The coming raid of Canada’s treasuryNovember 29, 2008
The developments in Canada these past few days are outrageous. I believe we may be about to witness the wholesale fleecing of a nation’s wealth by stealth coup, in a first world democracy. The unholy alliance of liberals, socialists and separatists with no aim other than to empty the treasury by flooding the country will billions of dollars, to be paid by future generations (with their freedom?). Let me get this out of the way, their actions are not illegal but they are a violation of the spirit of democratic ideals. The current minority government was elected to power less than two months ago and made a terrible miscalculation in a forthcoming bill to be introduced to parliament, they included a provision to end government subsidies of political parties. Of course the party in power is the only one with a sizable bank account so the opposition was outraged (and possibly justifiably so) especially given the bill was a measure of confidence. Meaning, if the vote was defeated there would be a brand new election. The opposition is in disarray after disappointing election results and is in no position to fight another election politically or financially. But here’s the kicker, their common outrage began a process of coalition discussions. Now, they are considering a move to introduce their own vote of no-confidence and remove the government then ask the Governor General (a position that is supposed to be ceremonial and inconsequential) to let them form a new government without elections! They have every right to topple the government, but in that event new elections should be held. This would be a coup, a government without mandate and without consent of the people. I understand that voters elect the members and not the party or the leader, but that’s irrelevant to me. I find it outrageous that voters could be deceived into electing members based on a political platform only to have it changed without even a hint of shame just 6 weeks later. And politicians wonder why they are so hated. We’re not talking about Germany, Canada doesn’t have proportional representation. There hasn’t been a coalition government in almost a century. If you want a coalition, make one then seek a mandate from the people, don’t seize power using archaic loopholes. The Harper minority government should never have attempted to destroy its competitors in this way, total political party funding is a tiny part of Canada’s budget compared to many other more egregious expenditures, but the appropriate action at this point would be to back down and remove that item from the bill. Which of course they promptly did for all the wrong reasons, but they did it nonetheless. So problem solved, right? Wrong. Prime Minister Harper said he would not “stimulate†the economy with reckless spending and the opposition now has the taste of power drooling down their faces… connect the dots… they are using the non-existent stimulus package as an excuse to seize control of government. The official opposition Liberal party, the socialist NDP party, and the separatist Bloc Quebecois are considering the continuation of their plan despite the government flip-flop because, suddenly now that coalition looks plausible, they want to echo Obama’s insane spending plan north of the border… to end poverty and homelessness… or something. The potential coalition hasn’t even shared with the public what their alternative economic proposal would look like. They didn’t care 6 weeks ago when campaigning for election. They didn’t even care 3 weeks ago before this bill. But now, it’s a matter so urgent it could result in political chaos that may take years to heal. So why do I describe this as a raid of the treasury? Because the Bloc Quebecois doesn’t care about the rest of Canada, they have no interest in cabinet positions, they just want money to flow Quebec’s way. The socialist NDP party doesn’t understand economics, they apparently think money grows on trees, just hand it out to individuals and businesses and let future generations deal with the consequences. The NDP leader Jack Layton may become minister of finance. I strongly doubt many Canadians who supported the Liberals just 6 weeks ago would have endorsed Layton as minister of finance. The center-left Liberal party just wants power, but they don’t even have a leader. The current leader announced his resignation after losing the election. So there is now the incredible scenario of the next Prime Minister literally being appointed by party insiders! Take that, Bush, Canadian politicians don’t even need a supreme court… just bounce back and forth across party lines and swap prime ministers every other week, eh, it’ll be fun.
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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081128.wGG29/BNStory/politics/home
Umm, hate to break it to you, but Harper spent our way into a deficit.
Furthermore, even the IMF is calling for massive stimulus packages.
And conservative governments from the US to Germany have done the same.
Maybe if you didn’t pre-drain the Treasury based on useless GST cuts and wasteful military spending…and maybe if you had done something to smooth the transition in the manufacturing sector caused by an overvalued dollar caused by your snake oil energy policies…then maybe you’d have a point…but you don’t so tough luck. Or if you cared about the shrinking trade surplus or the negative productivity growth under Harper’s helm…
Plus, there is nothing unconstitutional to what the opposition is proposing.
Harper is not president and the Cons don’t have a majority.
They failed to establish a working Parliament (and resorted to more Karl Rovian tactics) and now are getting their just desserts.
There is ample precedent in Parliamentary history for a new coalition to take power without an election.
Consider the federal election in 1925. Or the Ontario election in 1985.
If the opposition can establish a working majority, then so be it. The representatives of the people can make Parliament work without the Cons…so too bad for you.
See this:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081128.wGG29/BNStory/politics/home
Are you arguing that Harper didn’t cut enough spending to balance his tax cuts, therefore Canada should increase spending by tens of billions of dollars? What kind of logic is that? Nobody should care what the IMF thinks, they have a track record of destroying countries. I am wondering if you even read the post.