Ilya Shaprio at Cato@Liberty writes(Woe Canada!:
And here’s the short version of what’s gone down to upset the applecart: In a new fiscal program unveiled last week, PM Harper announced, among other things, cuts to public funding of political parties and restrictions on public sector unions’ right to strike. The opposition would have none of this and quickly arranged what in other circumstances might be a called a palace coup: Liberal leader Stephane Dion (already a lame duck after leading his party to its worst showing ever), citing the Conservatives’ failure to prepare for a recession (nevermind that Canada’s economy grew in the third quarter, and by more than it has all year), agreed on a tripartite deal with the NDP and Bloc that would oust the Tory government.
A “palace coup”?
I think not.
I know that folks in the US aren’t well versed in the ways of parliamentary democracy, but if the PM and his government lose the confidence of a majority of parliament, a new government can be formed. Indeed, it is a constitutional prerogative of that majority to form the government (with, perhaps, a snap election having first been called, depending on the precise constitutional parameters of the given country). I recognize the Shapiro likely knows this (and does qualify his statement with “in other circumstances”), but please, this is inflammatory language at best and certainly poor analysis. (And he isn’t the only one throwing the word “coup” around–see this HuffPo piece).
Likewise, his focus on the Bloc Quebecois misses the point of the situation, as does this description from the end of the post:
The bottom line: Canada is having a bit of a constitutional crisis, the most likely result of which is an unstable governing coalition composed of liberals, socialists, and socialist separatists.
The thing is, the constitutional crisis is not because of the nature of the coalition challenging Harper, it is because Harper managed to get the Governor General to prorogue parliament which will delay a no confidence vote that will, once taken, oust him from his office.
h/t: Scott Lemieux@LGM
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My guess is that the “separatists” become a bit less separatist by having staked their name to a federal coalition government (even if they will have no seats in cabinet). In that sense, it is not clear that this isn’t a good thing for Canadian unity.
The Conservatives have been playing footsie with the Bloc for years. They just have never made a public accord with them.
I prefer the transparency of the proposed coalition, any day.
And, sadly but not surprisingly, the Canadian press is also tossing around words like coup, banana republic, and overturning an election.
Harper, with all this disparaging of “separatists,” has probably ruined any hopes he might have had of either working with the BQ (if he is able to remain in office) or of his own party retaining its recent momentum in Quebec in the case of a new election.
Oh, and the NDP is not socialist. Nor is the BQ.
Reply to MSS
Comment by MSS — Thursday, December 4, 2024 @ 5:12 pm
I predict that the CATO Institute will drift soundly to the right over the next few years, as the need to fight Evul Librulz overrides any animosity towards the Bush administration. And also that a surprising number of Bushites will end up there, despite the alleged ‘libertarian orthogonality’ of that place.
Not as many as at Heritage/Hoover/AEI, of course.
Reply to Barry
Comment by Barry — Friday, December 5, 2024 @ 4:22 pm