Cross posted at slothropia.com.
Canada's Parliament is back in session. Will the Conservative government survive the week?
Long ago, in December of 2008 (when George Bush was still President - THAT long ago), Canada found itself embroiled in an almost unprecedented parliamentary crisis.
To briefly review, the Conservative Government of Canada presented to Parliament legislation that the opposition parties found unacceptable. In response, the opposition parties in Parliament formed a coalition. The left wing (sort of) New Democrats would join a government lead by the centrist Liberals, with the nominally separatist Bloq Quebecois promising support for a year and a half.
Sensing danger, and to avoid losing a vote of confidence in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Stephen Harper persuaded the Governour General to suspend Parliament until today.
This afternoon, Parliament reopened with a Throne Speech or summary of the Government's agenda, delivered by the Governour General. Tomorrow, the Minister of Finance tables a budget, but in the run up to tomorrow, Government ministers have been leaking like rusty tub, trying to kick start support for the Tories and their budget.They are scared so it looks like the budget will owe more to Obama than to Bush.
Meanwhile, among the opposition parties, there have been a few developments.
When the coalition deal was struck, the Liberal were lead by Stephane Dion. Dion had already resigned as Liberal Leader, though he planned to stay in place until May when his successor was to be named. Instead, all the candidates for the Liberal Leadership withdrew in favor of Michael Ignatieff, who is now in place as Liberal Leader and Leader of the Official Opposition.
Since becoming Liberal Leader, Ignatieff has been sending mixed signals about the future of the coalition. On paper, there is still an agreement between the liberals and NDP to defeat the Tories in a confidence vote and ask the Governour General to allow the Coalition to form a government. However, Ignatieff has refused to say if the Liberals will vote against the budget, while NDP Leader Jack Layton has consistently insisted that Harper cannot be trusted and the Conservative government must go.
Right now, my gut feeling is that the Liberals will support the government, with the Bloq and NDP voting nay.
Again, tomorrow the Conservatives introduce their budget. Tomorrow evening I will post something about its contents of the budget and when the first vote on it will occur. I'll also speculate more about how the vote will go.
Maintenant, I'm gonna wash down some poutine with a couple of bottles of Moosehead while I watch a replay of the NHL All Star Game.