Sunday, November 13, 2005

Two Days To Doomsday?

It could be all over for the Liberals in the next 48 hours if this afternoon's meeting of the three opposition party leaders leads to an agreement to bring down the government, CTV News reports:

Appearing on CTV's Question Period, John Reynolds, co-chair of the Conservative campaign, said there is no contradiction between his party's contention that the Liberals have lost the moral right to govern, while at the same time they attempt to delay an election until after Christmas.

"I think the leader of the NDP has made a reasonable offer to get around the whole idea of a Christmas election, although the Liberals in the past, in 1979, did not mind a Christmas election," he said, adding that his party could still defeat the government Tuesday.

However, he would not definitively say the government would be defeated Tuesday, saying that the Opposition strategy would be determined later Sunday during the leaders' meeting.


The time for parliamentary games is over. The Liberals will not accept defeat on anything other than an absolutely clear and unambiguous vote of non-confidence, with no proviso for delaying an election past the Christmas holidays.

It is not even certain that the Governor General, as a pliant appointee not noted for her knowledge of basic constitutional law, would follow constitutional convention and dissolve Parliament or call upon Stephen Harper to form a government.

The opposition cannot leave open the Liberals the smallest loophole through which to squeeze. If they do, the Liberals will blame them for playing games just to hold up the nation's business, even though the Liberals will playing the same games right along with them.

Vote them up, vote them down, but vote!

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