I Did

By BJ

With the odds of a Liberal-NDP coalition government looking better and better, it is somewhat amusing to look at the language coming out from the. C.P.O.C  spin masters   Basically a long whine about how the dastardly, power-hungry, socialist, separatist opposition is launching some sort of coup against Canadian voters.  Boiled down out of the divisive language of the release, the Conservative position can be boiled down to the following line.

any coalition will be an illegitimate regime without any mandate to govern.

Basically that nobody voted for the Liberals and NDP to team up and run the government, and therefore any such government is illegitimate and unfit to govern.

The problem for the Conservatives is that many of us did vote for just such a government.  Formally the rather haphazard movement was called ABC, or Anything But Conservative, but even in the informal sense, the very fact that Harper was elected with a minority is the clearest sign Canadians can give that they wanted a brake on Harper’s power, and that the opposition parties were there to represent the majority of Canadian’s interest, capable of overthrowing the Conservatives should they forget what Harper himself once pointed out was the responsibility of any minority government, to reach out to the opposition parties in order to govern, and that those opposition parties should present an alternative to the government when necessary.

In Canada, we elect parliaments, not governments, and Harper has lost the confidence of parliament.  Even should the Governor General decide against the opposition coalition and go to another election, the Conservatives have already shown that most of the fiscal platform they ran on less than two months ago was knowingly made-up.  Plus they tipped a bit too much of their ideological hand in the economic update that started this crisis, including some anti-union measures that will ensure their support will be unlikely to increase any.  And if the Liberals and NDP take their coalition idea to the voting booths by not running against each other in key Conservative ridings, the Cons will be completely hooped.

Worse for Harper, the knives are already being sharpened against him in his own party for putting them in this mess.  One way or the other, Harper’s days appear numbered.  Fun to watch, whatever your political persuasion.

On the other side of things, I do have to acknowledge that Ed Morrissey has a good point here:

. . . they’re going to yank control from Harper just when the economy is tanking.  A wiser opposition would allow Harper to stumble for a while, then call a national election and take the issue to the voters.  Instead, the opposition wants to take charge now — and potentially all of the blame for what follows.  In fact, they’ll also take the blame for taking control of the government and throwing its economic plans into turmoil.

Small wonder these guys lose elections.  I wouldn’t be too surprised to see Harper smiling at being taken off the hook in such a manner, and at the prospects of voter backlash when it falls apart.

I noted after the last election that Harper had blown the Conservatives best chance for a majority by falling short while still being in power while the economic downturn took hold.  In the above scenario, it will be the opposition parties who will take at least some of the blame, (there is a grace period of sorts where you can blame the previous administration’s policies for your troubles), giving the Conservatives ammo for another run in a couple of years.  Harper is still toast, though.  Losing power is never lightly forgiven and someone needs to play the scapegoat.  So the last election will probably still count as a high-water mark for the Conservatives, but their recovery will likely be quicker unless the Liberal-NDP alliance succeeds beyond everyone’s current imaginings.

Comments

[anderson]

Wow. The Harpies are amazing. Backroom coalition dealings have been part and parcel with parliamentary governments since the dawn of ... parliamentary governments. And part of those dealings mean that even the minority government has to play nice.

But now? Now, they are the dealings of churlish rogues who would undo the foundations of democracy!

It was obvious that Harper was a friggin' tool at first glance. This is just more proof that the right wing both here and in Canada thinks it can scorch the earth and everyone should just go along.