Predictable Chaos

Just one day before probably the most important election in Canadian history we have no idea where things are going to end up, it appears the threat of a conservative majority has been headed off but just as scary is a conservative minority. The fact that the Harper regime has NO respect for parliamentary convention and has clearly said that they WILL NOT work with others should they return with a minority means that IF such a thing happens we are doomed to yet another constitutional crisis brought on by their inability to recognize that our parliament IS a coalition in which MPs elected from all partys and all parts of the country are charged with working together for the benefit of us all.

Whilst I really hope for an NDP or Lib minority government, supported by a few Greens I am not optimistic that enough voters are aware of what will happen if the Harper regime gets back in. With that in mind here is my prediction, which I truly hope does not happen but fear it will.

The Conservatives will form government with a reduced number of seats, they will promptly table a budget with a number of measures that the majority of MPs cannot support, one of these measures will be the elimination of the per vote subsidy that allows the smaller party's to remain viable, they will not however eliminate the subsidy for donations directly to the party and may well increase the upper limit so that their corporate friends can further bribe them to not tax their enormous profits. No discussion or amendments will be considered, it will be a take or leave it challenge to parliamentarians.

After much blathering and backstabbing the House will defeat the budget thus sending harper back to the governor general where he will ask for ANOTHER election, this request will be refused as the GG has little choice but to ask the opposition (no matter who they are) if they can get the confidence of parliament. Having repeatedly rejected the idea of a coalition government the opposition will attempt to form a government on an informal, day to day basis. Mr Harper will be screaming from the house tops 'I told you so, I told you so' and repeating his lies about the constitutionality of 'coalition' governments and proceed to totally ignore convention and parliamentary rules in his bid to retain power thus finally proving for once and all that he is a power hungry lier and totally amoral.

The outcome will be such that the parliamentarians must work together, as they should do anyway, in order to minimize the crisis that will be hovering on the parliamentary doorstep for days and months, they will not do this very well.... but a hell of a lot better than under a Harper dictatorship. The newly appointed conservative senators will under the direction of deposed King Harper do everything in their power to further disrupt the parliamentary process, question period will become so loud and personal that the speaker is unable to control it, however few if any MPs will be ejected from the chamber.

All of the above will not take place should either the Libs or NDP squeak through with a minority government, although the House will still need to be a lot more cooperative than is currently the norm, and Mr Harpers bleating will have a reduced effect, except to show how he is NOT a team player unless he is the “Leader”, and that the senate conservative majority will still block much good legislation out of spite! SOME parliamentarians may even learn to work together after watching the newly elected Greens in action.....

Parliamentary and electoral reform will not feature in any proposed legislation in the ensuing months or years despite the clear need for such demonstrated by this ongoing “crisis'.

The only really good thing coming out of all this is a Green MP in the House and that both Mr Harper and Mr Ignatieff will be replaced as leaders within 6 months.

One final prediction. This writer will become so disgusted with the whole thing that he will cease to follow and write about the decline of our democracy, retire to his rural enclave and go back to nature. He will not however cease to worry that Canadian democracy is going down the toilet.

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