This is the moment of truth, in which this nation is forced to face itself in the mirror and finally decide just what it is that we, Canadians, really stand for.
At this very moment a quite literal coup d'etat is under way in Ottawa, make no mistake about this. A government elected just seven weeks ago by the people is about to be overthrown, a government with by far the broadest representation from across the nation of any political party. It breaks down as follows:
British Columbia: CPC 22 - Lib 5 - NDP 9
Prairies: CPC 49 - Lib 2 - NDP 5
Ontario: CPC 51 - Lib 38 - NDP 17
Quebec: CPC 10 - Lib 13 - NDP 1 - Ind 1
Maritimes: CPC 10 - Lib 17 - NDP 3 - Ind 1
Territories: CPC 1 - Lib 1 - NDP 1
Note that a mere 7 Liberals were elected west of Ontario, along with 14 NDP, while 71 Conservative MPs got the nod.
Circa 1988 I attended a hastily called rally in Lloydminster, AB, for western separatism. Roughly 600 showed up. Hundreds of them bought memberships. People were angry, fed up, and ready to go it alone.
A couple of months later I attended another rally in the same hall, this time to hear Preston Manning. Many of the same people showed up, hundreds of them. Manning's message was that separatism was not the answer. Rather, what was needed was "reform" of the confederation, in which the west could become an equal partner. He summed it all up with the simple mantra: The west wants in.
Hundreds scrapped their separatist memberships, and joined Preston Manning's newly minted Reform Party. Over the ensuing decade he changed the political landscape forever. After growing pains until hell wouldn't have any more, in 2006 Stephen Harper, one time policy guru for Preston Manning, emerged to form a minority Conservative government.
The west was finally in.
Just seven weeks ago Stephen Harper won another election, increasing the Conservative standing to 143, just 12 MPs short of a majority government. He won 38% of the popular vote, the very same percentage of votes that was enough to give the Chretien his majority in 2000. And not a single Liberal anywhere ever once complained that 62% of the electorate never voted for them.
They could not possibly have cared less.
Today Stephane Dion justified his coup by stating that 62% of the electorate did not vote for Stephen Harper, so the Prime Minister has no right to lead this nation as though he had the majority of voter support.
So Stephen Harper and his government are about to be thrown out of office, not by an electoral process, but by a left wing coalition comprised of 76 Liberal and 37 NDP MPs...
... with the conditional backing of 50 left wing separatist BLOC members.
And just like that...
The west is once again, OUT.
You might say, we're about to be grabbed by the scruff and the seat of our collective pants, and unceremoniously tossed out the proverbial door into the street.
Game over.
You see, for the most part we westerners don't do "left wing" very well. Most of us believe in enterprise, personal responsibility, and enjoying the fruits of our labours. This makes us "right wing".
Now the mainstream media, most of whom also are decidedly left wing, are laying the blame for all this at Harper's feet. For he had the audacity to suggest that, seeing as times are getting tough for everyone, it is time for political parties to start paying their own way in this country. More succinctly stated, the free ride is over, no more welfare off the government teat for politicians.
Not all journalists are sops for the liberal left, however. Andrew Coyne, a rare exception, sums it up beautifully. As does Charles Adler in his Three Stooges of Coupscam. Or Lorne Gunter in his latest column.
Harper has, as I see it, one last option: He must prorogue parliament, give the people of Canada time to react, and re-open on Jan. 26, to be followed by release of the budget on Jan. 27, 2009.
If the opposition cabal manages to hold together for that long, they can defeat the government over a real issue, the 2009/2010 budget.
At which time Harper asks the Governor General for dissolution and an election.
She will have no choice, IMHO, given the clarity of the budget and thus the clear intentions of the government, but to follow his advice.
On the other hand, if the opposition is granted the right to govern...
Then the coup is complete.
And Canada is effectively reduced to the status of a third world, jerkwater joke of a wanna-be nation.
Mark my words, this will NOT be the end of it in western Canada.
I'm betting that, particularly in Alberta, a sleeping giant with a helluva chip on his shoulder has been roused from a long and restless hibernation.
And there will be hell to pay for it.
Hell like no eastern Liberal dared imagine.
