Canadian government to fall

[Ninot]

All that, and they would implement strict diets of Poutine only!

[Richelieu]

U2 are in town tonight and i couldn't get a ticket. Life sucks.

[Ben Kenobi]

Ah, yet another election. If the NDP hangs around to topple the Liberals then I will be very happy. I've been waiting for an election since the summer.

Why shoot for nothing? Shoot for a Conservative majority government as social liberals and fiscal conservatives are poorly served by the fiscally and socially Liberal party.

The problem with the separatists is the same as the Canadas used to have when they unite. You get a solid block of one party, that cannot get a majority, but also manages to deny any other party a majority.

[Richelieu]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
manages to deny any other party a majority.

How so?

[Ben Kenobi]

You get a block of 50 or so votes out of 300 that sometimes ends up being more then the margin between the conservatives and the liberals. Back then, you had a block of 40 or so Bleus that were not enough for a majority in 150 seats, but enough so that all the governments were minorities.

[Richelieu]

Quebec accounts for 75 votes out of 308. It cannot deny any party a majority.

[St Leo]

Originally posted by Richelieu
Anyone for a friendly bet over Belinda's chances of being re-elected?

She's a shoe-in. She barely beat the Liberal candidate last time around. Now, she's a Liberal incumbent in a traditionally Liberal riding, and she's made a name for herself.

What kind of wager? Avatar?

[Richelieu]

Originally posted by St Leo

Originally posted by Richelieu
Anyone for a friendly bet over Belinda's chances of being re-elected?

She's a shoe-in. She barely beat the Liberal candidate last time around. Now, she's a Liberal incumbent in a traditionally Liberal riding, and she's made a name for herself.

What kind of wager? Avatar?

Wouldn't be fair to you: i can only have the Poly default avatars.

And i agree with you that she has made a name for herself. Just what kind of a name is the question.

[joncha]

No, Richelieu, it would be unfair to you. He won't have to pay for PLUS.

[joncha]

And fall the government has.

MPs topple Liberal government, trigger election
Last Updated Mon, 28 Nov 2005 19:01:42 EST
CBC News

The opposition parties banded together Monday to defeat the Liberal minority government and set the stage for an election that is expected to culminate in a mid-January vote.
Paul Martin gives a thumbs-up as he receives applause in the House of Commons.

In a 171 to 133 vote, the House passed an historic no-confidence motion exactly one year and five months after Canadian voters elected the Liberals.

Prime Minister Paul Martin will now have to go see Governor General Michaëlle Jean Tuesday morning and ask her to dissolve Parliament.

As the vote was conducted, parliamentarians stood up to applaud MPs who will not be running in the next election.

The Liberal defeat marks the first time a government has fallen on a straight motion of no-confidence in Parliament.

Other minority governments have been forced into elections after losing budget votes or censure motions interpreted as loss of confidence.

Last week, Opposition Leader Stephen Harper officially tabled the motion of no-confidence which read: "That this House has lost confidence in the government."

The Liberals have 133 seats, followed by the Conservatives with 98, the Bloc Quebecois with 53 and the NDP with 18. There are four seats held by Independents and two are vacant.

According to a poll conducted by Environics Research for the CBC, 35 per cent of decided voters said they would vote Liberal. The Conservatives came in at 30 per cent and the NDP were picked by 20 per cent.

With a margin of error +/- 2.5%, 19 times out of 20, the poll puts the Liberals and Conservatives at a virtual dead heat.

Federal elections have to be held on a Monday and the campaigns have to be at least 36 days long. Martin is expected to call for a slightly longer campaign, setting the vote for mid-January, either the 16th or the 23rd, with an agreement among the parties to take a holiday break and stop campaigning between Dec. 23 and Jan. 3.

An eight-week campaign would be the longest the country has seen in two decades.

The last time a government fell at the hands of the opposition was Joe Clark's Conservative government in 1979.

Monday's vote means a number of bills will die on the order paper, among them an act to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana and an animal cruelty bill.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/11/28/noconfidencevote051128.html

[Max Webster]

Why an election now, wait for spring. Quit fighting amongst yourselfs and actually do something for the country.
Bastards. The decriminalize small amounts of marijuana bill will be squashed now.

I'm voting liberal just out of spite.

[notyoueither]

Martin already caved to the Yanks and shelved that bill.

[Max Webster]

No he didn't. The article above says it was still on the table.

[notyoueither]

That bill would have still been on the order paper if this Parliament lasted til 2059.

The Liberals said 'let's do this', and Uncle Sam said 'over our closed border' and then the Liberals said 'ummm, yeah, send that one to committee'.

[notyoueither]

It didn't help your cause that members of the ruling party lose no chance to stick a finger in the eyes of those in power in Washington.

We want Softwood, and pot, and we leave the clowns in power who tell the Yanks where to stick their Strategic Missile Defence. Except they don't say that, they make weak noises for a long time and then spring it on the Yanks at a conference.

I notice that Caroline Parish got an ovation from the Liberals when she voted that she has 'confidence' in Paul Martin's government. At what point did she gain this confidence in the government she got **** canned from and said she would like to see fall?

You, and everyone else, seem to think these things are not connected.

Ha!