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May. 17th, 2005 05:59 pmLordy, lordy... Canadian politics has just entered Amatuer Hour officially. Belinda Stronach defects in the most effective gutpunchs possible for the Conservatives, and Harper actually walks out and with a sorrowful face mutters about how betrayed Peter McKay feels. How betrayed her ex-boyfriend feels.
Then, to top things off, Martin appears, puffed up like a syphallic bull and launches into a quite lovely speech. He then proceeds to shoot himself and the crediability given from that speech by mentioning that the defection has nothing to do with the budget vote that could topple his government.
People, this is federal politics! I've seen better handled student council debates. You know, even five years ago, anyone trying this sort of just horrific tripe would have been eaten alive in Parliment. Now, they're falling all over each other to be first to throw themselves off the cliff.
God, what I wouldn't give for John Crosby to show up, smack both Harper and Martin, and tell them to act like men. Plus, he could also fire off an example of what a real insult is to Shiela Copps in the visitor's room.
For the Americans, who are currently sitting reading this and saying 'I'm pretty sure I knew Canada had some kind of government, right?' I will give you the primer that makes this such an interesting and frankly hilarious carny show right now.
In the Canadian parlimentary system, the government rules with the 'consent and confidence' of the parliment as a whole. The idea is that they come to decisions as a body, with majority vote as the signifier. There are certain types of legislation that are essential to the power and workings of government. The votes on those bills are considered votes of confidence. If the party that makes up the head of government loses a vote of confidence, even by a single vote, it is considered to have lost the confidence of the House, without which it cannot govern. The Governer-General is then called on to dissolve Parliment and call new elections.
Now, in a majority government, the only way a government can lose a vote of confidence is to suffer a revolt inside it's own party. In a minority government, loose coalitions are hammered out to gain enough votes to pass legislation. Extremely important legislation can come out of minority governments, like Canada's universal health care, due to the need to balance numerous party and regional affliations.
Currently, the Canadian Liberal party is the largest party in the house, with 130-odd seats. They have formed a loose coalition with the New Democratic Party, who control 19 seats, in return for concessions and funding for social programs in the budget (the NDP are our far left party). The Conservative Party (a recent bastardized takeover of the PC by the Reform) have formed a coalition with the Bloc (Quebec seperatist party) based around bringing down the Liberal government and calling for a new election.
The reason? Recent polling had shown a growth in support in Ontario for the Conservative party. Considering that the policies of the Reform party play in Ontario about as well as Merle Haggard at a Black Panthers convention, that is a significant thing for Steven Harper, the leader of the Conservatives.
To win a majority (or even minority) government in Canada, you need to be able to carry either Quebec or Ontario. Since the Reform party were almost a Western seperatist party, who's platform basically advocated the seperation of Quebec and it's relocation under a billion tons of magma, it's not surprising that when they created the amalgamation between them and the Progressive Conservatives, they did so at the cost of all of the PC support in Quebec. That means Ontario is about the only game in town for the Conservatives.
Unfortunately, the major centres like Toronto tend to be somewhat leary of a party that has major policy figures who talk about homosexuality as a sin, and how much better it would be if we had private health care. While that might be a slamdunk in Texas, in Toronto it makes you slightly less popular than a Montreal tourist. So, the Conservative party has been trying to build up it's Ontario structure with a new face of moderate Conservatives, built along the same lines as those who have made of up the provincial governments of the past. One of the key componants to that was Belinda Stronach.
The woman who just walked across the aisle to join the Liberals, removing both a key vote against the government (it's basically a tie now) and tearing off the mask of the 'moderate Conservatives'.
For Belinda herself, it's a very dangerous move. She only won her seat by 700 votes, is in her first year as an MP, and Canada traditionally does not like or keep people who have switched sides. However, not only is she moving into a cabinet role, which is an extremely powerful position in the government, but she and another former Tory, Scott Brison, are responsible for implimenting the results of the Gomery Inquiry. That gives her the movement to position herself as the new centre; neither tainted by the pork-barrel stooge and graff ridden Liberal old guard, nor part of the theocratic and insular hilly Republican-lite wacko-right Conservatives. The Liberal party's vast umbrella has been groaning for a while, and the Frankenstein Conservatives have been one kick from explosion since day one.