Who was it who said, "The more things change, the more they stay the same."
How sadly astute was he, eh?
UPDATE: CTV online poll results...
Who would you prefer to govern the country?
The Conservatives 22506 votes (65 %)
The NDP-Liberal coalition 12292 votes (35 %)
Total Votes: 34798
Monday, December 1, 2008
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18 comments:
Western separatism... Interesting. However, you forget that a province cannot unilaterally secede from Canada. It would go to a national referendum, and the rest of Canada won't let us go just like that, given the majority of the population is in the East. Unless you're advocating some kind of civil war, I don't see it ever happening.
The Clarity Act.
I suggest you read it.
I've already read a number of posts tonight by people who are pulling their money out of major banks and eastern funds, and putting them in Alberta's Treasury bank.
Others are talking about withholding their federal taxes.
I'm telling ya, this is only just getting started.
The shite is about to hit the proverbial fan, and in no uncertain terms.
The Clarity Act essentially states that the question must be clear in its interpretation, and requires a clear majority.
That won't be a problem for Albertans. You won't hear them sniveling about crap like "sovereignty association".
Pearce,
No national referendum is required; only a clear majority with a clear question within the province seeking to separate. According to the Clarity Act, the government of Canada would have to negotiate with that province in good faith.
Springer, I share your frustration; however, i also know that anger is not enough to pull that train because it always fizzles.
Of course, all bets are off if we see a new NEP, a deal hatched in secret by three leaders from Quebec before the election signs were even taken down. That might do it.
Rev...
So far from what I'm reading tonight, I'd say this is pretty much going over in the west like a kick with a work boot direct to the gonads.
This goes waaaaay beyond mere symbolism.
I am familiar with the Clarity Act. Briefly, the key point (as I see it) is the following:
* The secession of a province of Canada would require an amendment to the Constitution of Canada.
This is where I believe the separatist argument breaks down. Amendments can only be passed by the Canadian House of Commons, the Senate, and a two-thirds majority of the provincial legislatures representing at least 50% of the national population.
'The secession of a province of Canada would require an amendment to the Constitution of Canada'
So, amend it.
That clause doesn't say a province secession depends on an amendment.
If Albertans agree to separating, Quebec's 65 coalition MPs are going to say 'no you can't'?
"So amend it"
Easier said than done. Secession is not tenable unless there is nationwide support for it. The amending formula for the constitution dictates that. The act of a referendum declaring secession does not immediately guarantee secession.
In the event of a successful referendum, there is a negotiation process with the federal government, provinces, and First Nations where a determination as to the legitimacy and validity of the referendum is assessed. Then, there must be an amendment to the constitution.
Secession isn't some threat you can pull out whenever things don't go your way. And it's certainly not something one province can decide to do on a whim without consulting with and receiving the approval of the House of Commons, the Senate, and the provincial legislatures.
"Secession isn't some threat you can pull out whenever things don't go your way. And it's certainly not something one province can decide to do on a whim without consulting with and receiving the approval of the House of Commons, the Senate, and the provincial legislatures."
Just watch us.
This will not be your Quebec kind of separatism where it is threatened unless you bow down to us - this will be cutting off the taps and refusing to pay our equalization share - via the people not paying their taxes.
Since the three idiots have decided they an just do whatever they want because they hate Stephen Harper, I guess they just proved that anything goes and you don't have to follow the rules.
So go on and on with your crap about having the majority of Canada tell us what we can and cannot do, given that the population of Alberta and BC is now more than the population of Quebec, I would say that the west is becoming the true centre of Canada - a fact that easterners will not seem to accept.
So go ahead, make our day - support this unholy alliance of power mongers and see what a REAL separatist movement looks like.
So should I, a Western Canadian living in Nova Scotia, be somewhat concerned about my current location and the current political predicament?
Springer
The Coalition of the Swilling is too smart by half. Already Western Canada Concept is pushing a petition calling for a referendum on separation.
If the three stooges manage to pull off this palace coup the anger and frustration that has simmered below the surface in the west will erupt like an angry volcano.
Yesterday Dionne claimed this unholy alliance is what "Canadians" want. Of course "Canadian" is code for leftard. Given that I don't meet the criteria for a "Canadian", I see no reason to continue to be a citizen of this ass backwards collection of thieving socialist swine.
