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[maplesyrup]

Layton alleges Tory-Bloc plot

Bid for Harper to be PM, he says

Accusation called `bizarre,' `flaky'

SUSAN DELACOURT

OTTAWA BUREAU CHIEF

OTTAWA—The high-stakes showdown looming today in Parliament is part of a plot to make Conservative Leader Stephen Harper the prime minister, NDP Leader Jack Layton says.

The allegation — dismissed by Conservative spokespeople as "bizarre" and "flaky" — came after the Tories and the Bloc launched a power-play in the Commons yesterday to force Prime Minister Paul Martin's government to change the Speech from the Throne.

The Liberals were huddling last night to assess whether the raft of proposed changes would amount to a fundamental rewriting of the Martin government's blueprint for minority rule. The choice rests with this shaky minority government to reject the changes as a threat or accept them, in whole or in part, which would in effect allow opposition parties to have a hand in designing the governing plan.

A throne speech has only been successfully changed by the opposition twice in the history of the Canadian Parliament; in 1899 and in 1951, and the changes in both cases were minimal.

The vote on the Bloc gambit takes place later today, and if Government House Leader Tony Valeri judges the proposed changes to be a sharp shift in the Liberals' chosen path, the Commons will be in a mad scramble around 6 p.m. as the three-month old government tries to hold on to its precarious control of Parliament. A loss by the Liberals in this case would amount to collapse of the Martin's barely-begun government.

The Liberals hold just 135 seats in the Commons, compared to the 154 held by the combined heft of the Conservative and Bloc opposition. Layton's NDP holds 19 seats and there is one independent, Chuck Cadman of British Columbia. Any vote would be extremely tight and a Liberal victory is not at all assured, even if the NDP sides with the government.

Layton said he recognized the amendments put forward yesterday as the product of meetings held between opposition leaders over the summer — talks he abandoned, the NDP leader said, when he realized the ultimate aim was to shortcut the electorate and put Harper into the prime minister's chair.

Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe admitted as much to him during their private conversations, as late as last week, Layton said.

The talks "included the proposition that if these amendments carried and therefore the confidence in the government was lost, the Governor General would have to turn to one of the other party leaders to form the government. Well, we all know who that would be. It would be Mr. Harper of the Conservatives. That was when I decided I was not going to play along with any risk such as that."

The NDP leader repeatedly condemned yesterday's move as a game, with nothing less than control of the federal government as the prize. "Mr. Duceppe apparently is okay with that. We certainly are not."

This wasn't supposed to happen quite so quickly. This raw grab for power will ultimately backfire on both the Cons & the separatists.

Oh, to be a fly on the wall wherever Cadman is!

And Adrienne Clarkson is going to kick some ass - and guess who's ass it is going to be? Who has been attacking her and her role?

[maplesyrup]

Gotta love this Globe poll:

Thursday, Oct. 7, 2004

Which event will happen first?

Same-sex marriage will be legalized

2394 votes (36 %)

Marijuana will be decriminalized

391 votes (6 %)

The Liberal government will be defeated

1967 votes (30 %)

NHL hockey will return

1815 votes (28 %)

Total Votes: 6567

Morning Smile

What do you call someone who gets in top physical shape without the help of a coach or performance-enhancing drugs? Self taut. -- Paul Robertson Day, Kanata, Ont.

[maplesyrup]

Better late than never, or on the other hand not

The prime minister has one excellent point, though: it's one thing to play asymmetrical footsie with the federalist, if terminally confused, government of Quebec; it is quite another for the Conservative party, born from the ashes of Reform, to plot coalitions with the barely-reformed Trotskyist Gilles Duceppe and his band of incorrigible secessionists.

Part of me wants the Liberals to fall, not out of particular animus against the current regime (cross my heart!) but because the spectacle of even a tacit Harper-Duceppe alliance would render the Conservatives radioactive in Ontario and Atlantic Canada, at the very least, for a generation, and for the life of me I can't understand why Stephen Harper, who used to be an intelligent man, can't figure that out.

