Of course I have an opinion on the matter of the dreaded “Political Crisis” in Canada and the matter of the Coalition in the House.
And my opinion is: the vast majority of Canadians who talked themselves past the known futility of the election process in this country did not vote for Harper. Despite what Harper wants to say about Stephan Dion’s weakness as a leader, despite what he says about the Quebeçois and their insistence on having the nerve to be heard in Parliament, and despite Harper’s fondness for whinging about Separatists and Socialists destroying the country (after trying desperately to form a coalition with the very same “separatists” himself, unsuccessfully, not six months ago–who says Harper has no sense of humour?), 65% of Canadian voters did not want a Harper government of any kind, regardless of the leader of the opposition in question.
Because our voting system isn’t actually representational, we’re stuck with a Harper minority government (truly, no one voted for his party outside of his own riding). More accurately, we’re stuck with a Harper government shored up by Mike Harris’ former Goon Squad. Let’s everyone in Ontario remind the rest of the country how much good Harris did for our economy here, shall we? From the fact that we’re still counting up the death toll, literally, from the closed hospitals and gutted public health system that failed when SARS hit the city, to the thousands dead from poisoned water when Harris privatized the water quality monitors, and to the Harris-orchestrated assassination of Dudley George when he protested the theft of his peoples’ land, contrary to a signed treaty.
A Coalition aligned against Harper’s minority government is not only not a “crisis”, it’s actually the government most Canadians elected to power. If this is the way we have to go about getting what we want in this country now (until we get to work on fixing the enormous problem we’ve got with actually representing what voters want in their ridings) then so be it. I’m all for it.
On top of that, this is what is supposed to happen in a minority government. Forming coalitions is the opposition’s job, especially if there is no confidence in the government’s agenda.
And there is no confidence.
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