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Showing posts with label confidence vote. Show all posts
Showing posts with label confidence vote. Show all posts
Saturday, 2 April 2011
While hundreds Die for Democracy, Citizen mocks Tory Conspiracy Defence of Contempt Finding
0 comments Posted by 2011 at 17:15Today the Tory Deputy Leader of the House let loose the dogs of war with his joking response to a serious question from a voter about our democratic rights.
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| Cannon & Baird and Contempt |
In Ottawa two senior Tory ministers were slammed by a citizen for contempt of Parliament, and one minister slammed the House – including the Speaker – for a rigged vote.
The irate citizen mocked the Tories' "conspiracy defence" and said the contempt issue was the most important question of the election, which is being held at a time when hundreds of people are dying for democracy in streets in cities all over the world.
This is a remarkable event, and a day that will long be remembered when historians ponder the 2011 election.
It is the day that the democracy dissents sweeping the world came to Canada.
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| Sheenagh McMahon - Canadian Hero |
A solitary Canadian attended a Conservative Party rally and asked pointed questions of Conservative heavyweight ministers Cannon and Baird.
While brushing her questions aside, Baird said the decision was rigged, and in effect accused the Speaker of the House – a man he had praised a week or so ago, on the day the Harper minority government fell – of being biased.
When the Harper government lost a vote of confidence due to the majority of the MPs in the House finding it in contempt of Parliament, Speaker Milliken, ended his long term as elected Speaker of our House of Parliament.
This is how John Baird, Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party, praised the Speaker on that day:
LIKE IT? CLICK HERE TO READ MOREMr. Speaker, I am very privileged to rise today to pay tribute to a great Canadian, someone who will not be seeking re-election to this place after serving 23 years as the member of Parliament for Kingston and the
Friday, 25 March 2011
During the last two elections hundreds of thousands of Liberal supporters sat on their hands and refused to vote for a party that had embroiled itself in a devastating scandal, and then turned around and ended up with an ineffectual though likeable leader.
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Wednesday, 23 March 2011
... to avoid the contempt of Parliament vote during the Liberal no-confidence vote on Friday?
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| Tail between the legs to Rideau Hall ... |
The Cat thinks there is a better than 50% chance that Harper will make a little trip to the Governor General tonight or tomorrow to avoid the vote holding his government in contempt of Parliament.
Knowing Harper, The Cat believes he will frame his request for a dissolution of Parliament and being based on the lack of any move by any of the three opposition parties to change their minds on the eminently sensible Harper budget, despite him having held the door open for them to reconsider the folly of their ways.
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Tuesday, 22 March 2011
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| Richard Nixon - A contemptuous politician |
The logic is irresistable. If Jack Layton settles for thirty pieces of silver in the Harper March 22 budget, and supports the Tories, then he will have made the principled NDP side with the first government ever in a Westminster-style democracy to be found by a Committee of the House to be in contempt of Parliament.
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Saturday, 19 March 2011
We seldom see a drop in support as large as the one detailed below. Usually support from voters tails away over time, and you have to go back six to 12 months to notice a significant drop in support.
But to lose 20% support in one of THE most critical segments of voters IN ONE MONTH is more like a collapse, or implosion, than an erosion.
The reason for the change? Disgust with Harper and his Conservative Party. Seniors
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Thursday, 17 March 2011
Harper's last and best hope lies in him changing the channel, because what Canadians are now debating in our democratic public space is the kiss of death for this wannabee autocrat.
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Wednesday, 16 March 2011
The In & Out Scandal: What were the Tory Sixty-Four thinking about?
0 comments Posted by 2011 at 22:24
One of the delights of this humpty dumpty of a political scandal is the many facets which you can admire (unless you are a Tory).
For example, the scandal illustrates the danger of top-down, autocratic governance of a political party (a Stephen Harper hardwired DNA speciality).
And it shows how some Tory candidates apparently had few qualms simply obeying a scheme cooked up in the Tory election HQ, without too many questioning whether the scheme passed any smell test ...
To put it in perspective, here are some extracts from the charges against the Tory Four which summarize the serious charges laid against two senatora and two senior
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Monday, 14 March 2011
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| The cost of democracy |
The sleeper in the next election will be the question: Do you think our democracy is better today than it was five years ago?
This is very different from the economic/financial question whether people are better off today than they were five years ago.
The democracy question goes to the root of the underlying unease that we now see coming to the forefront of so many
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The Conservative mantra is that Canadians do not want an election now.
No matter where you turn, the Harper new Tory 'talking points' are rigidly adhered to, no matter what the topic might be:
LIKE IT? CLICK HERE TO READ MORETom Lukiwski, the parliamentary secretary to the Government House Leader, however, repeated that his government doesn’t want an election.
Thursday, 10 March 2011
Does PM Harper know the Ins & Outs of fraud versus administrative disputes?
0 comments Posted by 2011 at 12:18 |
| Stephen Harper |
The recent spate of information dealing with the Conservatives being charged with fraud with respect to the In and Out election expenses has lead to an interesting question:
Does our prime minister understand what a fraudulent act is?
