Conservative Rhetoric

Well we may be getting another possible election. The current ruling party has made a law that has made the other three political parties so upset that they are ready and willing to join together to make a coalition government. The Conservative Party is using the rhetoric that Canadians voted for a Conservative government and the Canadians rejected a Liberal government; under this logic, if the Liberal Party joins with the other two political parties to form a coalition government, then they are "stealing" power through the backdoor and ignoring the Canadian electorate who have made their choice.

This rhetoric disappoints me. One of the responsibilities of a political party in Canada is to educate Canadians on the realities of our political institution. Our current institution is one that has a parliament and this parliament is determined by members who are voted in. The parliament then takes the party with the most members and makes it the ruling authority. Coalitions are not illegal and it is not impossible to have a minority government fall and be replaced immediately by another minority government without going through elections. Our system has this already in place. Our Governor General has the power and authority to decide 3 possible choices if the Conservative Party loses a vote in parliament. Choice 1, new elections are called and we all vote for our favored delegates (1 month after the last election). Choice 2, the Liberal Party forms the new government (yes the Governor General can invite the Liberal Party to form the next government as a minority government but this is unlikely because the tradition is that the choice is given to someone who can maintain parliamentary majority). Choice 3, a coalition is formed to become a majority and the Governor General accepts this new coalition as the next government.

This is our system, right or wrong, this is how we do things. If the Conservative Party does not like this, they had since 1867 to make its case and try to inform us of any possible flaws in that parliamentary system. To claim that power would be stolen from Canadians and that they had not voted for this particular turn of events is irresponsible. The political party is there to educate how the system works and THIS is how the parliamentary system works. I personally find it ironic that the Liberal Party and the Bloc Quebecois would even consider becoming allies after being so adamantly opposed to each other on the sovereignty issue and that the Conservative Party actually conceded the most to Quebec since 1982 while the Liberal Party historically got the Constitution into Canada without Quebec's signature.... but hey, I guess integrity of their beliefs can be melted down if they can only taste the power of governing for even a few months...

I could see the NDP joining any of the political parties and form a coalition because they have the most consensus methodology in their mind. They believe in socialism and can support certain ambiguous laws if they can promote a pro-socialist law alongside with it.

What will happen? Who knows, but to make the claim that Canadians did not vote for a coalition government is to disrespect the whole notion of parliamentary government. Canadians did not technically vote for a Conservative government either.... they voted for individual members of parliament who accidently were part of a political party who managed to be the largest minority out of the other minority parties.... and so it goes.

Ya win some, ya lose some. Don't complain about the rules after you have lost the points. And remember, it is the Governor General who will make the final decision, not any particular political party. That is how our Canadian system works..... theoretically (wink wink).