Dec. 4, 2008 © Remie Geoffroi

So obviously, the big news in politics this week is the possibility that the government of Canada might be defeated on a confidence motion, possibly ushering in the first coalition government in over 90 years.  The fact that 114 Liberal and NDP MPs want to take the reins of government from 147 Conservative MPs is seen as a side issue because the Lib/NDP secured the vote of the Bloc’s 47 MPs (for now).  Let’s repeat that so the absurdity can be apparent: a smaller group of MPs than the sitting government is counting on the votes of a party whose stated aim is the dissolution of Canada in order to elevate them to the position of government.  While this is all legal under Canada’s Westminster system, you have to wonder about the dubious morality of it (oh, sorry – forgot we were talking about the Liberals… won’t mention morals again).  And all of this is aside from the fact that only 6 weeks ago, these three parties were denied the role of government by the Canadian voters.  Dion, lame-duck leader of the Liberals, was quoted during the campaign for the recent election as saying he would not form a coalition with Layton, who he described as “not understanding the economy”.  In spite of this, Dion appears to be willing to set that aside and award Layton the position of Minister of Industry.  Smilin’ Jack’s just pleased as punch to be as close as he’s ever going to get to actually running the country.

That’s not all Dion’s willing to set aside in his all-consuming quest to be Prime Minister.  Remember, this is the man who wrote the Clarity Act, defining under what terms Quebec would be allowed to leave Canada, and what the legal run-up to that would have to be.  His raison d’être in Ottawa is to champion federalism.  And yet, in his rush to 24 Sussex, he’s made a deal with Gilles Duceppe that not only sets Quebec above the other provinces, but essentially grants veto power to secessionists in return for their solemn and entirely sincere promise not to defeat his shaky coalition for 1½ years.

So what abominable act could have caused two federalist parties to hop between the sheets with the separatists?  Another Afghanistan vote?  A budget?  More surveillance authority and police power?

No, the reason they are absolutely forced to defeat the government this time, having declined to do so over Afghanistan, or global warming, or budgets 2006, 2007 ot 2008, is on account of the fall update. Nothing bespeaks the fierce urgency of now so much as an annual statistical review.

Again, the commentariat is as of one maddened mind. How could the government be so blind? Can it not see that unemployment has soared to 6.2%? Why, that’s four-tenths of a percentage point above its recent, thirty-year low. And what about Canadians’ fears of losing their home, what with the proportion of mortgages more than 90 days in arrears standing at an all-time record 0.2%? Okay, it’s an all-time record low, but still. When will it realize there’s a Depression on? Or coming? Or quite possible, certainly, in other countries.

While this laissez-faire, do-nothing government contents itself with spending more than any government in the history of Canada — 25% more, after inflation and population growth, than at the start of the decade — and pumping tens of billions of dollars into the banking system, what Canadians demand is “stimulus.” And stimulus, we all know, in a sophisticated, 21st century economy, can be delivered in only one way: by hiring large numbers of unionized men to dig holes in the ground (see “infrastructure.”) Loosening monetary policy doesn’t count. Tax cuts don’t count. It only counts as “stimulus” if the government spends it.

Or rather, it only counts as stimulus if a Liberal government spends it. The Tories have already promised to deliver billions more in “stimulus” in the next budget. But that’s, like, 58 days from now.

Andrew Coyne’s whole article is worth reading, especially:

Faced with the unreasonable and extreme proposal that they raise funds in the same way as the Conservatives have been doing for years — by asking people for their money, rather than taking it from them — they really had no alternative but to seize power. What on earth were they supposed to do? Revamp their moribund fund-raising organizations? Find a message and a leader capable of motivating large numbers of Canadians to click the “donate” button on their websites? Get off their collective duffs? What were the Tories thinking?

No. No, the sensible, restrained, pragmatic thing to do when threatened with the loss of subsidy is to take down the government.

Also good reading:

• Ezra Levant: Canadians want nothing to do with Ottawa’s revolt of the defeated
• Kelly McParland: Dion stumbles, Duceppe says it all — coalition is good for separatists
• Prof. Luc Juillet: How will the Governor-General make her decision?
• Cam Cardow: The backroom
• PM Stephen Harper‘s address to the country

Obviously, I’m disgusted with the Liberals (that’s nothing new) and the NDP over making a gigantic mountain over a molehill.  I’m also a little peeved at Harper’s timing with the withdrawal of the per vote subsidy.  While I agree that it has to go, it was mean-spirited for the only party that actually has money in the bank to threaten to remove the $1.95/vote.  It should have been removed gradually, allowing the other parties to ramp up their own fundraising efforts.  Anything else just looks like vindictiveness.  Sure the PCs stand to lose more income (because they had the most votes), but because of their fiscal position, they’re also the most able to absorb the loss.

That said, all the original reasons for the coalition forming have since been dropped or significantly amended.  The subsidy is back in, the budget will be delivered a month early (just after the inauguration of Barack Obama, whose economic policies certainly should inform Canada’s fiscal priorities) and the Tories are still spending taxpayer money like it’s going out of style.  That the coalition persists after these concessions is evidence that it only ever existed to propel the Libs and NDP back to what they consider their rightful place at the head of the country.  The naked ambition displayed by all parties should dismay Canadians of all political flavours, but the decision of two avowed federalist parties to sign a deal handing effective control of the country to separatists is beyond even the usual dirtiness of politics.  My hope is that, as expensive as it would be, Her Excellency Michaëlle Jean will drop the writ on this rabble so Canadians can once and for all settle the matter.  Democratically, in all senses of the word.

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