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本文來源：衛(wèi)報(bào)
本文字?jǐn)?shù)：699
發(fā)表日期：December 4, 2008??
所屬類別：POLITICS?

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A sad day for Canada

The political situation in Canada – coup, crisis, call it what you want – continues to take new and dramatic turns. On Thursday morning, as expected, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, seeking to avoid a confidence motion - which he would lose, given that his Conservative government only has a minority of the seats in the House of Commons - met with governor general Micha?lle Jean to ask her to prorogue, or end, the current session of Parliament. Instead of calling for another election or turning to the Liberal-New Democratic coalition (which, with support from the Bloc Qu?b?cois, holds the majority in Canada's House of Commons), Jean granted his request.

What this means is that there won't be another confidence motion until parliament resumes sitting late in January - seven weeks from now - at the earliest. The government may then lose a confidence vote on the Throne Speech, which will begin the next parliamentary session, or on the budget, but, in the meantime, both sides will campaign aggressively to woo public opinion – the Conservatives even more so given the fact that they have more money than the other parties. In other words, we're about to be sucked into an election campaign but without the election.

The key for the Conservatives will be to convince Canadians that they are in fact serious about dealing with the economic and financial crisis (and that they therefore ought to remain in power). Their reality-denying economic plan contained nothing in the way of stimulation and a lot in the way of right-wing causes (a ban on public sector strikes, anti-pay equity), including an effort to destroy the opposition parties by eliminating public subsidies, but we can be sure that what they come up with next will be generous in its vote-winning ways. To preserves themselves in power, they will promise the world.

As well, the Conservatives will seek to break apart the coalition, or at least to undermine support for it by arguing, as they have been already, that it only has a majority of seats in the House with the support of the separatist Bloc Qu?b?cois, a party that, according to Harper yesterday, does not work for the interests of Canada as a whole (even though BQ MPs were democratically elected and, whatever their views on sovereignty, represent Canadians and their interests in the House – they, as much as other MPs, have a mandate, and their votes count just as much).

The key for the Liberals and the New Democrats, as well as for the BQ (which has signed on to support their coalition into 2010), will be to remain united and determined through what promises to be a bitter and contentious campaign for public support over the next month and a half or so. It would look bad for them to split apart or back down now. But there is good reason to have little confidence in Liberal leader St?phane Dion's ability to keep them united and determined. He pales in comparison to Harper, a vastly more able and talented politician. As Dion has proved yet again this week, he is simply unable to get his message across effectively. If the recent election campaign is any guide – and there is hardly any doubt the Conservatives will resurrect their campaign playbook, with attacks on the untrustworthy Dion in juxtaposition to the supposed model of stability that is Harper – Dion and the Liberals will be overwhelmed, dividing into rival camps ahead of the party's leadership convention next spring, and the coalition will fracture.

The governor general's decision may or may not have been cowardly, but it was certainly a poor one – one that disrespects parliamentary democracy, disregards the will of a majority of MPs, and puts government on hold at this time of economic and financial crisis. Either Jean should have dissolved Parliament and called an election, or she should have given the coalition the opportunity to govern. Instead, in granting Harper's request, she has given the Conservatives exactly what they want, including a decisive advantage in the campaign to come. Basically, she has saved Harper's sorry bacon, evidently putting his interests before the interests of the country.

It is a sad, sad day for Canada.