Ugh...
http://www.vancouversun.com/busi ... /1959052/story.html
Chances of fall federal election appear to increase
BY DAVID AKIN, CANWEST NEWS SERVICE
SEPTEMBER 3, 2009 1:51 PM
OTTAWA — There will be no "backroom deals" to avoid a fall federal election, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and NDP Leader Jack Layton both declared Thursday.
With Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and the Bloc Quebecois' Gilles Duceppe saying much the same thing earlier this week, it has become increasingly likely that the election nobody wants is the election that everyone will get.
"We see the signs of a recovery — that's what we should be focused on," Harper told reporters in Niagara Falls, Ont. "It bothers me when I see parties are worried there is a recovery. They want to force an election before we get too deep into a recovery and that's not responsible.
"An election does nothing but present a great risk to the country that we could get off track."
But Liberal MP Bob Rae, speaking in the foyer of the House of Commons, rejected such a charge as Conservative fear-mongering.
"There's an effort here on the part of the Conservatives to create an atmosphere of total instability," Rae said. "Well, we're not a banana republic. Mr. Harper's not a generalissimo yet. He has to get used to living in a constitutional democracy."
Rae said that, for example, Canadians can still expect to cash in their home renovation tax credits when they fill out their tax returns in the spring. Indeed, he said he plans on taking advantage of that credit himself.
The tax credit was in the spring budget but legislation formally implementing it has not yet passed Parliament. The Conservatives may introduce that legislation as soon as Parliament reconvenes Sept. 14. The vote on that legislation, because it is a tax measure, would constitute a confidence vote.
Rae also said an election would not interrupt negotiations Canada will begin this fall with the United States to eliminate the "Buy American" clause in the U.S. Economic Recovery Act, a provision which restricts the ability of many Canadian manufacturers to win U.S. contracts.
"Life will go on. The government will go forward," Rae said. "The economy will recover better if there is a Liberal government but the economy will go on."
Layton, the last of the three leaders in the Commons to respond to Ignatieff's declaration Tuesday that his party would try to defeat the government at the first opportunity in the fall parliamentary session, challenged Harper to be more flexible on his legislative agenda.
"The choice is yours, Mr. Harper," Layton said during an afternoon news conference in Halifax. "You can either choose to work with other political parties to try to make life better for Canadians or you can choose to call an election. Whichever you decide, the NDP will be ready."
As a tumultuous political week comes to a close, all four federal parties appear to be in stasis, with each saying that someone else will have to bend to make Parliament work.
Notably though, neither Layton nor Duceppe appeared to accuse Ignatieff of precipitating what could be the country's second election campaign in less than a year. Instead, they put the onus on Harper to make nice with his political opponents.
"I'm not making any backroom deals with the prime minister. I'm simply suggesting it's time for him to show some leadership to reach out and make Parliament work," Layton said.
"We've been disappointed that there's an unwillingness to reach out and work with opposition parties. If that changes, then he will be making a decision that opens the possibility that we might not have an election," Layton said.
That is a significantly different approach for Layton and the NDP. On nearly 80 confidence motions the Conservatives have faced since being re-elected last October, the NDP has always voted against the government and has often mocked the Liberals for not joining them in bringing down the government.
But now, with the Liberals appearing to be as eager for a new government and an election as the NDP was earlier this year, Layton avoided any mention Thursday of the Liberals' new, more aggressive stance.
Though Layton leads the party with the fewest number of MPs in the House of Commons, the parliamentary arithmetic has the potential to give the NDP influence beyond its electoral weight.
The NDP has 36 seats in the 308-seat Commons. The Conservatives hold 143, the Liberals 77, and the Bloc Quebecois 48. (There is one independent and three vacant seats.) As a result, the Conservatives need the help of a single party — or 12 MPs — to vote with them to avoid being defeated on a confidence vote.
But Harper said he will not go shopping for that support.
"We will not be making any backroom deals," Harper said. "If other parties have useful ideas — good, effective, affordable ideas — on the economy, let us see what they are and we will take a look at them. That's been our position all through this Parliament."
Harper, for his part, accused all three of his opponents of ganging up on the government and reminded voters that when they did that last Christmas, the result was a deal to form a Liberal-led coalition government, a proposal that polls showed was deeply unpopular.
"We already know those guys have a deal and I don't want to get into that kind of game," Harper said.
Both Layton and Ignatieff have said there is no such deal. |
發表於 2009-9-2 17:20
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