Hat tip to Greg Weston of CBC News for his March 1 report of what happened.
First, the reaction of the prime minister,
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Wednesday, 9 March 2011
The Speaker's Ruling and Why Canadians cannot afford a Majority Harper Government
0 comments Posted by 2011 at 18:37 |
| Speaker Milliken |
Today the Speaker of our Parliament tabled his ruling on the issue of whether the Harper government had thumbed its nose at Parliament by refusing to table documents requested by a Committee of the House, and by not providing reasons for such refusal for the Committee to consider.
This is the essence of the Speaker's ruling:
LIKE IT? CLICK HERE TO READ MORE"However, there is no doubt that an order to produce documents is not being fully complied with, and this is a serious matter that goes to the
Her main thrust in today's article is that all three opposition parties have no grounds to vote confidence in a Conservative government that is guilty of the deeds set out in the motion just passed by those parties:
But if the opposition parties really do subscribe to the stark sentiments expressed in this week’s Liberal motion, it will be hard for any of them to justify continuing to do business with the government at the time of the budget.In a minority Parliament, the opposition can blame the government for many things but not for its own self-inflicted impotence.Ignatieff, Layton and Duceppe could hardly take the Conservatives to task for alleged abuses of the democratic process in an election campaign 12 to 18 months from now without being asked why they turned out to be ready to overlook them this spring.
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Tuesday, 8 March 2011
Lawrence Martin in Tuesday's Globe & Mail has this to say about Harper and his party:
The government’s arc of duplicity is remarkable to behold. And there are more revelations to come.
And Martin summarizes it this way:
During the Chrétien government years, I reported extensively on malfeasance by the Liberals. To do the math on the Harper government is to conclude that, while it has no sponsorship scandal on its books, it’s already surpassed its predecessor on a range of other abuse-of-power indices.
Martin's article is a must read for all those interested in just how many cases of duplicity Harper and his party are guilty of. The roster is full; and they all point to a systematic pattern of disrespect of Parliament, disrespect of Canadian's political rights, contempt for Parliamentary traditions and conventions, willingness to bend the
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Monday, 7 March 2011
I think we should.
If you think about the number of sleazy items that have surfaced (alleged electoral fraud resulting in taxpayers funding Tories without legal grounds for such payments; alterations to letters and Harper's refusal to address the issue headon .... the list is rather lengthy), then we should choose a means of referring to them that better reflects their standards.
Let's see now.
Sleazy.
Tories.
How about Slories?
'Or Sleazies?
The Cat would go with either name.
The rumours of a possible snap election once the Speaker announces his decision on a possible contempt issue are welcome.
In my view, Ignatieff should call a snap confidence motion if and as soon as the Speaker announces a decision that finds the Harper government in contempt.
Given their past statements, all three opposition parties should find that they support the no confidence motion.
And this would mean an election based on the Harper Tories diminution of our democratic rights, and contempt for the rights of our MPs.Fighting an election on these grounds will give the opposition parties the chance to frame the issues as the protection of the Canadian democracy, and to use the many incidents where Harper has dismissed established precedent, and misused the assets of the Canadian government to support political party purposes.
These are good issues for an election, and tough ones for the Tories to respond to, because the facts of their disregard for our political rights are there for all to see.
Go for it, Michael.
Take him down.
Now.
Saturday, 5 March 2011
If (as is unlikely right now) the Harper government's March 22 budget does not gain the confidence of the House and the government falls, there is a policy that the Liberals can announce once the writ is dropped that might leverage it into a strong minority government in the election.
Check the standing of the parties over the past 2 ½ years (2008 – 2011).
The national polls show the Tories with around 35%, with room to grow to around 40%. The Liberals gather between 27% and 32%.
Now the key: the Greens cluster around 10%, and the NDP seems to have settled in around the 15 – 17% mark.
Now consider just two battlefield provinces – BC and Ontario.
The Tories gather around 32% to 38% in BC, with the NDP in the 19% - 25% range and the Greens in the 10% - 16% range. The LPC is in the 20 – 25% range.
In Ontario the Tories polled in the 35% to 45% range, with the NDP garnering around 15% and the Greens between 7% and 10%. The LPC is in the 30 – 35% range.
Now consider a policy of the Liberals that could draw at least half the Green vote and one-third of the NDP vote to this party. This would boost the Liberal votes by around 10% to between 37% and 42% nationally, to between 32% to 47% in BC, and between 40% and 45% in Ontario.
The policy that could do this is one that offers voters who would normally vote Green or NDP a chance to change the rules of our elections in such a way that in all subsequent elections their votes would count for much more. It would help change the democratic deficit in our country that has lead to a Tory government that represents around a third of the votes cast, and yet has managed to disregard the wishes of the other two-thirds and govern in a right wing way.
What is this policy?
The Liberals should commit that if they become the government, they will immediately launch a Citizens Panel to examine the best type of proportional representation for federal elections, and that the Liberal government would table legislation for the change recommended by such a Citizens Panel.
