Canpol: Election Imminent?

[KrazyHorse]

NDP does not make gay marriage votes free. Neither do the Conservatives, I think. Not sure about BQ

[joncha]

From the Globe and Mail:

The NDP has offered to pull one or more of its MPs on Thursday so that MPs battling cancer can miss the vote without affecting the final result. Conservative House Leader Jay Hill said the party will consider the offer, which is called pairing.

But Mr. Harper said he would prefer that the ailing MPs be allowed to cast their own votes.

So much for that argument.

[Ben Kenobi]

Neither do the Conservatives, I think.

False, conservative MPs did vote against the gay marriage bill.

[KrazyHorse]

Wasn't sure on that one.

EDIT: what? What are you saying. Which gay marriage bill? Are you saying that some voted for it or that some voted against the "amendment" to it?

[Ben Kenobi]

Liberals are vaguely split on the issue, and the votes on gay marriage are free votes, so members can vote as they like without fear of party discipline.

Off the top of my head, 38 Liberals voted against the bill, and 135 total.

[KrazyHorse]

Uh...isn't that what I said?

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
3 major parties for, 1 against.

Liberals are vaguely split on the issue, and the votes on gay marriage are free votes, so members can vote as they like without fear of party discipline.

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
NDP does not make gay marriage votes free. Neither do the Conservatives, I think. Not sure about BQ

Actual Conservative policy is a bit more complicated.

They want free votes in Parliament to define marriage and are hostile to the courts doing so. So, they are not out an out against same-sex marriage.

However, as a government the official line would be against while leaving individual Tory MPs free to vote for same-sex marriage legislation of other parties and against government legislation that would role back recent court decisions.

There are some implications of their policy if they were government, but hypothetical Tory MPs from Quebec (or elsewhere) being forced to vote against same-sex marriage is not one of them. In short, they are never going to be able to pass anything rolling the clock back.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by joncha
So much for that argument.

So the remaining argument would be why wait til next Thursday?

Curiously enough, one reason may be the Queen's visit to Alberta and Saskatchewan. She arrives early in the week (if she still comes, I wouldn't be surprised if the Palace cancels over the weekend depending on press coverage of the 'crisis').

The Queen doesn't 'do' elections.

Edit: Ed Broadbent

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Richelieu
Quebecers have given up on the Liberals and their corruption long ago and the Conservatives are too far to the right to be considered. We're not talking about the centrist PC of olds here: these are the BK kind of guys. This will not fly here.

Why do you assume that Tories elected from Quebec would be 'BK kind of guys'?

[notyoueither]

http://www.canada.com/news/national/story.html?id=0b148756-9477-47f8-ae50-c5fb20004aaa

Liberals cling to power as week in Commons ends in bitterness

Terry Pedwell
Canadian Press

Friday, May 13, 2005

OTTAWA (CP) - With the clock ticking toward an unequivocal confidence vote that could bring down the minority government, the House of Commons came to an undignified halt again Friday with the Conservatives comparing Paul Martin's Liberals to "monsters."

Still clinging to power, the Liberals remain under siege from an opposition frustrated in all its attempts to force an election. For a third consecutive day, the Conservatives won a motion - in a 138-57 vote - to shut the House down early.

The Commons has been at a virtual standstill all week as the Opposition tied business up in procedural votes and motions to adjourn.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper decried what he called seedy Liberal tactics, saying his father once told him: "Be careful when you fight a monster, lest you yourself become a monster."

"We have people (in government) who are prepared to hold votes so that sick people can't attend."

Harper was referring to B.C. MP Darrel Stinson, who is suffering from cancer and must have surgery Wednesday, the day before the Liberal-scheduled budget vote.

A spokesman for the prime minister condemned Harper's comments.

"Calling people monsters . . . is a funny way of being gracious," said Scott Reid.

"His performance was a little bit like school in the summertime - pretty short on class."

Adding to the puzzle of how the crucial budget vote will go, the NDP said it would absent one of its members from the vote to cancel out Stinson's absence.

It's a parliamentary tradition known as "pairing."

"What we're proposing is to try and help any individual parliamentarian, for example, if someone is facing surgery," said NDP Leader Jack Layton.

"That's why pairing was invented. It was to allow these humanitarian concerns to come into play."

NDP MP Ed Broadbent, a former NDP leader, has offered to stay away when the vote is called.

Harper called it a "very generous and honourable offer."

"I do appreciate it," Harper said after telling reporters he called Stinson and told him to stay home "for the sake of his health."

Another former NDP leader, Halifax MP Alexa McDonough, also volunteered to give up her vote.

She made a similar gesture to a Conservative member of the legislature in Nova Scotia in the 1990s, when the provincial Tory minority faced a possible non-confidence motion.

