Is this who Canadians want to govern them?

December 01, 2008

 

It’s tough to tell if the actions of Canada’s opposition parties in the last week are more of a threat to Canada’s economy or to our democracy.
 
Six weeks ago, Canadians from coast to coast participated in a five week long general election campaign. Millions of Canadians took the time to engage in the campaign and decide on which party and which leader they believed should lead us through this time of global economic uncertainty. The result of the election was clear - a strengthened Conservative minority government led by our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper (who happens to be an economist).
 
Parliament was recalled two weeks ago and just last Thursday the opposition parties passed our Throne Speech, which laid out the Conservative plan to govern our country during difficult economic times.  On the same day our Finance Minister presented his Economic and Fiscal Update.
 
When it became clear that the opposition found certain elements of our Economic Update unacceptable, we moved to significantly amend it to remove the irritants that they had identified. For instance, when we proposed to remove taxpayer funding for political parties, the opposition went ballistic. We believe that Canadians, through voluntary contributions, should fund political parties; however we’ve now committed to campaigning on that issue whenever the next election comes in order to allow Canadians to have their say on the matter.  We’ve also announced that the next federal budget, complete with a fully costed and fully considered fiscal stimulus package will be delivered in the House of Commons on January 27th - the earliest possible date after the House of Commons winter recess.
 
In spite of our willingness to make changes, it is now clear that the Liberals and the NDP, working in coalition with the separatist Bloc Quebecois, intend to try to defeat us and ask the Governor General to let them govern. While it is the right of the opposition to defeat a minority government, Canadians are just now waking up to the fact that the opposition parties intend to take control of the levers of government without the consent of Canadians through a democratic election.
 
In the recent election, Stéphane Dion and the Liberal Party of Canada had their worst showing since Confederation. Mr. Dion immediately announced his intention to resign as soon as a new leader could be found, because his leadership had failed to connect with Canadians.  The NDP finished in last place among parties with seats in the House of Commons. Even in competitive ridings like ours, they failed to inspire British Columbians and went back to Ottawa in fourth place.  And during the campaign, the Liberals vigorously campaigned against a coalition with the NDP. They rightly concluded that the NDP’s economic policies would be a disaster for Canadian families and businesses.  And it gets worse: the Liberal-NDP alliance will be propped up by a party that wants to tear Canada apart. Is this who Canadians want to govern them?
 
Things seem to change hourly, however, as I write this, the opposition parties have just committed to imposing their unholy alliance on Canadians. The voters have rejected them at the ballot box, but they are trying to find a way to take power through the back door.

Unless Canadians can convince them otherwise, it would appear as though the opposition parties are not willing to face the electorate, but are instead preparing to install a Prime Minister, Stéphane Dion, with Jack Layton with his hands on the purse strings and Gilles Duceppe calling the shots from the sidelines.
 
It’s not too late for them to change their minds, but they’d have to start putting the interests of Canadians first – and with what I’ve seen in the last week, let’s just say I’m not holding my breath.

Randy Kamp, MP
Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission
MP Column