I am more interested in politics lately than I probably ever have been before. I now understand just how sensitive this issue seems to be, this "radical" movement by the opposition parties to form a government. I made a passing comment on facebook. Something along the lines of "A coalition government might not be a bad idea" or something like that, I received more comments than possibly any other comment I've ever left. I'll most likely receive a few from this as well.
I have done my research, or at least a little bit to pass, and what I discovered has put my mind to rest. A coalition government is perfectly legal, and does not "by-pass" democracy, it and it DOES give the people what they want, at least the way I understand it.
The way I see it, if a majority of the elected officials in the house of commons can come together to form a government, with the understanding that for such a number of month's we will agree to lead this country together. If they have an agenda, and ideas, and a plan to deal with the countries issues, bring it on.
It gives me a headache to hear people say "I think they should let us decide" we decided the numbers 6 weeks ago! If we wanted the conservative party to lead we should have given them a majority government. The fact that we gave the opposition parties more power combined than the leading party proves that most of us don't trust them to lead with ultimate unchecked power.
There is a "clause" or so you can call it, a loop hole in our particular system of government that allows a coalition to form a government if they do not have confidence in the Prime Minister. It's legal, it's constitutional. If I had voted Conservative I'd have the same outlook I can assure you.
If Mr Harper can pull things together and lead the country effectively then I encourage him to take every LEGAL step to do so. However if the house does not have confidence in him, I'd rather see the coalition lead the party and put those "bloq" mp's to work for a change! What ever happens, I'll be glued to the T.V listening.
In the mean time, we can discuss and argue all we want, but in the end the people we elected are making decisions that will effect the outcome of this countries government. We choose each one of them, we elected them, we choose the numbers. If we didn't want something like this to happen we should have elected a majority government.
I for one do NOT want another election, lets get things moving. Conservative or collation...who ever can do the best job take the reins please!
2 comments:
Good thoughts. I agree with part, but I think I come to a different conclusion than you. I agree - the coalition is legal, it's constitutional. In general, I wish we had more of a coalition-based government system.
I also think Harper overplayed his hand, thinking he had a stronger mandate than he does. That was dumb, and arrogant.
That being said...I don't like a coalition government formed in this manner. I really do not trust that the Liberals and the NDP are capable of working together.
I don't like that they have formalized their reliance on the Bloc - I think that's different than the informal politics that happen all the time. The Bloc has no interest in the good of the country.
And...I don't like that Dion has already resigned as Liberal leader, so we don't even know who the PM would be in a couple of months.
I think the coalition government can't last, and would be very unstable.
I like that parliament has been prorogued - hopefully everyone calms down, and there is time for Canadians to think things through, so that the work can get done, whoever's in charge.
The best part - every Canadian gets to have a vote and an opinion, and that's a GOOD THING, even when we don't entirely agree!! :)
At the time I am writing this, there has been a decision by the Governor General to prorogue parliament. My info is second hand, but, I think it's to December 26. Anyway, Harper now has an opportunity to bring in a reasonable budget and if he is smart and really cares about his mandate, he will get some input from the opposition so that we will have representative government based on the voting from the last election.
I say Amen to what P. Patti has written. The whole topic is somewhat redundant at this point but hang to your seats---who knows what the next headline will say.
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