"If members of Parliament can't set partisanship aside to address this kind of situation, then there really is no civility left in politics," she said.

The Liberals said they, too, would consider absenting Natural Resources Minister John Efford, who is also ill but had said he could be there for the vote.

Martin said the Liberals have offered to pair with Stinson.

"I think we're waiting to hear back from Mr. Harper but we've already made the offer," he said Friday evening before meeting with constituents in his Montreal riding.

However, Public Works Minister Scott Brison said he opposes the notion of giving up a vote for an ill MP.

"Any vote, some people can be there, some people can't be there," Brison said in Halifax.

"That's the case whether it's health or personal issues . . . those are a fact of life for any vote."

The House is so evenly divided on the budget vote that no one can predict the outcome.

With the Tories and Bloc co-operating, they hold 153 votes against; the Liberal-NDP collaboration gives them 150 for, leaving the three Independents in a powerful position.

Two of them are former Liberals, and were expected to vote with the government.

But there were signs Friday the Conservatives could gain the upper hand in the high-stakes political poker.

Former Liberal David Kilgour says he's unhappy with an aid package Martin announced for Darfur, and he may not support the budget.

Another seriously ill B.C. MP, Independent Chuck Cadman, who could cast the deciding vote, is hinting he may oppose it.

He said his constituents are split on whether there should be an election but he personally feels something has to change.

"Right now the Parliament is so dysfunctional, people are just so upset," he said in a telephone interview from his home riding.

"The people's business isn't being done at all."

Cadman was preparing to fly to Ottawa on Sunday and be in the House for Thursday's showdown.

If the Liberals are defeated on the budget vote, the government would fall, triggering an election as soon as June 27.

When the ill-tempered week ended, all the procedural manouevring had one veteran Liberal close to tears.

Longtime Liberal MP Don Boudria, who has said he won't run again, was outraged that he was prevented from giving a farewell address the Commons. Boudria's wife and some former staff were in the gallery waiting to listen.

Outside the Commons, a teary-eyed Boudria described the partisan jockeying as "a touch meaner" than anything from his own rough-tumble past.

© The Canadian Press 2005

Monsters?

Would it be too much to ask that leaders have an ability to deliver oratory?

Oh, where have they all gone?

[notyoueither]

Oh ****. can we shoot these bastards now?

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1116036110890_17/?hub=TopStories

Volpe asks RCMP to investigate two Tory MPs
CTV.ca News Staff

Federal Immigration Minister Joe Volpe has asked the RCMP and Federal Ethics Commissioner to investigate two Conservative MPs, CTV News has learned.

CTV Ottawa bureau chief Robert Fife reports that Volpe is alleging the two MPs offered to help immigrants in return for money.

In the first case,ýVolpe has asked the RCMP to investigate allegations that Alberta Tory MP Deepak Obhrai accepted $20,000 from his estranged brother-in law to help him get into Canada.

"I had some information that came to my hands and I handed it off to the same authorities," said Volpe.

Obhrai said his brother-in-law's allegations are false, and that the immigration minister is exploiting a family tragedy for political gain.

The man is married to the sister of Obhrai's wife.

"The bottom line is, he's making these allegations so he wants my sister-in-law to come back," Obhrai told CTV News.

The brother-in-law, who has since returned to India, has a restraining order against him in Canada for allegedly beating his wife and family.

The wife, who met with the ethics commissioner on Friday, said her husband fabricated the story.

"It is all a lie," Laxmi Anand told CTV News. "My brother-in-law didn't take any money from us. My ex-husband is saying everything is a lie because he wants me back."

Second claim

Volpe also has claimed that Surrey Tory MP Gurmant Grewal asked his B.C. constituents to post bonds of up to $100,000 in exchange for his help in obtaining temporary visas.

"I just left it off to the Ethics Commissioner and the RCMP for them to deal with it and I'll leave it at that," said Volpe.

Grewal denies he took money.

"Money is not a factor at all. No one has been asked to pay or deposit any money any where," he told CTV News.

Conservative campaign chair John Reynolds says the Liberals are using the police to smear the party.

"I'm absolutely ashamed that a minister of the government would go against other MPs, bringing in the RCMP and wasting taxpayers' dollars," he said.

Fife reports that the Liberals leaked the information to CTV, even though most ministerial referrals to the RCMP are kept confidential

With a report from CTV's Ottawa bureau chief Robert Fife

[Fake Boris]

And there's a guy named Fife

[notyoueither]

Barney was very good at keeping the peace.

[Odin]

Man, and I thought Election 2000 here was bad; you guys are in a real clusterf*ck.

[notyoueither]

It's a real SNAFU.