yay, coalition!

[piranha]

from left to right: jack layton (NDP), stéphane dion (LIB), gilles duceppe (BQ). (i stole the picture from the CBC because it is such a pretty sight. sorry, CBC!)

today the liberals and new democrats signed an agreement to form a coalition government, with a written pledge of support from the bloc québécois.

if harper decides to prorogue the government, i hope the governor general stands up to him. and that he gets run out of town on a rail.

Comments

[necturus.livejournal.com]

Can the GG do that? I thought she was pretty much supposed to do what the PM tells her.

like everyone else subject to orders

[dubiousprospects.blogspot.com (from livejournal.com)]

those orders are constrained by the Constitution.

Since, still, 1982 notwithstanding, parts of the Canadian constitution aren't actually written down, this would be one of those judgment calls.

Proroguing parliament is what you do when you have completed the legislative agenda laid out in the throne speech; it's not what you do when you expect to lose a confidence vote.

Proroguing parliament two weeks after a throne speech in the expectation of introducing a budget less than two months later is, well, clearly against the spirit. Doing it to avoid a confidence vote without calling an election is way against the spirit. And there is the Byng precedent.

[firecat]

w00t!

[papersky.livejournal.com]

Oh look, they're all wearing World AIDS Day ribbons!

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

That's so. Thank you for showing me. Cool.

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

isn't it great? politics-wise i am often quite happy to live in canada, because a clear majority of people have their hearts in the right place.