The Liberals Under King John Dion

There's not a heck of a lot that shocks me about Canadian politics any more. However, this weeks announcement that the Liberals are considering a coalition government with the Bloc and NDP boils my blood. When the new parliament opened, we were promised more decorum. Boy, that disappeared much faster than usual this time. The story goes over Harper trying to cut the government budget by a risky gamble that would have see an end to parties getting government funding. The whole dollar amount of this funding works out to be about $28 million split between the major parties. Some have claimed this was a brilliant tactical move on his part though I believe it to be rather foolish at this time. The Liberals and other opposition parties have criticised the financial update that included this plan for not including any sort of economic stimulus package. Indeed they are correct, it should do more. However, Harper is in the same boat as their lover boy Barack Obama to the south, who has said vary little on what he intends to do.

Canadians just finished an election. We've had three of them since 2004, which is pretty much unprecedented in Canadian history. Canadians gave Harper another mandate for a minority government, strengthening the party's standing from the previous election. The Liberals by contrast saw huge losses. Well, it seems that Dion is not done and wants to go out in a blaze of sour grapes by installing a party in office that Canadians did not vote for. Most Canadians may not be aware of the notion of a coalition government because they are vary rare in this country. Basically, the Liberals plan to forward a motion of non-confidence. Gambling on the fact that Canadians are election weary, they will force the Governor General to install them as the governing party in coalition with the Bloc and NDP. With these two parties, they will have enough seats for a majority. This sort of action is highly undemocratic in my opinion since under our current system. If you thought floor crossing was bad, this is its equivalent on a grand scale. Canadians will now have someone ruling the country who they did not vote for. That of course would be Stephane Dion. Even though he's on his way out, he would sit as interim Prime Minister until the party's leadership convention next spring. This sort of underhanded tactic reeks of elitism. If Dion cannot become PM through democratic channels, he will do so against the will of the Canadian voters. Of course I'm sure the fact that his pay and pension will increase as well does not factor into this decision. (sarcasm alert)

At this point, the left wing parties have gone from the parties to vote for to irrelevant in the eyes of a majority of Canadians. A coalition that would come out of this plan would be a ticking time bomb. The Bloc and the Liberals are arch enemies in Quebec, a province where Liberal support has been declining sharply in recent years. Quebecers are not going to take an alliance with the devil sitting down. Before we even get a month into such a coalition, I would expect an all out war to break out within it as the three parties fight over who gets heard. Neither has enough seats to gain total control of such a coalition. The government would eventually collapse and we'd be in another election. Right now, Canada needs the four parties to work together more than ever. None of them are currently serving out needs but the Liberals for even mentioning this are the biggest disgrace. This is a party that has already gone through a major corruption channel and has shown its propensity for arrogance and elitism time and time again since Chretien was first elected. These sort of political shenanigans will only make things worse off for all Canadians. Even if you do support Liberal ideals, you have to admit that these sort of games are not right at a time like this. If the Liberals push this coalition, then they should be forcibly removed from office by the Canadian public.