Christian Conservative Christian "Independent"

I'm an evangelical Christian, member of the CPC, but presently & unjustly exiled to wander the political wilderness.
All opinions expressed here are solely my own.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Layton: "Dion has given Harper a Majority"

Here's what today's NDP Press conference was all about, that basically wasn't reported by the media... Jack Layton is accusing Mr. Dion of giving Mr. Harper a defacto-majority in Parliament. I couldn't agree morem Jack... with Dion and his team running scared, we have no Opposition.
Layton says weak Liberals have given Harper majority government
The Canadian Press - 1 hour ago

OTTAWA - The NDP says Stephen Harper's Conservatives now basically have a majority government - and it's all thanks to the weak Liberal opposition.

Leader Jack Layton says that by agreeing to roll over on the Tory throne speech vote, the Liberals have helped the prime minister govern without fear of being defeated in the Commons.

In a pep talk to party workers and MPs on Tuesday, Layton said Liberal voters should consider switching their allegiance to the NDP.

He said Canadians should not be impressed with Liberals for allowing the throne speech to pass - even though it rejects the Kyoto accord and suggests Canada should stay the course in Afghanistan until 2011.

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion, who is an ardent defender of the Kyoto accord, was said by party insiders to favour defeating the government over its throne speech.

But he was talked out of it by his caucus, which argued that their party is not ready organizationally or financially to fight an election.

Harper has since made it clear that he expects a freer hand to run Parliament, and has threatened to use more frequent confidence votes that would force the opposition to either support him or trigger an election.

Layton said his party has systematically opposed the Tories in confidence votes and will continue to do so. But he pointed out that Harper can control Parliament if only one party supports him or abstains from voting.

"What effectively has happened is the gift of a majority government has been given by that party (the Liberals) to Mr. Harper."

"It's going to be very symbolic to watch our members rise in the House - willing to put their jobs, their principles, their commitments on the line - and then to watch the official opposition sit it out."

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6 Comments:

  • At Tue Oct 23, 02:46:00 p.m. EDT, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Wasn't it Layton's NDP and Duceppe's Bloc votes that kept Harper's government from falling?

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071022.wthronee1022/BNStory/National/home

    You know if you are just going to spin for the Conservatives, you aren't going to have much credibility.

     
  • At Tue Oct 23, 03:35:00 p.m. EDT, Blogger Greg said…

    anonymous. That is about the weakest thing I have ever seen. It's so sad, I won't bother to reply to it. It would be like hitting a puppy with a newspaper.

     
  • At Tue Oct 23, 03:52:00 p.m. EDT, Blogger Christian Conservative said…

    Greg... amm, in your post indicating that you wouldn't reply... that in itself would be considered a reply, would it not? ;-)

     
  • At Tue Oct 23, 04:33:00 p.m. EDT, Blogger Brian said…

    Well if Layton wants a Tory majority come the next election , it would seem that siphoning votes from the Liberals to the NDP might be a sure-fire approach ... keep up the good work Jack !

     
  • At Wed Oct 24, 09:15:00 a.m. EDT, Blogger Dirk said…

    This comment has been removed by the author.

     
  • At Wed Oct 24, 09:17:00 a.m. EDT, Blogger Dirk said…

    "we have no opposition"

    Give me a break. If you're comparing this to the Reform/CCRAP years when the governing Liberals truly didn't have an opposition due to in-fighting on the right, you're mistaken.

    This is just a throne speech. Sure, it's an opportunity to overthrow the government, but is words without teeth. There are also very few specifics in the throne speech; that the Liberals let it pass by abstaining doesn't concern me at all.

    Now, if the CPC tries to pass more environment-specific legislation that goes against the Liberals' sensibilities, then you've got something to go on.

     

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