Debate the Coalition in Your Community

Opinion polls seem to show that the Cons have the public on their side with regards to holding on to power. But we all know that the case for allowing harpo to cling to power is built on lies and ignorance. In a fair debate, the coalition side would wipe the floor with the harpo side. We should take the opportunity of the recess to arrange public information sessions, or, better still, public debates with the harpo team, in order to educate Canadians about how they're actually governed, and to build support for the better option of the coalition.

- "Canadians elected the harpo Conservatives" ... No they didn't. Canadians don't vote for the prime minister or for the government. They vote for MPs in their ridings. And a majority of them voted for MPs from parties other than the harpocons.

- "I don't want the separatists to take power" ... The Bloc Quebecois is not a partner in the coalition. It has pledged its support in return for some considerations about spending in Quebec. Furthermore, both Stockwell Day and harpo actively solicited the BQ's support for bringing down Liberal minority governments. Get some representative from the harpo side to squirm out of that one. Hold their feet to the fucking fire!

- "This is a sleazy, backroom deal" ... Actually, pretty much all the important details were publicly conducted or publicly released. And it's how governments are formed in parliamentary systems.

- "I don't want Stephane Dion (or Michael Ignatieff) as my prime minister" ... And the majority of Canadians didn't want Stephen Harper as their prime minister, but we have him nonetheless. If you want to totally reinvent the Canadian political system, we have some sympathy with you, but for now, we have to face the world with the system we've got, NOT the system harpo pretends we have or that some people believe we have.

- "We don't need a political crisis during an economic crisis" ... There wouldn't have been a political crisis if harpo hadn't miserably failed to govern properly with a minority parliament. And this crisis wouldn't have dragged-on if the Governor-General hadn't accomodated harpo's incompetence with this lengthy prorogation.

- "We still need stability during this economic crisis" ... We need a better government NOW. One that does not invent political crises where there aren't any. And one that does not have a proven failure as a finance minister. Flaherty is functioning surprisingly well for an individual with only one brain cell, but he's the worst finance minister we could have at a time like this. Not only did he not create a stimulus package (in harmony with every single government in the industrialized world) he crafted an anti-stimulus package. His fetish for balanced budgets will make the economy worse, not better. He was a miserable failure as finance minister in Ontario and he will make Canada's recession harder than it has to be. Even if the coalition doesn't materialize as Liberal leadership struggles and parliamentary "cooling-off" takes effect, we should position ourselves to be able to tell Canadians "we tried to warn you" when harpo inevitably bungles the job and hundreds of thousands of lives are scarred.