It sure seems like Harper is nailing the casket shut, with his own Conservative Party inside it, by sucking up to Gilles Duceppe. What a moron Harper is, and more and more Canadians are waking up to that fact. :angry:

[maplesyrup]

Premiers exasperated at Bloc's tactics

In an interview last night, Williams said that the fiscal-imbalance problem in Canada is too important to his region to become fodder for political brinkmanship in Ottawa and certainly too serious to be resolved in a throwaway line in a throne speech, handing one province — Quebec — sole authority to sort out the solution to the equalization woes.

The Conservative premier was also annoyed at the federal Tories, getting on the phone with one MP yesterday to ask why the caucus was playing this "dangerous game" with the Bloc.

"If Conservatives voted with the Bloc on an issue like this, well, that causes me great concern."

New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord was reportedly annoyed as well, provincial sources said, making his antipathy known to the Liberal government in Ottawa and to Conservatives and the Bloc as well.

Lord's criticism on that score was significant, given that he is regularly cited as a possible federal Tory leadership contender. Putting distance between himself and the current leader, Stephen Harper, would stir up dissent in Conservative circles.

McGuinty said yesterday that radically remaking federal-provincial relations without the input of the premiers was a bad idea.

"I do not support that initiative on the part of the Bloc. We have a good process in place. It proved to be very effective at our recent meeting of the first ministers on the subject of health care," he said.

"That's how Canadians work best — when we come together and work these things out."

It is obvious that Harper's days are numbered, he can't even get the Cons premiers on board. Which a Micky Mouse operation this new Cons party is.

Martin brought on the problem but Harper's solution a raw unsupoported attempt to grab power has backfired on him. These 2 clowns deserve each other.

[maplesyrup]

Scrambling for the pole position

If Canada doesn't act to protect the arctic territory it lays claim to with an active military presence, it's going to lose it

By MICHAEL HARRIS -- For the Ottawa Sun

How do you like the sound of this: the True North Strong and Free for the asking?

If you're laughing, you shouldn't be. Even the fatted capons of the Liberal Party, whose idea of the Far North is Mont Tremblant, seem to have finally realized that decades of folksy neglect have weakened Canada's sovereignty claims over the Arctic Archipelago. This week's speech from the throne put arctic sovereignty high on the agenda of the new government. It may already be a case of loss of ownership through dereliction.

Vast, rich territory

 

How tragic. Consider what this vast, beautiful, and rich territory holds in its largely uninhabited expanses of ice, sea, and tundra: Half of the undeveloped oil and gas reserves of Canada, 10% of the world's fresh water, a potentially huge commercial fishery, diamonds and other untapped mineral deposits, stunningly distinctive wildlife, and an indigenous people who depend on the unique ecosystem of the North for their livelihood.

And there is one more thing. With the accelerated disappearance of arctic ice and improvements in ice-strengthened bulk carriers, the Northwest Passage could become one of the richest maritime trade routes on the planet. (Some scientists are predicting an ice-free Arctic in 50 years.) That's why the Americans challenged our sovereignty over these waters in 1969 with the voyage of the Manhattan. They wanted to show that an ice-strengthened tanker could ship petroleum products from Alaska to the eastern United States using a safe and secure new route. For those of you who like numbers, the Northwest Passage also cuts off 7,000 km from the current Europe-Asia route through the Panama Canal.

Although the Americans and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) are supportive of Canada's land claims in the High North, (in 1933 the ICJ ruled that a country did not have to occupy all the territory to claim sovereignty), Canada's unilateral claim that the Northwest Passage is an "internal Canadian waterway" has never been accepted by either the United States or the European Union. They see this 16,000-km route through the Arctic as an "international strait," which is why several countries haven't bothered to seek our permission before navigating the passage. The issue has never been adjudicated by an international court

This Canadian Arctic sovereignty is one area one would think that political parties of all persuasions could put aside their silly macho jockeying, and work on together for the good of all Canadians.

[maplesyrup]

House pulls back from brink

NDP Leader Jack Layton blasted the other leaders for having waited until the last minute to avert the collapse of the government.