This will attract voters who prefer the Green and NDP parties because such a change would give their votes in all future elections a much fairer weight.
The Greens would see Green MPs in Parliament in the following elections. The NDP would see a fairer representation of MPs than it currently gets.
And we would then have a system of governments which are forced to consider the wishes of a much broader spectrum of voters.
And the Harper Tories will be toast until they undergo their own revolution and purge the Reformer element which took over the old Progressive Conservative Party, and revert to a more representative set of policies that are much closer to the ones that party used to have.
All of Canada would gain.
Monday, 28 February 2011
In an earlier post I referred to a recent poll which showed that more than two-thirds of Liberals and members of the NDP supported a coalition government made up of these two parties.
Instead of listening to this feedback from their members, both Jack Layton and Michael Ignatieff seem determined to continue with business as usual (a course which will most likely result in yet another minority Harper government, with a mandate to continue his right wing rule for another 5 years).
In Egypt, and in several countries across northern Africa and the Middle East, ordinary citizens are rising up to protest against leaders who are not listening to them, and who are not implementing reforms – including political reforms.LIKE IT? CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
Thursday, 24 February 2011
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| Move along, Harper: Let the People's Government take over ... |
Conservative ministers are fanning across the country at the public expense to announce new spending commitments, just in case their March budget fails to gain the confidence of the House and they find themselves facing a new election.
One of the purposes of the ministers boondoggle travels is to practice the Harper Tory spin that the Conservatives under Harper are the best people to manage our economy.
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Monday, 21 February 2011
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| Decision time for the leaders |
The latest Nanos poll confirms other recent polls and show the Tories clawing back support in the Prairies and west, with slight gains for the NDP. When 308 applied the Nanos poll to its projections, it ended up with a minority Tory government (increased to 147 seats from the current 143), with the three opposition parties still holding the majority of the seats in Parliament.
What this means is that if an election is triggered during a vote of no-confidence of the March Harper budget, the Governor General after the election with these results would call on Harper to try yet again to gain confidence with another budget, and if this did not happen because the three opposition parties held firm to their decision to oust the Tories and replace them, the GG would refuse a Harper request to either prorogue Parliament or to call another election so soon after one was held.
Instead, the GG would call upon Michael Ignatieff to attempt to form a government – as leader of the party with the next highest number of seats – which could gain the confidence of the House. If the NDP and Bloc vote confidence in the new minority Liberal government, the Tories would be unable to block this vote with their minority of seats, and Ignatieff would then form a new government.
The key to this change of government happening lies in all 3 opposition parties voting against the Harper March budget and the one after the ensuing election. If any one supports Harper, he continues as prime minister.
It is important to note that 380 forecasts 28 seats for the NDP, a loss of 6 seats from their current 34.
The tradeoff Jack Layton has to make is that between principle (should he support Harper's new budget -with the Tories determined to continue with a $6 billion corporate tax reduction but prepared to partially support one or two of Layton's table wish lists - or should he be consistent with his and his party's past statements and require the $6 billion to be re-directed to other uses (no cash for corporations but cash for kids, for example).
Layton also has to consider that he will lose 6 seats.
The gains for Layton are substantial and consist of retention of his political integrity, consistency of principle, the retention of his leadership of the NDP (which will be badly threatened if he caves to Harper as Harper's cheap date for 2011 budget prom), and the ability of the NDP to play a major role in the programs to be implemented by a more progressive Liberal minority government over the next 4 years.
Boiled down to the nitty gritty, does keeping jobs for 6 NDP MPs weigh more than replacing the reactionary Harper government and boosting jobs for hundreds of thousands of Canadians over the next 4 years?
This is a decision Jack Layton will be making in the next few days.
Statesman or vote-for-hire hack.
Thursday, 17 February 2011
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| Gilles Duceppe |
... for openly discussing the realities of Canadian politics:
As reported in Quebec’s French-language daily La Presse, the Bloc Quebecois has returned speculation about a future anti-Conservative coalition to the forefront of political discussion. The party has declared that it retains the right to support a coalition of parties in the event of another minority government. While no parties were named, based on current polling trends, that could only mean supporting the Liberals and the NDP to block the Conservatives from forming another government.
And the initial Liberal response is yet another pathetic bout of whistling past the graveyard:
On the other front, by musing openly about supporting a coalition with the Liberals, Duceppe has put the Liberals back on the defensive, with Montreal MP Marc Garneau quickly denying that the Liberals have any plan to form a coalition with another party.
What the Liberal party should have said in answer to the Bloc move to recognize reality, was to welcome Duceppe's statement, and state that the Liberal Party was prepared to form the next government of Canada should a Tory minority government lose a vote of confidence.
However, to the extent the Liberals would need support from other MPs in the House, such support would be welcomed provided that the Liberals were not prepared to take any steps to endanger the unity of Canada, nor to embark upon irresponsible economic steps which would hurt Canadians rather than help them.
And Michael Ignatieff could spell out a set of general principles which would govern a minority Liberal government (keep it short, keep it simple, keep it effective).
And we could then all sit back and watch the new Tories scramble around like headless chickens.
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