Coalition: Stable Government?

So I have been hearing from alot of pro-coalition people (the NDP activists in my school) that this is the best thing that can happen to Canada and that there is nothing anybody can do to stop it when the budget comes up.  When this thing first surfaced I thought that the New Libracratic Bloc had lost their mind wanting to govern during a recession.  Especially since 82% of Canadians voted to keep Jack Layton the hell away from a Cabinet seat.  

A popular counter-argument to my "the Bloc will deliberately ensure chaos ensues in all legislation while piling our cash into Quebec," is that "well, the Bloc aren't actually in the coalition."  AHA!!!  So these freaks think that it is "entirely constitutional" for the GG to hand over power to a coalition with 30 odd less seats that the Conservative caucus because the Bloc has said they will ensure they will prop it up in confidence votes for a year?  How in the world does that ensure a stable government?  It doesn't, it would be far more unstable because the grits will try to (wisely) alienate the NDP as much as possible from fiscal responsibilities.  This of course will create tension and will ultimately lead to the implosion of the coalition.

I can understand my NDP peers getting blue balls now that they have never been closer to the prospect of power and the chance to finally close the gap of state and society but only 17% of people want that.  This is after all, a democracy, have the courage to take it directly to the people.  If you know that they won't like it, try changing some actual policy.  Or you can continue celebrating each election with the ole 4th place finish.  Just remember, you were put there by the people, I dare you to circumvent their choice, you will pay.  There is nothing new about the way New Democrats do democracy, your apparently preferred way is done in several places around the world.  Places where people who seek freedom and justice come here. 

Breakdown: Everything (Liberal anyway)

I can't help but wonder if these misgivings about Dion will develop into a good ole in-house (of Commons) party breakdown.  At least there's a precedent for that.

Exactly

I think that this is right on the money.

Now as long as these jerks don't try to stage a coup from within.  I'm sure its not in anyway supported by any staff who may or may not enjoy self promotion on the internet.

What To Do Now

David Frum has some interesting ideas of the future of the political landscape.  I personally do not see a way around the government falling in the House.  So the obvious question is this: What is the best course of action in light of recent events?

The Conservatives are going to have to face the music at some point or another and the opposition sound pretty adamant in voting no confidence.  In this scenario, sooner is better than later.  No good will come out of whatever happens in the next few weeks so the emphasis should be on the long term.  So I say face the music on Monday and roll with the punches.  Frum is right, whoever comes out of this the winner will lose hard down the line.  To find the silver lining in this, it is quite probable that Dion would never even see the inside of 24 sussex due to the fact that the National Capital Commission will put up quite the fight to keep him out for renovations.  In the meantime, the Harpers move to Stornoway while the PM's residence gets modernized.  Harper has the bonus advantage of accusing Dion of using taxpayer money to better his living situation when Harper had refused.  Then as the coalition inevitably self destructs over taxes, afghanistan or shoveling Quebec cash, we are back at an election.  Except this time, Canadians will be pissed and Stephen Harper will be able to articulate exactly how the coalition has utterly screwed us, the donation money from Western Canada will be massive because lets face it, life wont be great with this prospective government.  The election will be a lock and there is a good chance that it will end in the Conservative majority that Canada needs.  Harper moves back into a fully renovated home while the Liberals probably enter into another leadership contest(at that point I will wonder whether they do this for fun).  Because after this is all over, no one is going to want to be the leader of that party.

   So there it is, the PM should opt for short term pain for long term gain.  Hell, thats basically a conservative principle in itself.

Politics of Fear and Loathing

So we are about to have a Lib-Dip-Bloc government because Canada needs immediate economic stimulus.  Never mind that GDP was up over the last quarter, or that all the other countries that we are told to model are actually in recession.  No no, Canada must follow suit and drop untold billions into the economy (sounds a tad vague).  The scariest part of this is that no one really knows what a coalition government will actually do.  Will they help the auto sector?  because unless their stimulus plan involves making Americans want to buy pickup trucks again, its not going to work.  Apparently, thats no reason to not engage in deficit financing again.  But then again, when was the last time the opposition parties actually had a viable plan for Canada anyway?  I'm getting the feeling that this coalition will simply reveal a synergetic stupidity.  Hopefully that stupidity becomes apparent before the GG even thinks about handing Dion the keys to 24 Sussex (So that he can hand them over to someone else in May).

The real irony in this is that the coalition is pushing its agenda forward under the guise of a recession and a deficit.  We now know that we are not in one and if we do go into one, its going to be pretty damn mild compared to what the rest of the western world is going through and that has a lot to do with PM Harper and the Conservative government.  The opposition is selling the idea that Canada is a broken country, they want Canadians to believe that life sucks right now and that the only answer lies in statism.  The fact is that there is no better place to be in light of current events than Canada.  But thats not what they would have you believe. 

 Looks like the ball is the GG's court, hopefully she will do the right thing (even if another election is a horrible idea).  A $300 million election would be much better than an untold billion dollar socialist experiment that will fix nothing while spending a lot of our money doing it.  On the bright side, its looking good to be in Quebec.