The G-G for idiots

Dec 04, 2008 18:12

The Governor-General is an appointed position, mostly ceremonial, representative of the Queen ( Read more... )

governor general

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Comments 205

binro33 December 5 2008, 14:21:56 UTC
As much as I hate Harper, he is the PM and in my book that entitles him to a chance to "stabilize the gov't". The GG made the right decision here.

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bronnyelsp December 5 2008, 14:31:15 UTC
She made a decision that will set a precedent for every Prime Minister who is ever facing a vote of non-confidence to go running to the G-G to try and get a prorogation to avoid it. Bad precedent. Bad decision.

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binro33 December 5 2008, 14:48:42 UTC
It does set a precedent, but I disagree that it is a bad one.

I'm not happy about giving Harper some breathing room, but as PM he's got the right to request it.

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bronnyelsp December 5 2008, 15:00:21 UTC
Of course he's got the right to request it, but that doesn't mean she should have given it to him.

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bronnyelsp December 5 2008, 14:32:29 UTC
To deny him, would be tantamount to admitting her choice for PM given the evidence from Oct 14th was wrong.

No, it wouldn't. It would be an acknowledgement that the situation has changed since October 14th, to whit, on October 14th Harper appeared able to command the confidence of Parliament and now he does not.

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mijopo December 5 2008, 14:54:21 UTC
Yes, precisely. allhatnocattle, as much as I appreciate your good intentions in helping out us idiots, why don't you just go back to that hilarious thing where you'd take some phrase and then post the first result you get back from a Google image search.

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allhatnocattle December 5 2008, 15:18:52 UTC
The PM stays PM until he resigns or is ordered out by the Gov-Gen, thus guaranteeing continuous government. This means that a PM who trips a non-confidence vote can have a second attempt to form a coalition government (Ted Heath tried this in 1974) or talk the rebel MPs round (John Major did this in 1993). It is absolutely necessary to successfully call a confidence vote in this case.

While the 3 stooges have a written agreement to be a tripartite coalition, able to be the sitting government, they have yet to jump the legal hoop that is absolutely necessary, being that all-important non-confidence vote. Until they do, the government stands and PM Harper remains the PM ( ... )

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bronnyelsp December 5 2008, 15:26:20 UTC
While the 3 stooges have a written agreement to be a tripartite coalition, able to be the sitting government, they have yet to jump the legal hoop that is absolutely necessary, being that all-important non-confidence vote. Until they do, the government stands and PM Harper remains the PM.

Exactly. The whole point is that Harper has prorogued Parliament (I think everyone's using these words so much we're beginning to forget what a big deal that is) in order to prevent a coalition of the opposition parties flying through this hoop with ease. In other words, he is once again underhandedly manipulating the parliamentary system to his own ends.

At which point the Gov-Gen will have the choice to ask the PM to form a coalition gov't of his own (unlikely)

UNLIKELY? You know as well as I do that it's basically impossible, and the route which is theoretically open of asking the existing government to try to carry on with a coalition is, on the current facts, irrelevent and not worth discussing.

Federal Election.And another $3 million ( ... )

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bronnyelsp December 5 2008, 16:40:22 UTC
Sadly, no, never mind. The Canadian voters have done their bit by electing their MPs. Now it is up to the MPs to try and form a government. If they fail, then the next election is called. But not until then because that leads to instability.

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bronnyelsp December 5 2008, 20:28:07 UTC
No. The people have had their role. They have democratically elected their MPs.

You're suggesting that our entire system be damned. In order to keep Harper in power.

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kdborg December 5 2008, 19:11:51 UTC
The session of Parliament prior to the October 14th election was dysfunctional. On October 14th voters sent a clear message that Parliament didn't listen to. That message was: We sent you back to work together and not rule by majority.

Unfortunately, the Harper Conservatives didn't seem to want to play nice and introduces a rather bullying bill. The opposition formed a coalition as a response. Rhetoric soared. Manufactured crisis ensued.

The Governor General, rightly or wrongly, put the breaks on Parliament. This will give tempers on all sides time to cool off. It will give the Harper Conservatives the time and opportunity to rule the way the voters wanted: cooperatively and not solely by themselves.

It is up to our elected MPs to figure out a way to work together and restore confidence in the House. More importantly, to restore confidence for the voters.

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kdborg December 5 2008, 20:53:20 UTC
I thought sifting through the facts to the current situation was needed. The MPs certainly needed to take a step back and realize what's been going on. The decision by the GG was made and probably couldn't be changed.

There was enough blame to go around and the attacks were flowing in other responses.

I do think Harper made a horrible mistake for both himself and his party. Earning a majority government with Harper in charge might be more difficult. He's isolated Quebec. Ultimately, Harper hasn't been an effective communicator of the West's issues to the East.

Dion is going/gone. I got a chuckle out of Chantal Hebert's comment last night on the National: "Cats have nine lives, Dion has nine deaths."

Layton and the NDP are damaged by this situation. That might have lost some support for the next election.

Duceppe seems like the only one who gets any advantage out of this.

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allhatnocattle December 6 2008, 02:22:44 UTC
Kiss. Smootch.
(Sorry, no tongue)

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