I was going to wait until the fall of the Conservative government and the removal of Harper from power to cover this issue, but I came across a discussion on Reddit, which I thought did a great job summarizing the events unfolding in Canada. So, while I quietly celebrate the possibility of not having Harper and his twisted take on life represent Canada, I thought sharing the following information provided by other Canadians would be prudent.
The following question was asked on the Canada Sub-Reddit group: “Ask Canadian Reddit: Can anyone clearly explain what is going on in Ottawa right now, and why?” From the replies, I found the following information interesting and informative:
From Skavenblight:
Harper announced his intentions with regards to the economy, and he showed just how ridiculously backwards he is. In it, he said that he'd cut federal funding to political parties (a measure that would surely bankrupt the liberals, and prevent smaller parties from getting adequate founding), make it illegal for government employees to go on strike and prevent people from using the tribunals to solve matters of salary equity.
On top of that, he didn't show any intention of injecting money in Canada's economy, preferring to cut on spending (which is a stupid thing to do in a recession) and promising a small surplus that will never happen.
The other parties all immediately said "WTF is this shit?!" and proceeded to start drafting plans for a coalition.
You see, people don't elect party leaders. They elect representatives. Now, how the people in Parliament choose the leader is up to them. That's a non-issue when the leading party is a majority, but Harper leads a minority government. So the Liberals, NDP and the Bloc are going to be voting for a confidence motion on Monday to defeat Harper's government. But instead of sending us back to the voting booth, they intend to petition the Governor General to allow Stephane Dion, liberal party leader, to lead a Bloc-Supported, Liberal-NDP coalition.
Technically, the exact same people are sitting in the Parliament. It's just that they've chosen a new leader.
Cue people complaining that this is undemocratic because they don't understand how our government works.
TLDR; Harper acted like a redneck, his government is getting the boot, Coalition will lead the country (if the Governor general approves) and idiots complain.
From anthmarc:
My attempt:
Canada uses the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy.
The key feature of this system is that the executive and legislative branches of government are fused. This may be hard to understand for Americans used to checks and balances. Or Canadians who don't know shit about their own country. Which is most Canadians.
The Prime Minister is "selected" by the Queen through her representative the Governor General from those representatives elected to the House of Commons (the lower house) from each riding. The person to be selected for this position is not the person who leads the party with the most seats, political parties are not part of the constitution, the person to be selected is the person who can best form government, the person who has the most influence over the House of Commons.
In modern practice, this means that the person who leads the party with the most seats is in the best position to govern. However, party politics being what they are, parties can desert their leaders. So it is important to remember that the Prime Minister is the person who holds the most sway, not who holds a title conferred on him by a political party.
Two kinds of government can form. One is "majority" which means one party controls more than 50% of the seats and can pass whatever they want and the opposition can only whine and maneuver for the next election. The other is a "minority" where the party with the most seats does not control 50% of the seats.
Since the early 90's, Canadian politics had been absolutely dominated by the centrist Liberal party. As could be predicted, corruption set in. The Big Red Machine, as it was called, started to falter and politics began to get fluid and hazy.
The right wing of Canada had been fractured owing to Brian Mulroney. But Stephen Harper managed to meld a right wing coalition into the new Conservative Party of Canada. He leads this party in dictator fashion.
The Liberals lost their majority. Then they lost a minority to a Harper minority. Harper is a power hungry twat who needs to destroy all before him. He tried again 6 weeks ago to get a majority, but made a small error in Quebec which was spun into a big issue by the regional party about Harper not understanding Quebec. He was unable to win a majority.
But he thought he had won a majority. After proposing a legislative agenda that was conciliatory and showed signs of attempting to not be partisan, he issued an 'economic statement' to deal with the current economic situation. Included in this were obviously partisan stabs aimed at destroying the opposition party's funding. He has a reputation for being a clever political operator. He miscalculated badly. He thought the opposition would sign their own death warrants.
Taking this stab at all three opposition parties at once united their opposition. They have decided to get together and destroy this threat to all of them. Together, they hold more seats than Harper. They have signed deals declaring support of the coalition and setting terms.
This is where the Governor General comes back in. Parliament can declare "no confidence" in a government. The legal status of these votes is dubious. However, they are symbolically powerful. They mean that the opposition will make it impossible for the government to govern. They won't take his shit no more.
So the Governor General no longer has a government that can govern. She has two options. She can call an election. Or she can try to find someone who can form a government. The signed deals point to the leader of the fractured, reeling Liberal party as that person. He has the confidence of the majority of the seats in the House.
