Ottawa Government Crisis - Possible Conservative Defeat and an Unelected Coalition Government

A NEW LEARNING
They have done it. Liberals, NDP and the Bloc have agreed to bring down the newly elected Conservative government and have signed an accord that will establish a Liberal/NDP coalition government with Marcel Dion as the 23rd prime minister of Canada. Canada did not want him on October 14th nor has his own party wanted to retain him as its leader. In fact he promised to step down on May 2nd 2009. The cabinet will have 24 members, six of whom must be NDP MP’s and the Finance Minister will be Liberal. The Bloc’s responsibility is to vote with the coalition on matters of confidence for the next eighteen months. At what price have the NDP and Liberals linked arms when their triumph requires alliance with separatists whose raison d’être is dividing the country. This coalition will have to give Duceppe anything he wants because once in power, the coalition is dependent upon the Bloc to stay in power. Liberals and NDP have a combined total of 114 seats opposed by 143 Conservatives. The Bloc holds the power.

This is a dishonorable partnership fueled by opportunity and the scent of power and its determination appears unalterable. It has been forged with allegations that Harper cannot be trusted when in truth it was Dion who on election night said to this country, “The Canadian people have spoken today and chosen another Conservative government.” He further said, “We Liberals will do our part responsibly to make sure that this Parliament works.” Whose dishonesty screams at Canadians now?

I concede that Stephen Harper and his Conservatives blundered by presenting an economic update that postponed economic stimulus but injected a provocative plan to remove party subsidies and MP salary raises and thereby stick it to the opposition. Oh there was some merit in their proposals but they showed bad judgment. It was not the hill to die upon. However, would Canadians ever desire as the penalty, their removal from power and insertion of an unelected government led by a person who was soundly rejected by electors.

What could possibly be less effective or more chaotic for us than a government led by Dion and this slapdash cabinet until he will be replaced in spring 2009 following a Liberal leadership election so that Bob Rae or Michael Ignatieff become Dion’s successor. And this accord has been signed to be effective until June 30, 2011 and during all that time our country’s convulsive government will be contingent upon the caprice of separatists who do not prioritize Canada’s interests and wellbeing.

On this particular day, a confidence vote is scheduled for Monday December 8th. The options open to Harper include the possible consent by Governor General Michelle Jean to grant Prorogue – suspension of Parliament until Conservatives return with a new budget in early January 2009, or dissolution of Parliament so that another general election can be held, or as Coalition members are hoping, invitation to Liberals to form a government with coalition partners.

This is one of the most disgraceful political emergencies in our Canadian history.

Yes We Can

A NEW LEARNING
History was made yesterday. In his speech to a Chicago crowd of one hundred thousand people President elect Barak Obama cited the story of a centenarian woman who voted in this American Presidential election. He pointed out the dramatic events and changes that she has witnessed in her lifetime. Much of the focus of the historicity of this election rests on its racial significance and while we will eventually move past this emphasis, we cannot fail to notice what this moment means for African Americans and other ethnic minorities.
Within my own lifetime there have been historic moments in world and North American history. Here a random few. Allied troops stormed Normandy beaches in 1944. On a Montgomery, Alabama bus Rosa Parks refused to yield her seat to a white passenger and unwittingly launched the civil rights movement in 1955. The 1962 Cuban missile crisis of October almost sparked a nuclear war between USSR and the USA. President Kennedy was assassinated 1963. Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were also assassinated in the 1960’s. Neil Armstrong walked on the moon in 1969. The 1970 October Crisis in Quebec and two terrorist kidnappings of government officials by members of the Front de libération du Québec, the subsequent murder of hostage Pierre Laporte and the imposition of the War Measures Act by Prime Minister Pierre E. Trudeau. In 1971 the Canadian federal government officially adopted a policy of multiculturalism (i.e. French language on documentation including cereal boxes). Richard Nixon resigned as U.S. President in 1974. The death penalty was abolished in Canada in 1976. In 1977 Canadian highway signs went metric. In June of 1981 Terry Fox died in the middle of his cross Canada Marathon of Hope. In 1982 Bertha Wilson was the first woman appointed as a Justice of the Canadian Supreme Court. The Supreme Court of Canada struck down existing legislation against abortion as unconstitutional in 1988. In 1989 Heather Erxleben became Canada's first acknowledged female combat soldier, the same year that one-dollar bills were replaced by the "loonie." The Berlin wall came down in 1989. In 1991 the unpopular Goods and Services Tax (GST) came into effect. In 1993 Kim Campbell replaced Brian Mulroney as the head of the Progressive Conservatives and became Canada's first woman Prime Minister and in the same year Chretien and Liberals had a landslide victory reducing Progressive Conservatives to two seats. Terrorists topple NYC Twin Towers in 2001. A Tsunami devastates a widespread Indian/Asian region (2005). In 2005 Hurricane Katrina was the costliest hurricane ($80 billion), as well as one of the five deadliest in the history of the United States.
Is the election of Barak Obama a pivotal, even a defining moment in US history and its international relationships? I have the sense that it is. I am concerned for him. Secret Service security will need to be at its best. God must protect him. He won but almost half the electors voted for someone else. Yet the hope inspired by Obama's 'Yes We Can' credo may unite rather than divide. I hope that it can.