“The three guys who made the mess and took us to the brink went and sorted out their little mess, and the House of Commons can continue to work, which we suggested all along,” Mr. Layton said. “Let's hope we don't have daily examples of this kind of brinkmanship and game-playing.”

However, Mr. Layton also acknowledged that the move by the Conservatives and the Bloc would likely make the Liberals negotiate more extensively with the opposition parties in the future.

“Let's hope Mr. Martin has learned something, which is he has to start talking to people from the other parties. He doesn't have a majority government,” Mr. Layton said.

The only one coming out of this with a clean bill of health is Jack Layton.

The other three leaders have egg all over their face. Duceppe for trying to engineer the Conservatives into government with no Quebec MPs, an ideal Bloc situation, Harper for his desparate attempt to grab power for the Conservatives, unsupoported by the electorate, and Martin for his arrogance for acting like he has a majority.

It looks like Layton's 20 years experience in municipal politics is already paying off in spades.

Whose brilliant idea was it to make Tony Valeri the House Leader?

[maplesyrup]

Plots and rumours enveloped the Hill

Intesestin' to see the Liberals mistake a legitimate family medical emergency for disloyality. Typical Liberal arrogance.

[maplesyrup]

Clarkson follows tense Commons vote

I am looking forward to the time wher the government is defeated, and Adrienne will wield the power, and she will say to Stephen, sorry pal, you are not going to become pm, I am calling a Canadawide general election.

[maplesyrup]

Undaunted, Liberals push legislative agenda

Well all of Canada knows who backed down, who blinked first, don't we!

[Big Blue Machine]

I say give the Liberals 1 and half to 2 years in office THEN bring down the house.

[Newfie Canadian]

It all depends on the order of the bills to be introduced.

There is a real opportunity to get things done, but if the Liberals let success (if it happens) go to their heads and try something silly, the government will fall.

[playfullfellow]

I agree with Newf here, if the Liberals get all swollen headed, they will be brought down. The last few days may have been just posturing and strutting around but it was also a show from the Cons and PQ that they won't take any BS from the Liberals either. The NDP want to look like they are the moderate ones so they will not rock the boat. I think that this will be a good time to introduce a bill on free votes. Lets see if Martin meant that he would democracise our parliament, I doubt it to be honest.

[maplesyrup]

I agree with Newf here, if the Liberals get all swollen headed, they will be brought down. The last few days may have been just posturing and strutting around but it was also a show from the Cons and PQ that they won't take any BS from the Liberals either. The NDP want to look like they are the moderate ones so they will not rock the boat. I think that this will be a good time to introduce a bill on free votes. Lets see if Martin meant that he would democracise our parliament, I doubt it to be honest.

PFF.....I agree. The less party poltics are involved the better off Canadians will all be.

Now the trick is how do we get people to abolish their roles and functions, and just represent their constituents, as most of the time they want to grow and grow.

[maplesyrup]

Federal parties in talks to avoid confidence vote

What tripe!

The government, and the government alone decides what is a confidence vote, and what is not.

And oh yah, why don't the authors of these articles or the editors have the cahones to put their names down on the byline, eh? What cha fraid of boys & girls?

[maplesyrup]

Another Commons showdown avoided

Who do they think they are kidding, eh?

[Slavik44]

Another Commons showdown avoided

Who do they think they are kidding, eh?

Boy nothing gets past you does it?

[Big Blue Machine]

This government isn't going to last long if we kepp having close-ones.

[maplesyrup]

It is nice to see the other mainstream political parties come to their senses, and learn from the Layton New Democrats no car-crash approach to this minority government and no confidence votes.

[maplesyrup]

Star Wars heading to our House of Commons for a vote. This should be a real hoot as all the Carroll Parishes of the Canadian world will be united.

PM okays missile vote in House

[Big Blue Machine]

It should be a free vote on missle defence.

[maplesyrup]

Copps: Martin wanted to scrap Canada Health Act

Sheila's book should prove to be a hoot.

Gee it looks like PM Martin is goin' to be right up there with lyin' Brian.