If she can squeeze past some formidable obstacles (which will likely have her out of the House by the next election), there is a very real possibility to see a new party forged in this partisan crucible, emerging to an electorate as untainted by both scandal and regionalist baggage. That's a powerful mix in the violatility of the Canadian political landscape right now, and even even larger gamble.
Then, to top things off, Martin appears, puffed up like a syphallic bull and launches into a quite lovely speech. He then proceeds to shoot himself and the crediability given from that speech by mentioning that the defection has nothing to do with the budget vote that could topple his government.
People, this is federal politics! I've seen better handled student council debates. You know, even five years ago, anyone trying this sort of just horrific tripe would have been eaten alive in Parliment. Now, they're falling all over each other to be first to throw themselves off the cliff.
God, what I wouldn't give for John Crosby to show up, smack both Harper and Martin, and tell them to act like men. Plus, he could also fire off an example of what a real insult is to Shiela Copps in the visitor's room.
For the Americans, who are currently sitting reading this and saying 'I'm pretty sure I knew Canada had some kind of government, right?' I will give you the primer that makes this such an interesting and frankly hilarious carny show right now.
In the Canadian parlimentary system, the government rules with the 'consent and confidence' of the parliment as a whole. The idea is that they come to decisions as a body, with majority vote as the signifier. There are certain types of legislation that are essential to the power and workings of government. The votes on those bills are considered votes of confidence. If the party that makes up the head of government loses a vote of confidence, even by a single vote, it is considered to have lost the confidence of the House, without which it cannot govern. The Governer-General is then called on to dissolve Parliment and call new elections.
Now, in a majority government, the only way a government can lose a vote of confidence is to suffer a revolt inside it's own party. In a minority government, loose coalitions are hammered out to gain enough votes to pass legislation. Extremely important legislation can come out of minority governments, like Canada's universal health care, due to the need to balance numerous party and regional affliations.
Currently, the Canadian Liberal party is the largest party in the house, with 130-odd seats. They have formed a loose coalition with the New Democratic Party, who control 19 seats, in return for concessions and funding for social programs in the budget (the NDP are our far left party). The Conservative Party (a recent bastardized takeover of the PC by the Reform) have formed a coalition with the Bloc (Quebec seperatist party) based around bringing down the Liberal government and calling for a new election.
The reason? Recent polling had shown a growth in support in Ontario for the Conservative party. Considering that the policies of the Reform party play in Ontario about as well as Merle Haggard at a Black Panthers convention, that is a significant thing for Steven Harper, the leader of the Conservatives.
To win a majority (or even minority) government in Canada, you need to be able to carry either Quebec or Ontario. Since the Reform party were almost a Western seperatist party, who's platform basically advocated the seperation of Quebec and it's relocation under a billion tons of magma, it's not surprising that when they created the amalgamation between them and the Progressive Conservatives, they did so at the cost of all of the PC support in Quebec. That means Ontario is about the only game in town for the Conservatives.
Unfortunately, the major centres like Toronto tend to be somewhat leary of a party that has major policy figures who talk about homosexuality as a sin, and how much better it would be if we had private health care. While that might be a slamdunk in Texas, in Toronto it makes you slightly less popular than a Montreal tourist. So, the Conservative party has been trying to build up it's Ontario structure with a new face of moderate Conservatives, built along the same lines as those who have made of up the provincial governments of the past. One of the key componants to that was Belinda Stronach.
The woman who just walked across the aisle to join the Liberals, removing both a key vote against the government (it's basically a tie now) and tearing off the mask of the 'moderate Conservatives'.
For Belinda herself, it's a very dangerous move. She only won her seat by 700 votes, is in her first year as an MP, and Canada traditionally does not like or keep people who have switched sides. However, not only is she moving into a cabinet role, which is an extremely powerful position in the government, but she and another former Tory, Scott Brison, are responsible for implimenting the results of the Gomery Inquiry. That gives her the movement to position herself as the new centre; neither tainted by the pork-barrel stooge and graff ridden Liberal old guard, nor part of the theocratic and insular hilly Republican-lite wacko-right Conservatives. The Liberal party's vast umbrella has been groaning for a while, and the Frankenstein Conservatives have been one kick from explosion since day one.
If she can squeeze past some formidable obstacles (which will likely have her out of the House by the next election), there is a very real possibility to see a new party forged in this partisan crucible, emerging to an electorate as untainted by both scandal and regionalist baggage. That's a powerful mix in the violatility of the Canadian political landscape right now, and even even larger gamble.