Cue whining about democracy.
Given that our election is 6 weeks old, and now given that a majority coalition has declared itself, it seems likely that the GG will ask the coalition to form a government. It is likely that this coalition will deteriorate rather quickly and that an election will be necessary in 6 months, but the deals say 18 at least.
Harper has options. He can "prorogue" Parliament. I have only today learned that this word exists. It means he can shut down the legislature. He would do this in order to avoid a vote of no confidence and to buy time to fight a media war.
Cue real concerns about democracy.
It's pretty clear that if the vote happens on the 8th as scheduled, we will have a coalition government, first one since WW1. If Parliament is shut down for 2 months, it becomes less clear. To me, it seems an easy media war to fight against the dictator who ignores democracy and The Canadian Way and all of that good stuff when it suits him. Or the public may be persuaded to lose their minds and blame the destabilization of their government on the coalition members (see kieffy's comment above re: leftist opportunists and imposing wills). Support may swing away from the Conservatives to one of the coalition members, likely the Liberals. Or support may swing solidly to the Conservatives making an election call more likely with a majority government outcome.
But anyway, it becomes hazy. This is uncharted waters. No one knows what will happen. If they say they do, they are lying.
-
Reply from mpierre:
I would like to add 2 twists I heard from the noon Radio-Canada radio show in Montréal yesterday. They had a constitutional expert on the phone. She explained that if there is a vote of non-confidence passed in the lower chamber, it is the defeated PM that needs to go inform the Governor General to dissolve the chamber and call the elections. He could also ask her to NOT call an election and instead, nominate a new PM. He could also not specify what she should do.
In 1926, the Governor General apparently decided NOT to call and election and instead, nominated another government. Since then, rules have been placed to force the Governor General to obey the order of the PM.
In this case, Harper is sure to call for an election, since it is his only hope of remaining in power.
However, should our Governor General decide to disobey his orders and instead nominate the PM chosen by the coalition, she would be breaking the law. But since she is our head of state and thus, kind of above the law in her official functions, nobody could really stop her, not even the supreme court.
The PM could in theory punish her for it, but once she has made her announcement, Harper is no longer PM, so the newly nominated PM would be unlikely to punish her for listening to him. (In Canada, we do not have a PM elect. The office changes instantly. There is no transition period).
As for the prorogation, if Stephan Harper asks the governor general for prorogation, she is not supposed to refuse, but once again, she would be making an official functions and could therefore decide that she doesn't recognize his authority to prorogate the chamber.
The short version:
In Canada's parliamentary system (as well as others descended from the British system), the government is formed by the party with the most seats in the house of commons - The recently formed Canadian government does not control a true majority (50% + 1) of the seats in the house of commons; thus it forms what is called a minority government
- The minority government recently made some statements regarding political party finance that spooked the other major political parties
- The opposing parties got together and formed a coalition and are proposing that this coalition be allowed to replace the minority government with a majority government
- The controversy is the result of many Canadians not understanding how their government works, and has worked, for over a century
This whole "minority government" and "coalition government" thing hasn't happened in recent memory and looks pretty confusing and underhanded even if it is perfectly legal. In fact it's how the system was explicitly designed to handle situations like this.
-
Reply from FlamingBagOfPoo:
As an American who lives in Canada, I find the whole thing utterly fascinating. Also, I think it's brilliantly efficient. Look at how much waste is generated by a single political campaign in the US, where there are only two parties, which are really essentially just one party anyway. I love this multi-party system and I love the whole concept of a Parliament. I am watching this spectacle unfold with the same sort of jaw-drop amazement that I felt when I saw Star Wars for the first time in the movie theater a million years ago.
And this was my personal favorite:
-
From George W. Bush:
Probly a buncha homosexin'. An' that's why we gotta invade Ottawa. Whatever the hell that is.
As far as I’m concerned, Harper should resign and crawl back into the hole that he came from.
- Related Information
- Harper, Bush Share Roots in Controversial Philosophy : "What do close advisors to Stephen Harper and George W. Bush have in common? They reflect the disturbing teachings of Leo Strauss, the German-Jewish émigré who spawned the neoconservative movement.
"Strauss, who died in 1973, believed in the inherent inequality of humanity. Most people, he famously taught, are too stupid to make informed decisions about their political affairs. Elite philosophers must decide on affairs of state for us."
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
