Thursday, December 4, 2008
Parties unite to wrest power in Canada
TORONTO
Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper gambled his government's future on a bet that Canada's opposition parties would not unite against his 6-week-old government.
He lost. And now the Liberals, Canada's labor party and Quebec's separatist party are seeking to form the nation's first coalition government in nearly 100 years - if they succeed in voting down Mr. Harper's government on Monday.
"We are ready to form a new government that will address the best interests of the people," said Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion. Mr. Dion, who lost the last election, would lead the coalition government as prime minister.
Mr. Harper Wednesday appeared set to announce in a nationally televised address that he would seek to suspend the new session of Parliament in order to delay any vote to oust him. But he stopped short of announcing such a move, saying instead that he would use "every legal means" to block the opposition coalition.
"This is a pivotal moment in our history," he said. "Tonight, I pledge to you that Canada's government will use every legal means at our disposal to protect our democracy, to protect our economy and to protect Canada," he said.
Mr. Harper had called the Oct. 14 elections with the hope of expanding his majority, which rose to 143 seats from the 127 it held before the election but is still 12 seats short of the 155 needed to gain majority in the 308-seat Parliament.
His government is in part a victim of the global economic downturn that has spread across the border from the United States. His refusal to create an economic stimulus package for the buckling Canadian economy is why the political rivals joined forces, Mr. Dion said.
"It's why we are together: to fight this economic crisis," he said of his deal with New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton and Bloc Quebecois chief Gilles Duceppe.
Mr. Harper criticized the parliamentary maneuver, calling it "illegitimate" and "a catastrophe for our democracy," but under Canada's parliamentary rules the coalition of three parties - which together hold 20 more seats than the Conservatives and a majority of all the seats in Parliament - can take the reins of power if their move is approved by the governor-general.
The largely symbolic governor-general is the representative of Queen Elizabeth II, Canada's head of state, and the ultimate political referee.
Canadian governments rest on their ability to pass legislation. If a governing party loses a key vote, the government must resign and call an election. In this case, because an alternative is available, the coalition already has asked Governor-General Michaelle Jean for permission to govern.
However, Mr. Harper is widely expected to go to Mrs. Jean on Thursday and ask for her approval to suspend Parliament.
The coalition's broad outline of its 18-month agenda includes assistance for the auto, forestry, manufacturing and housing industries and help for unemployed workers. It also has pledged to uphold commitments to keep Canada's forces in Afghanistan until 2011, to maintain corporate tax cuts and to work together until at least June 2010.
The political conflict has erupted at a time when the Canadian economy is reeling, the Liberal Party is officially leaderless, the work force is being battered and Quebecois are more concerned about jobs than independence.
Mr. Harper's "arrogant" and confrontational approach to the opposition parties who outnumbered him, his economic plan that contained no stimulus for an economy in trouble but cuts into worker rights, the arts and political funding were all meant to send an ideological message, said Stephen Clarkson, professor emeritus of political economy at the University of Toronto.
The opposition got that message and joined forces, and now plans to defeat him.
"It was like a poker player thinking he could bluff his opponents into folding. Only they called his bluff," said University of Toronto political science professor Peter Russell.
Now, among Conservative supporters, there's "a lot of anger at Mr. Harper for screwing up," Mr. Clarkson said.
Lori Thorlakson, a professor of political science from the University of Alberta, said Canadians are regionally split over the coalition's move to replace Mr. Harper. Westerners, she said, fear they will lose the influence they had while Ontarians and Quebecois are looking forward to increased representation.
Mr. Dion's previously announced intention to resign as Liberal Party leader remains in force. The Liberals will choose a new leader in May and that leader will replace Mr. Dion as prime minister of the coalition.
For Canada's two smaller parties - the NDP and separatist Bloc Quebecois - the coalition provides an unprecedented opportunity for influence and experience, Miss Thorlakson said, noting that the NDP is gaining its first-ever Cabinet seats and the Bloc, while not formally joining the coalition, gets a significant voice in Quebec policy.
Though the Bloc is committed to separating Quebec from Canada, support for independence has waned in Quebec and other members of the separatist cause have joined Conservative governments.