Canadian Government Refuses To Resign

Photo: Reuters

Canada´s Prime Minister Paul Martin says he will treat next week´s budget vote as a motion of confidence in his government. Leader of the Conservative Party, Stephen Harper, accuses Martin of delaying a non-confidence vote in hopes that failing health will reduce Tory numbers and preserve his minority government.

BBC: Canada to hold vote on government

Wednesday, 11 May, 2005

Canada's embattled Prime Minister Paul Martin says he will treat next week's budget vote as a motion of confidence in his government.

If the budget fails, Mr Martin says he will dissolve parliament, triggering general elections in June.

The opposition has been pressing for a confidence motion. The government refused to resign after losing a key censure vote on Tuesday.

The government - which lost the vote by 150 votes to 153 - rejected calls for it to stand down, saying the matter was not a formal confidence issue.

Governments in Canada have to resign if they are defeated in the House of Commons in a formal vote of confidence or over key legislative matters such as the federal budget.

Mr Martin has been fighting to save his minority government, with the opposition Conservative Party and Bloc Quebecois increasingly pushing for an early election.

Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper demanded a confidence vote as soon as possible.


MINORITY GOVERNMENT:

• Liberal Party: 132 MPs
  
• Conservative Party: 99 MPs
  
• Bloc Quebecois: 54 MPs
  
• New Democratic Party: 19 MPs
  
• Independents: 3 MPs
  
• Vacant: One seat
  

BBC: Profile: Paul Martin

As a non-Canadian I really have no idea what to say here. Comments?

Related ATS-threads:
Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin to address nation on tv
Canadian Minority Government
Early Election in Canada: Quebecs ticket to leave

Mod edit: converted old quote tags to the new ex tags

[edit on 2006/7/7 by Hellmutt]

Nothing i can say about that , only hope that Canadiens still think of England as we still love you.

I would have preferred not to have the election until after the Gomery Inquiry had tabled their report, probably the end of the year. But I don't think I'm going to get what I want. The Bloc and the Conservatives want to bring the Liberals down, and they are not going to stop until an election is called.

At this point, absolutely nothing is going to get accomplished by the government. Until an election happens, they are all just going to sit around scheming and plotting, and taking shots at each other. They act like a bunch of kindergarten kids. All of them. They had to cut the VE day trip to Holland short because of this fighting. Of all days, you think they would try not to screw that one up. It's kind of important.

It's too bad the (sort of) funny part didn't make the news. After Martin said 'sorry, not today boys', the Conservatives tabled another motion, to adjourn Parliament for a day to get back at them. The Liberals voted it in and went home.

As for the legalities, I haven't seen the actual wording of the motion passed, so I can't offer an opinion on that. The opposition party can attach something to a bill saying the government does not have the confidence of the house,and bring the government down, but it has to be laid out pretty specifically. I don't know if it was or not.

I think they are all being stupid, and I think this may turn some people off the Conservatives, because they have forced the issue. We have no good choices for a government, and it will probably come down to who is the lesser of two evils. It will be a nasty, ugly campaign.

This man could very well be the most popular person in Ottawa. Meet Chuck Cadman:




First off, yes that is an earring and if you look close you will see his ponytail, which is close to a foot long. He's not your average politician.

Of the three MP's who were absent for this vote, two were Liberals, and the third, Chuck Cadman, is an Independant. I don't know why the Liberal MP's weren't there, but Chuck Cadman has been unable to attend Parliament because he is undergoing chemotherapy. In addition to this, he was attending a family funeral on the day of the vote.

He is flying back for the vote next week, but will not say what he plans to do. In the past, he supported Martin in his plan to call an election after the Gomery Report, but I don't know if that is still his plan. He said that by watching it from home, he has gained a greater understanding of why Canadians are so sick of all of them.

The irony in Cadman being so important right now is this: he was the incumbent Conservative MP in his riding, until the party went after the ethnic vote (very important in that riding) and stacked the party with new members. Cadman lost the Conservative party nomination, announced he was running as an independant and sailed on to win with the greatest of ease.

