different for the NDP to work with on more then a handful of issues. The only way I could see them work together is if Harper decided to run a government on no corruption and invited the NDP to join in a very moderate governace where the main focus of government were to not cut or add programs but clean up the corrution in government.

I don't think this is too likely to happen. I think the Liberals and NDP will form the next government as long as the NDP get enough seats and the Liberals don't lose too many. beyound that we have pretty much the German election in Canada, but with the ego's in place to not make government work unlike what the germans have done

 

[Jersay]

Harper said just before Xmas if he got a minority he wouldn't seek have a coalition with any party. Plus with what Harper has said about the NDP and Jack Layton in the past I don't blame Layton with not wanting to work with Harper. I'd prefer to see them work together but really Harper is way too extreme and different for the NDP to work with on more then a handful of issues. The only way I could see them work together is if Harper decided to run a government on no corruption and invited the NDP to join in a very moderate governace where the main focus of government were to not cut or add programs but clean up the corrution in government.

I don't think this is too likely to happen. I think the Liberals and NDP will form the next government as long as the NDP get enough seats and the Liberals don't lose too many. beyound that we have pretty much the German election in Canada, but with the ego's in place to not make government work unlike what the germans have done

Maybe if the Conservatives didn't have such a radical leader, I think the NDP could help them along in a minority situation. However, I think this clearly shows who Jack Layton supports in any situation.

So if the Cons can form a government it wouldn't last to long, and they would lose support if they need the Bloc to help them, or use them in a coalition.

 

[Jersay]

WINNIPEG — NDP Leader Jack Layton warned yesterday that a minority government led by Stephen Harper would start dismantling Canada by handing off Ottawa's federal powers to the provinces in exchange for the parliamentary support of the Bloc Québécois.

The winner under a Conservative government would be separatists such as Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe, Mr. Layton said, suggesting the Tories would transfer federal tax authority to Quebec in order to buy Bloc backing for a Tory budget.

"Duceppe would be carried over the border and into Quebec as a hero," he told reporters during an on-the-record chat on the NDP campaign plane.

It was the first time in the campaign that Mr. Layton -- who briefly propped up the minority Liberal government last year -- has acknowledged the possibility of a Conservative victory and harshly attacked the chance of a Harper win.

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Until now he has been careful to say the NDP would work with any party that leads a minority government. Mr. Layton stopped short of saying he prefers a Liberal minority government to one led by Mr. Harper, but he made clear how uncomfortable he is with the prospect of a Tory victory.

"The Conservatives want to dismantle the Canadian state -- so does the Bloc," the NDP Leader said. "[Mr. Harper] is in favour of dismantling the national capacities."

Mr. Layton raised the possibility that Mr. Harper, whom he said already favours decentralization, would approve "massive transfer of tax points to Quebec" to secure the backing of the Bloc for a Conservative budget.

The NDP Leader's comments come as the chances of a Conservative victory remain strong, with the Tories tied for first place with the Liberals in some polls, including The Globe and Mail-Strategic Counsel survey -- and ahead of Paul Martin's party in other surveys.

Mr. Layton has come under pressure in recent days to outline his conditions for co-operation with another minority government. Yesterday, he suggested that reporters should be asking tough questions of Mr. Harper about the kind of deals he'd make.

"I can't believe no one is asking Stephen Harper that question," Mr. Layton said.

The NDP Leader may end up regretting his comments. He has been reluctant during the campaign to attack the Conservatives because, as his party has learned, it helps the Liberals make the case that left-leaning voters should back them instead of New Democrats to stop the Tories at the ballot box.

Mr. Layton's candour may provide ammunition for the Liberals, who have previously raised the possibility of a minority Conservative government collaborating with the Bloc Québécois.

In the most relaxed public discussion with reporters since the campaign started, Mr. Layton also played down any suggestion that the race is decided or that the Tories have won.

He said the Liberals are "the ultimate campaigners . . . we haven't seen anything yet," and boasted that the NDP looks in better shape than ever -- despite little movement in the polls -- because research shows the party is the second choice of all Canadians backing other parties.

Mr. Layton said this means his party still has a chance to convert these people to supporters. "We're still a long way from where this could wind up."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...5.wxelxnlayton05/BNStory/specialDecision2006/

 

[MMMike]

NDP Leader Jack Layton warned yesterday that a minority government led by Stephen Harper would start dismantling Canada by handing off Ottawa's federal powers to the provinces in exchange for the parliamentary support of the Bloc Québécois.

The winner under a Conservative government would be separatists such as Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe, Mr. Layton said, suggesting the Tories would transfer federal tax authority to Quebec in order to buy Bloc backing for a Tory budget.

:evil: That is certainly a unique interpretation of what the Conservatives are proposing. What they want (and where they have Quebec's full support) is for the federal government to start respecting the divisions of power enshrined in the Constitution. More and more recently the feds willfully intrude into provincial matters to suit their own political agenda to the detriment of all Canadians. We don't need taxation at the federal level that gets transferred (after the feds take their cut) back to the provinces for a program under provincial juristiction with the feds insisting on dictating the details of the program. The federal government has taxation powers far beyond what they need to manage affairs within their juristiction, while the provinces have to go cap in hand to shore up their faltering budgets.

 

[Jay]

It's a failure of both the leftist parties (Liberal and NDP) to admit that their current federalist thinking is destroying the country. I don't know why they insist on promoting “death to the country” as “saving the country”, but that's what they do.