FREE THE WEST!
Syncro
Anonymous said...
"The Clarity Act. I suggest you read it."
Obviously you haven't diaper douche.
All it does is spell out some untested formula for framing a referndum question.
The bottom line is in the ruling the SCC gave on the stupidly posed separation reference question Chretien forced them to answer honestly - that stated that the province's confederal relationship with the federal government is VOLUNTARY. Second, the democratic formula used by the feds to get the provinces into confederation was by a local referendum that produced 50% plus one in favor. The same provincial democratically mandated formula is constitutionally sound for leaving the confederal agreement....and yes unilaterally via local mandate.
You should have spent more time reading Canada's history than drinking the revisionist koolaid and playing game boy.
Mindless child.
Country Mamma,
As an veeery frustrated Conservative voter in Ontario I can tell you that we also have had more then enough, if this happens I know of several folks who are going to pack up and get the heck out of the Banana republic central.
I don't care if my family and I only have an R.V. to live in for a few years. I'm going where my vote and real democracy means something.
Tired of trying to make things work with in the system that negates me and my vote at their connivance.
Go west all who even have a dream of true freedom and throw off the shackles of the Government.
I feel a quiet revolution coming
"At this very moment a quite literal coup d'etat is under way in Ottawa, make no mistake about this."
Actually, the mistake is yours.
A coup d'etat is an unconstitutional usurpation of office.
Under the constitutional rules that govern Canada's parliamentary system, it is perfectly valid –- obligatory, even -- for the opposition to attempt to form a stable alternate majority government if the House is deemed to have lost confidence in the presiding government.
If you can recall your federal election ballot, voters didn't actually vote for a particular individual to be Prime Minister –- or a particular political party to be the official government, for that matter. We each placed our X's beside the name of the person that we wanted to be the Member of Parliament representing our respective ridings. Our vote was duly counted, and the winning individual went off to Ottawa. That MP -- the only entity that we actually voted for -- will remain even if the Liberal-NDP coalition succeeds to forming an alternate government. In other words, none of your/my electoral/democratic rights have been trammelled upon.
So discuss all you like about current developments, but please, don’t refer to them as a “coup d’etat,” which is in no way correct -- literal or otherwise.
Since Quebec did not sign the Constitution they are not bound by it. All other Provinces ARE bound by the Canadian Constitution.
I know anger is bubbling and spewing but separation is not the answer. Supporting the Conservative party and Stephen Harper as our PM is the way to fight this outrage. They wanted to wrest power before but could not be honest with Canadians. IF they had formed their coalition before the last election, I would not have a problem with it. It would have been done above board and the voters would have the say whether they liked that or not. As far as the Bloc being in on it with veto power and Duceppe calling the shots as to what PM Dion can and cannot do? NO way. This little bit of history , not only of the conservative movement from Reform to the Conservative Party under Harper is good for us all to remember. Even better is the spread of support the Conservatives have across the entire country.
To have the libs, who could not gain a majority with the NDP , NEED the Bloc to overthrow a duly elected government? There is NOTHING else you can call it but a coup d'tat ! As Charles Adler calls it Coupscam. The libs are greedy weasels and Layton is a sneaky opportunist. Neither one of them care one whit about this country. They only care about power and getting their hands on the money. We all saw what happened to our money the last time the libs got the keys to the vault! There are still more than a few who belong in jail. Let's add Curly, Larry and Moe to the mix.
Stephen Harper should fill those Senate seats ASAP, Prorogue Parliament until Jan. 27 Budget. Let these miscreant vermin hold their unholy alliance together til then and bring the government down on the budget. We can all go back to the polls and slap them silly with a Conservative Majority. Beats separation and it is TIME they all got taught a real lesson in DEMOCRACY!
"Since the three idiots have decided they can just do whatever they want because they hate Stephen Harper, I guess they just proved that anything goes and you don't have to follow the rules."
Well, I won't trouble to assess Dion or Layton, but Duceppe doesn't strike me as an idiot. On the contrary, he seems to me rather clever. :) As for Harper, he might have proven too clever by half.
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