And with that, the gauntlet has been thrown.
Last night, Governor General Michaëlle Jean delivered the much-ballyhooed Conservative Throne Speech from the... well, throne. There were enough election-minded rumblings in the days leading up to it, including Prime Minister's Stephen Harper's expectation that, should the speech pass, there would be full support of all the main elements mentioned therein, and oh, p.s. everything's a confidence motion, now.
The New Democratic Party and the Bloc Quebecois have firmly stated that they will not support the Throne Speech - which leaves the Liberals with the make-or-break votes. This morning's Toronto Star blared the headline "D-Day for Stephane Dion" (on the website, though, they've toned it down to "Election Hangs on Dion's Call") - the change itself indicates to me that even press understands that this was, perhaps, not the smackdown they expected.
The Globe and Mail managed to see through Harper's transparent posturing and called this a "Blueprint for an election" (seriously, since January 2006, when HASN'T Harper been itching to pull the election trigger?).
And this is precisely what irks me. It's clear that Harper wants an election like nothing else - that he's engineering everything so it will fall - but the blame will be placed on one of the Opposition parties. Everywhere, I keep hearing, "Whomever pulls the plug will suffer." But the Conservatives are the ones with their hands on the cord! Liberal leader Stephane Dion has already publicly stated that the Grits want to make this government work, so we'll have to see how the electorate responds to this.
For the Liberals, though, I think most commentators have already gone through this, but the speech is very dodgeable bullet; this is not a binding resolution, it's not a bill. Front bench can vote against this, back bench will mysteriously all have the flu, and we've staved off another election - at least for a little while. Better to save the drama for a worthier cause.
Anyway, the main points included:
- Afghanistan - extension of the mission until 2011,
- Kyoto - killing it dead,
- Tax cuts (GST and income tax being the focal points),
Afghanistan - we need to know in what capacity Harper intends for Canada will serve there until 2011. We cannot continue in a combat context (there's waning popular support for it anyway), and at the very least, this issue will require heavy debate in the House of Commons. But as a vaguery in the Throne Speech, I can't really say how this will go. There could be support for it if we take on a peacekeeping and aid role exclusively and reduce troop levels there, but it remains to be seen.
Kyoto - Stephane Dion is the champion of Kyoto. The Liberals cannot and will not let it die. There's no two ways about that. But we will have to re-tool some things, straighten out some numbers and present a reasonable new timetable that will bring us back on track with our previous commitments.
Taxes - Okay. Cuts are all very well and good (and they scream "ELECTION! VOTE FOR ME!", but that's another story). But at the same time, in terms of the GST - the cities have been lobbying for one percent of it in order to help support urban infrastructure. Help on transit is nice, but that's just one element out of many. And cosmopolitan cities such as Vancouver, Toronto or Montreal cannot be allowed to crumble because of a lack of tax revenues supporting its coffers. Especially since we're supposed to be flush with a $14 billion federal surplus. Admittedly, better economic planning is required (I'm looking at you, David Miller), but urban centres should not be expected to respond well in votes to a party that consistently ignores their needs. Just sayin'.
Opposition party leaders are expected to respond later this afternoon.
** Update **
It appears that cooler heads have prevailed. This afternoon, Dion announced that the Liberals will not topple the government on the Throne Speech. Amendments will be proposed for the speech, however, the party will abstain from voting should they be rejected.
Long story short: no election. Thank goodness.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Ontario is red again
The Ontario general election was held today; polls closed at 9 p.m.
The votes are in for the most part and it's abundantly clear at this point that Ontario is looking at Liberal majority government.
While there were many potential election issues to choose from (seniors' care, for example, or autism funding, etc.), Conservative leader John Tory managed to trip up his own campaign before it could even get out of the gate with the publicly funded faith-based schools debacle.
Despite this promise being made early on, the topic refused to fade into the background for the duration of the election and was his political undoing. Tory's attempt to diffuse the issue nine days ago by stating that he would allow Members of Provincial Parliament to vote on faith-based schools in the Legislature, made his leadership look weak. Political pundits speculated that a free vote would kill the bill and Tory could walk away saying he kept his promise. It seemed like he would stand by his principles - unless opinion polls told him otherwise. Appearing to be indecisive, wavering or as though you were trying worm your way out doesn't look so great if your slogan is "Leadership matters".
And with that, Premier Dalton McGuinty returns with a second majority. Congratulations. Plus, I'm a fan of the idea of dental care for low-income families, among other things.
Speaking of the status quo, the referendum on whether to remain with the First Past the Post electoral system or change to Mixed Member Proportional has resulted in... well, the status quo. The difficulty here was that not enough was done to educate the public on what the options were. A pamphlet with my voter card is hardly enough, and although there is plenty of information on the Internet, one had to actively research the topic to understand what was happening. Both pro and con-MMP groups accused each other of misinformation, which only adds to the confusion.
And referendums are not usually the greatest instruments for initiating change, as the electorate will usually choose the status quo.
In short: this provincial election held no surprises.
And a little message to the federal branch of the Canadian government: for Pete's sake, please try to get along for the next six months. With Newfoundland and Labrador and Ontario just coming out of provincial elections this month, and Quebec, Prince Edward Island, the Northwest Territories and Manitoba earlier this year, we've got volunteer and voter fatigue. It would be nice if, for the next half a year, we weren't bombarded with more campaign material and had time to recuperate.
The votes are in for the most part and it's abundantly clear at this point that Ontario is looking at Liberal majority government.
While there were many potential election issues to choose from (seniors' care, for example, or autism funding, etc.), Conservative leader John Tory managed to trip up his own campaign before it could even get out of the gate with the publicly funded faith-based schools debacle.
Despite this promise being made early on, the topic refused to fade into the background for the duration of the election and was his political undoing. Tory's attempt to diffuse the issue nine days ago by stating that he would allow Members of Provincial Parliament to vote on faith-based schools in the Legislature, made his leadership look weak. Political pundits speculated that a free vote would kill the bill and Tory could walk away saying he kept his promise. It seemed like he would stand by his principles - unless opinion polls told him otherwise. Appearing to be indecisive, wavering or as though you were trying worm your way out doesn't look so great if your slogan is "Leadership matters".
And with that, Premier Dalton McGuinty returns with a second majority. Congratulations. Plus, I'm a fan of the idea of dental care for low-income families, among other things.
Speaking of the status quo, the referendum on whether to remain with the First Past the Post electoral system or change to Mixed Member Proportional has resulted in... well, the status quo. The difficulty here was that not enough was done to educate the public on what the options were. A pamphlet with my voter card is hardly enough, and although there is plenty of information on the Internet, one had to actively research the topic to understand what was happening. Both pro and con-MMP groups accused each other of misinformation, which only adds to the confusion.
And referendums are not usually the greatest instruments for initiating change, as the electorate will usually choose the status quo.
In short: this provincial election held no surprises.
And a little message to the federal branch of the Canadian government: for Pete's sake, please try to get along for the next six months. With Newfoundland and Labrador and Ontario just coming out of provincial elections this month, and Quebec, Prince Edward Island, the Northwest Territories and Manitoba earlier this year, we've got volunteer and voter fatigue. It would be nice if, for the next half a year, we weren't bombarded with more campaign material and had time to recuperate.
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