Over the last few weeks I have received tremendous amounts of emails and phone calls. Thank you for taking the time to contact me to share your outrage and frustration with the current political situation in our country. Let me state that I share your views -- Canadians did not vote for a coalition government; rather they gave Prime Minister Stephen Harper a strengthened mandate to continue governing our country and to work on their most important priority – the economy.
In reaction to the Fiscal Update, the three opposition parties decided they would defeat the new Conservative government (just one day after unanimously approving its Speech from the Throne) and prepared to ask the Governor General to install a Liberal-NDP coalition government supported by the separatist Bloc.
Stéphane Dion was the Liberal leader who recently led his party to its worst election result in Canadian history, and was subsequently forced by his own party to announce his resignation. This has led many Canadians to ask themselves how Liberals can suggest that someone they determined was not good enough to be their own party leader, is suddenly good enough to serve as Prime Minister of Canada. Obviously, members of his own party felt the same as they asked Mr. Dion to step down as leader and acclaimed Toronto-area MP Michael Ignatieff as their interim leader.
People are also asking themselves how an unstable 114 member Liberal-NDP coalition, propped up by a separatist party, could possibly be good for Canada. Ironically, separatists in Quebec are asking the same question – how can their party simultaneously pursue the break-up of Canada while participating in its ruling coalition?
You may also recall that questions about a possible Liberal-NDP coalition came up during the last week of the recent election campaign. At that time, Dion categorically ruled out the possibility of such an arrangement, saying that NDP policies would damage the economy.
The opposition says that the need for immediate action on the economy is the reason this coalition was formed. The problem with this explanation is that a new coalition government could not possibly move as quickly as a Conservative government that has already: cut income, corporate and consumption taxes; delivered billions in liquidity to financial markets and export industries; been working with the Ontario Liberal government to avoid disaster in the auto industry; has promised to double federal infrastructure spending in 2009; and has promised to deliver its 2009-2010 Budget in January – an unprecedented two months early.
For these, and many other reasons, I do not believe the Liberals, NDP and Bloc when they say they are making this power-play for the good of Canada. Rather, I believe it is simply a thinly veiled attempt to get rid of Stephen Harper. The bottom line is that they say Harper isn’t nice to them, they don’t like him, and they will do anything to get rid of him.
Opposition politicians have the right to dislike Prime Minister Harper. But that cannot be used as justification to concoct a backroom deal to replace a government that was elected in the same way as every Canadian government before it – by the people of Canada.
Finally, if Liberals suggest this Conservative government is not legitimate because it did not receive 50% of the popular vote, I would remind them that no Liberal government in Canadian history has ever received 50% of the vote (that has only happened twice – by Conservatives in 1958 and 1984), and I can’t remember Liberals ever suggesting that the three majority governments won by Jean Chretien in 1993, 1997 and 2000 with 41.3%, 38.5% and 40.8% of the vote, respectively, were somehow less than legitimate.
For more than 140 years, despite the fact that parties almost never get 50% of the popular vote, our parliamentary system has produced stable and legitimate governments. In my view, this is not a weakness of our system. It is an enviable record of balancing three principles necessary for any successful electoral system – democracy, legitimacy and stability.
We saw the opposition parties attack this system, and a growing number of observers believe that in the long run, their actions will benefit neither themselves nor Canada. This attack on our democratic system resulted in the Prime Minister meeting with the Governor General to recommend that Parliament be prorogued or suspended until January 26. This gives us – and any interested MPs from the three national parties – the opportunity to work together to provide constructive ideas on improving our economy and what is best for Canadians. We will introduce these measures in a budget on January 27, 2009.
The Prime Minister met with Liberal Members of Parliament to discuss the Opposition’s proposals for the upcoming Budget, and we look forward to receiving proposals from other Canadians as to how to strengthen our economy.
I enjoy hearing from you. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Mark Warawa, M.P.
Langley
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minster of the Environment
