2008 Liberal Candidate OPPOSES Coalition

Cambridge Liberal candidate Gord Zeilstra publicly stated his opposition to the coalition on his blog at GordZeilstra.ca

Thursday, December 4, 2008

A time to show leadership...

From all of the angles I view things from... the coalition is well within their legal, constitutional and working right, and some would definitely say, obligation.

But I cannot count myself as a supporter of the Opposition-led coalition to form a new government... at this time.

Oh sure there are ironies and things that don't sit well....
When I was going door-to-door only weeks ago, it was suggested that the Liberal Party and our leader, Mr. Dion missed opportunities to be representative and strong and seemingly chose to not stand up to Prime Minister Harper on the many cycles of confidence motions. This was loudly stated numerous times by my taunting opponent, Gary Goodyear (that Liberals didn't show up to work or vote). My how the tables have turned!

The General Election of 2008 was an election where Stephen Harper asked the Governor General to allow him to break his own rule and go to an election earlier than the fixed date in October 2009, because "...Parliament clearly was not working". And, what now? Is it working now?

And what about the NDP joining forces with the Liberals, or The Bloc siding with the Coalition on confidence motions before even seeing them...

all of these ironies beyond belief as recent as weeks ago.

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So, now here we are uncertain of the political circumstances, that will set new Parliamentary precedents, where the Governor General will make a discretionary decision about the future of our government....

But, I believe there are bigger issues at stake than the ironies and Parliamentary precedents.

We were in an economic crisis before we were in a political crisis. And it is not just Canada's crisis, it is a global economic crisis.

At this time, I believe, we cannot turn the House of Commons to the Coalition. I fear that the world economy, who look to Canada as a model on many levels, would quickly label Canada as fractured, arrogant and un-confident, short-sighted and clearly unstable as a place to invest.

What we need now is stability and unity.