Posts Tagged ‘Conservatives’

IS CANADA MOVING TO THE RIGHT?

May 9, 2011

Neil Reynolds, in the Globe  and Mail, says the political centre in Canada has been drifting to the right for almost 30 years – since the last Lib eral government (1984) of Pierre Trudeau whose excesses, writes Reynolds, pushed the country toward conservatism.  Every federal government since has governed to the right – with the single exception of Paul Martin (who had done so much for the country as finance minister.)  Progressive Conservative Brian Mulroney (free trade with the U.S.)  , Liberal Jean Chretien (fiscal restraint) and Conservative Stephen Harper (tax cuts). All remained firmly centred even as the country itself rotated slowly to the right.

During this election Harper increased the conservative vote 623.332 votes to a total of 5.8 million.

Is Canada moving to the right?

What do you think?

Harper will almost certainly be in power for two more terms.

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WOULD A COALITION WORK?

March 27, 2011

For those Canadian voters who want to defeat Harper (and their numbers are legion)  there is another way to go.  Here is the situation:

The election on May 2 brings back  yet another minority conservative government – say 145 seats 10 short of a majority.  The House assembles and Harper is presently defeated on a non-confidence vote.  Harper goes to the Governor-General and ask for a dissolution and a new election.  The Governor-General refuses on the grounds the country has just had a general election and before we have another one, someone else should be given a  chance to govern.

So the Governor-General summons the leader of the opposition, Michael Ignatieff who has the second largest number of seats.  Ignatieff informs the G-G that he has  formed a coalition government with Jack Layon and the NDP and the coalition will have the support of the Bloc on all critical votes in the Commons.

With those assurances the GG invites the three opposition parties to form a government.  Harper is defeated in the House and the new government under Michael Ignatieff takes over.  Harper is out.  Good riddance. Somebody says such a coalition won’t work.  Well, just such a coalition has worked in Britain for almost a year.  So why not in Canada?

So you see what a coalition accomplishes.  The hated Harper is gone – for good.   The governing party is  back in the saddle.

Would a coalition work?

What do  you think?

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SHOULD HARPER GET HIS MAJORITY?

March 25, 2011

Early this afternoon the Harper government will be defeated on a vote in the House of Commons.  Then, probably tomorrow morning, Harper will visit the Governor-General. By Sunday morning the leaders’ planes will be in the air heading for the hustings.

In a poll published this morning it would seem that it’s Harper’s election to lose.  The Conservatives are now supported by 43 per cent of the voters.  They have a 19 point lead over the Liberals who are on 24 per cent.  The NDP is at 16 per cent and the Bloc has 10 per cent.

If these figures were to hold up during the six-week campaign, Harper would  win the election with a comfortable majority.  At dissolution of Parliament,  the Tories had 143 seats.  They need to win just 12 more to reach the 155-seat mark and get a majority government.  Harper has his eyes on 13 more seats – in the suburban area around Toronto and the periphery around Vancouver.

At this point, I  confess I  don’t know a single person who is planning to vote for Harper.  And this despite his very good record on the economy. We are the best-off nation in the G20.

The problem is nobody I know trusts Harper with a majority.  They figure he would then bring out his secret agenda (abortion, same-sex  marriage, etc) and carpet bomb Canada back into the stone age.

In addition, most people don’t like Harper.  They think he is a narcissistic control-freak.

Do you trust Harper?

Should Harper get a majority?

What do you think?

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