He is a well-known member of the community and has the respect of a lot of people. He is an everyday guy who is in politics for the right reasons, and knows that a politicans job is to look out for the citizens. Cadman got involved with victims-rights groups and justice reform after his 16 year-old son was killed in a random attack by a group of older teens. He moved into politics out of frustration with the lack of legislation on the issues that were important to him.

...................

Yes we remember you, England. In fact, later this month, we will have a holiday, Victoria Day. It is named in honour of Queen Victoria and celebrates Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II's birthdays. I know that sounds strange, since you celebrate HRH's birthday in June, but she gave us special permission, so in Canada her 'official' birthday is May 25.

I'm not sure how Quebec feels about you, though.

Belinda Stronach of the Conservatives defected to the Liberals. This brings the party numbers to:

Liberal Party: 133 MPs
Conservative Party: 98 MPs
Bloc Quebecois: 54 MPs
New Democratic Party: 19 MPs
Independents: 3 MPs
Vacant: One seat

Note very closely how the numbers are aligned now. The Conservatives and the Bloc are in a sort of alliance to bring down the government. They have 152 votes between them. The Liberals are working with the NDP to keep the government going. They have 152 votes between them. That means, if everyone sticks to party lines, the independents are going to determine whether or not we have an election.

As a Canadian, I really hope we don't go to the polls again. Stephen Harper would make a horrible prime minister. I don't like Paul Martin too much, either, but he's certainly more capable than Harper is. The sponsorship scandals under Martin are bad, yes, but they have been blown way out of proportion. Every government wastes money, and helps out their cronies. I'm not saying that's a good thing, or that it's excusable, but it happens all the time.

I think this government should stay the way it is. We have the Liberals in power, who aren't perfect but are probably the best party for the time being. They have a minority, which means they can't just do anything they want, they have to garner the other parties support. (*gasp!* I think that's democracy!)

In regards to the Conservatives demanding that the Liberals resign, under the Canadian Constitution there is no legal demand that the Liberals resign for losing the censure vote. The trouble is, Canadian politics contains a lot of traditions that are not strictly enforced by law, and it is by those traditions that Harper is demanding an election be called over that vote.

As far as the government refusing to resign is concerned, technically they're right... like the U.S. Congress, the Canadian Parliament has various standing committees. The motion the Conservatives wanted to use to defeat the government last week was actually a directive given to a committee. In other words, technically the motion said "Committee, please debate this and include in your report to Parliament that the Opposition has no confidence in the government."

The other thing is, the Prime Minister actually decides what's a confidence vote and what's not. And for Paul Martin, it's much more honorable, if he has to fall, to fall on the budget vote than to fall on an obscure motion to a Parliament committee.

About Stephen Harper... he doesn't cut it in Ontario. People there see him as too far right for their tastes, and he can't understand that a lot of people in Ontario don't think like people in his own riding in Alberta... as a result, he tries to evade questions about sensitive issues like abortion or gay marriage, but it only makes people suspicious of him... makes them feel they can't read him, and that he's more dangerous than he looks...

Originally posted by Duzey
Yes we remember you, England. In fact, later this month, we will have a holiday, Victoria Day. It is named in honour of Queen Victoria and celebrates Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II's birthdays. I know that sounds strange, since you celebrate HRH's birthday in June, but she gave us special permission, so in Canada her 'official' birthday is May 25.

I'm not sure how Quebec feels about you, though.

Who actually celebrates Victoria's birthday

I didn't learn what exactly the long weekend was for until I was 12 or so, and it was because I asked a teacher. They never told us, and nowadays, you normally just hear May 2-4. In this part of the country, anyway.

Give me a paid day off, and I'll celebrate nearly anything they ask me to!!!

When I was little I thought Canada was celebrating my provincial capital. I also thought the reason I got November 11 off was because it is my uncle's birthday.

Victoria Day is better known as the May long weekend on my end of the country, but since the English fellow was so nice and told us he loved us, I thought I'd tell him the official reason behind the holiday.