whoa!

[electricland]

via toronto: Stronach crosses floor to join Liberals

Innnnnnteresting.

Comments

[raithen.livejournal.com]

ya, my friend J said on IM -"did you hear about the shake-up in Ottawa?" I was clueless, but then was all mehy, whatever. I think I may be jaded...

[lietya.livejournal.com]

Neat!

"I cannot exaggerate how hard this was for me, but the political crisis affecting Canada is too risky and dangerous for blind partisanship." - Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm jealous. :) Politicians who see past blind partisanship!

[raithen.livejournal.com]

well, Belinda is an interesting case; i really don't know what to think, given her history. but ya. The sentiment is nice.

[electricland.livejournal.com]

What raithen said... the sentiment is nice! I may have to rethink my knee-jerk assessment of her as a total airhead.

[electricland.livejournal.com]

em, that's "rethink Belinda Stronach as total airhead", not raithen. Sorry. I'll just get back to what I'm supposed to be doing.

[brisingamen.livejournal.com]

Would someone mind unpacking this a little for a Brit who doesn't (yet) have a handle on Canadian politics?

[raithen.livejournal.com]

*snerk*

and *thbbt* ;)

my somewhat vague understanding

[raithen.livejournal.com]

canada currently has a minority gov't. The government is formed by the liberal party, because they have the MOST seats, but not enough seats to carry a majority vote. There have been calls for the liberals to resign power due to an inquiry into some spending irregularities under the last liberal gov't. The liberal party has called a budget vote for Thurs - if it passes, they stay in power. If it doesn't, they don't (it counts as a vote of confidence). Currently, the libs have formed an alliance with teh NDP, and the conservatives have formed an alliance with the bloc quebecois, leaving the vote VERY evenly balanced (152 - 150, I seem to recall) on paper. There is one independent the Libs are hoping to woo. And a couple of the conservatives have serious cancer and may not make the vote. Stronach was a Conservative, but has "crossed the floor" to say she will vote with the liberals, pushing the odds of an even vote that much higher -- a tie would be broken by the speaker of the house, who is a liberal. So basically, her actions imply that the lib gov't will stand a while longer. I think.

[raithen.livejournal.com]

in short, right now, Canadian politics currently looks like a school yard game of red rover!

[electricland.livejournal.com]

I'm ashamed of how badly I've been keeping up, but here goes.

We currently have a minority Liberal government in power, headed by Paul Martin (aka PM the PM). We also have the Gomery inquiry, which is looking into the so-called sponsorship scandal in which the previous Liberal government, headed by Jean Chretien, gave taxpayer money to Quebec ad agencies, ostensibly in aid of pro-unity, anti-separation initiatives but, as it turns out, largely to benefit major Liberal donors. (Clear so far?) The final results of the inquiry are not in yet, but we are getting earth-shattering testimony on a weekly basis.

Back in Ottawa, the official opposition Conservative party (headed by Stephen Harper) is ganging up with the separatist (and once-upon-a-time Conservative splinter group) Bloc Quebecois to try and force an election NOW NOW NOW before we get the final results of the Gomery inquiry, because those dirty dirty Liberals don't deserve to be in power one more instant. Many of us don't wish to have an election just yet, and in any case we remember some of the shenanigans the Conservatives got up to back when they were the Progressive Conservatives under Brian Mulroney, and we're all getting a little cynical. Many of us, especially in Ontario and points east, also don't trust the Conservatives much because half the party used to be the Alliance/Reform party, aka Those Right-Wing Religious Nutjobs From Out West Who Want To Privatize Everything.

*deep breath*

The Conservatives had a leadership convention last year or thereabouts, when the Progressive Conservatives merged with the Alliance. Stronach, who at that time was a complete political neophyte without a seat, ran and lost, but did get noticed as someone probably more socially liberal than a lot of the rest of the party. A few other people also ran and lost, including Peter Mackay, who Stronach is now/was until just now dating. Stephen Harper won. There's a whole lot of other complicated backroom stuff that was going on at the same time, to do with the merger, but the details are a bit hazy.

Anyway, Stronach has now crossed the floor, and from the CBC's pie chart it looks like the numbers are very very even in Parliament at the moment (the NDP, our most left-wing party, will most likely side with the Liberals).

Er, does that help? At all?

Re: my somewhat vague understanding

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, the budget vote! I really have to get myself a newspaper subscription.

[raithen.livejournal.com]

Many of us, especially in Ontario and points east, also don't trust the Conservatives much because half the party used to be the Alliance/Reform party, aka Those Right-Wing Religious Nutjobs From Out West Who Want To Privatize Everything.

hey! not ALL of us out west are nutjobs you know!! :O

Re: my somewhat vague understanding

[raithen.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, the budget vote! I really have to get myself a newspaper subscription.

perhaps! or just check cbc.ca, canada.com mini-shudeer but perspective=good and globeandmail.com regularly....

[raithen.livejournal.com]

also, what we are ALL missing in this is the bloody BC election which will now simply serve as a footnote in the national news of the day. Which is not. fair. stomps foot for poor Gordie who won't get his beloved media circus ;).

[electricland.livejournal.com]

aw, poor Gordie!

that is very, very sad.

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

Hm... it's not as if she'd joined the NDP, but... one less conservative, woo!

[electricland.livejournal.com]

actually, looks like the CBC has done a better job of it than I could. (http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/election2005/)