Harper Government (Canada) falls on no-confidence motion

[JBoy]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/harper-government-falls-in-historic-commons-showdown/article1956416/

The second minority government of Stephen Harper has fallen. Early Friday afternoon, 156 opposition MPs – all of the Liberals, New Democrats and Bloquistes in the House of Commons – rose to support a motion of no-confidence.

It was also a motion that declared the government to be in contempt of Parliament for its refusal to share information that opposition members said they needed to properly assess legislation put before them.

Shortly after 10 a.m., the Liberal Leader rose to “inform the House that the official opposition has lost confidence in the government.” For the first time in Canadian history, he said, a committee of Parliament has found a government to be in contempt.

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In my view, the contempt ruling is a better issue to fight Harper on than defeating their budget. Hopefully the Liberals and NDP don't split votes and let Harper come up the middle.

[Rosco T.]

1. Can't wait to see Rick Mercer this week..

.. he'll be grinning even more than normal and having a field day with this.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

9. oops

replied to the wrong message,

[Whisp]

2. k&r

[Kingofalldems]

3. Uh oh, his little freeper pallies not liking this one

[Electric Monk]

4. LBN thread here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4787276

Same news.

[gratuitous]

5. A little help for those of us south of the border?

I understand the no-confidence vote, and how it effectively ends a coalition government in a multi-party system. Is 156 votes against Harper a majority of the House of Commons? What's the timeline for new elections? Is the opposition likely to coaslesce around someone or some particular party? Any assistance for a dull and particularly slow U.S. citizen is appreciated.

[Electric Monk]

7. Yes, that's a majority. Election likely in May. As to the rest, I don't know.

The vote was 156-145.

[Very_Boring_Name]

8. If the opposition rallies around any party, it will be the Liberal party

The opposition is made up of three left-leaning parties, the biggest is the Liberals, then the Bloc (whose only goal is the separation of Quebec from Canada, but they typically vote to the left), and then the NDP (very pro-labor, left leaning). The Bloc and the NDP have virtually no chance of forming the government, so they have propped up the Liberals in the past, but there has never been a formal coalition between them during my lifetime. The Liberals and the NDP considered a coalition a couple years back, but that ultimately fell apart, after Harper basically suspended parliament to prevent this. The outgoing and disgraced Liberal leader, as one of his final acts, had gotten the NDP to agree to join into a coalition, and the Bloc had agreed to support this coalition in forming the government. This was generally not popular with Canadians, and everybody knew that the incoming Liberal leader Michael Ignatief was privately very much against inheriting a poisoned gauntlet, so Harper "prorogued," or suspended parliament, until the new Liberal leader was elected at the Liberal convention, and that was pretty much the nail in the coffin of the coalition. Proroguing parliament had never been used in that way, it was the dirtiest political move I've ever seen.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

10. Now we just wait and see if the NDP "Naderites" will deliver Harper another minority government

Or if they will just graciously find a rock to crawl under this go around,

[Very_Boring_Name]

11. This is why I detest the NDP, almost as much as the conservatives

Their long-term goal is to replace the Liberals as the alternative to the conservatives. So every election they work twice as hard trying to get people to vote against the liberals as they do the conservatives. Their agenda ultimately suffers because they steal enough votes from the Liberals to get the conservatives in power.

This is why I have nothing but respect for the green party and its leader elizabeth may. She's come out many times in support of strategic voting to get Harper out, Jack Layton would NEVER make a remark like that because his goal isn't to get rid of Harper, its to get rid of the Liberals.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

13. I really hope the NDP can learn a lesson from our midterms

and the potential costs of "poutrage"

[gratuitous]

12. Thanks VBN and EM

I understand a little more, and the thumbnail history fills in some of the blanks in my poor knowledge.

[SidDithers]

14. Election should be May 2 or May 9...

of this year :)

Sid

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[revolutionnow45]

6. well this is certainly uplifting!

A politician being held accountable....I had no idea that was possible.

Go Canada!!