Give us the election, Stephen!

[jbailey]

In A recent CBC article, Stephen Harper is quoted as saying that his plan for the national child care program is simply a part of the budget. Failure to pass a budget is seen as a failure of confidence, and triggers an election.

This puts the opposition parties in a tight place. Specifically, the Liberals aren't ready to head to the polls yet. Paul Martin hasn't been officially replaced, with a successor not expected to be chosen until October or so. An election in May would go very poorly for them.

Since getting elected, Prime Minister Harper has managed to trigger an ethics inquiry into his government, and is already taking a hard line that risks bringing it down or screwing the opposition party. He told us that he would bring new things to our government, and certainly he has. This type of maneuvering can only be described as "incredible" for what, the second week of parliament?

Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out, Stevey-baby.

Comments

Re: Keeping Promises

[auzure-skies.livejournal.com]

But sometimes "holding on to power" means compromising, and keeping people (read: taxpayers) happy. Sticking with your campaign promises, when those promises only earned you a slim lead, is foolhardy. It means that Canadians were NOT all in the same boat, and elected three other parties to balance out the Conservative vision of Canada. In this case, he's gotta compromise on some things. People wanted the Ethics amendments he's made - and good job on it, too. But the majority of Canadians also want national childcare, so he should go with it. We've got the biggest surplus in over 20 years; let's put it into our kids.

Re: Keeping Promises

[(Anonymous)]

A "national daycare program" on the money allotted was a soundbyte for election campaigns, not a fact. The money was given to the provinces with no strings attached. No different than a few billion dollars (also no strings attached) was enough to 'fix healthcare for a generation'.

How much do people advocating a national program know about Quebec's, anyway? Nothing stopping other provinces from doing it themselves except the will. And if one objects that Quebec's provincial system has flaws, how on earth does one propose to avoid the exact same problems writ large in a national system?