Posts Tagged by official opposition
NDP Rising? — Be Careful What You Wish For
| 4/21/2011 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics |
The polls the last few days are showing the the NDP moving upward, the Liberals sliding some and the Conservatives more or less staying the same. Now, that presents an interesting scenario. The NDP has done this before, appeared to be on an upward swing in the polls and then Canadians apparently came to their senses and shifted away.
That doesn’t mean that will happen again. So should the uptick in support be sustained what could we end up with? Well, the worst case scenario would be that the vote would become so split that Harper comes up the middle and gets his majority. Another prospect is that Canadians are wise enough not to give him anything more than a minority and Layton could end up as the Official Opposition.
While Harper is a bullying, arrogant dictator — Layton is enough of an egotist that he’d see his opportunity to reach the unreachable for him and would likely work to bring Harper down in an effort to offer his party up as the party to take over. There is a reason that Layton has passion behind his claims that he’s the party to fix Ottawa, he actually believes his own rhetoric. (more…)
Forget Coalition, Someone Needs to Show Some Leadership
| 6/6/2010 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics |
I’m becoming more than a bit weary of the Liberals spending so much time on infighting and jostling than they are on being the Official Opposition. Lately I see a lot more in the news reports about the mechanics of the party and speculation about the makeup than I do anything else. I suspect I’m not the only Canadian feeling this way.
It is becoming rather apparent that Bob Rae is playing games towards trying to push Ignatieff out as leader. Should that happen and Rae takes the helm, this Liberal will abandon ship. There’s also been talk about forming some sort of either pre or post-election coalition with the NDP. Forget that people, you really think I’d be a Liberal if I wanted anything to do with Layton?
So, what exactly do I want to see?
I want to see the Liberal party take a stand and stick to it. They don’t really need to hunt too far to differentiate themselves from the Conservatives. As for the NDP and the Greens, adopt what is good in their platform and show the rest for the tripe it is. (more…)
Opposition Goes After the Stalling
| 3/23/2010 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics |
Every now and again it becomes necessary for those elected to conduct the business of our democracy to be reminded of who they are supposed to represent. The people elect a Parliament who then forms a government and an official opposition based on which party received the most seats.
This seems like a pretty basic principle to know and to understand. The Prime Minister is subject to the will of Parliament, who is subject to the will of the people. When the Opposition parties voted on a motion back in December ordering the government to produce unredacted documents pertaining to the detainee issue, the response should have been pretty straightforward in adherence with the basic principle of Parliament.
The government has tried to throw a blanket claim of ‘national security’ around the affair and are refusing to release the documents. They didn’t even bother trying to go through the motions of trying to reach an agreement with the majority vote, they just stonewalled and then Harper prorogued the House.
Eventually the birds have to come home to roost and Parliament had to reconvene. Harper seemed to think that the December motion would be ignored, the Opposition rendered unable or unwilling to act. He’s wrong. Last Thursday the Liberals, followed by the NDP and the Bloc, rose to call on the Speaker of the House to rule on the motion. They have motions of their own which could lead to the Government being found in contempt of Parliament. (more…)
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