I like option 3, lets get a majority government for Harper.

I think I agree with you He speaks...
Given the performance of the 3 stooges
over the last week, they have shown beyond a doubt that not one of them is capable of running the country on their own,and the 3 of them together is just plain terrifying!
They have the combined IQ of an ashtray with Duceppe hold the big stick.
And in the meantime while they piss around pumping up their ego's,Canada's economy is going down the crapper!
Seems that is a very important point that is being missed completely!

"3 stooges""They have the combined IQ of an ashtray "they piss around"

Andyfreeze your language leaves a lot to be desired.

I like option 3 as well. After Harpers' recent performance, everyone knows the Mr. Rogers act (sweater vests etc.)is all show, and that he is a totally partisan and self-centred politician. That will be $600 million he will spend of taxpayers money to try and get a majority. The economy will really be in the dumper by then and he won't be able to deny it. Bye, Bye, Conservatives!

If option 3 happens, we will have a Conservative majority...yippee!!! Finally, it's about time & then they can get on with governing this country instead of the dog & pony show the other 3 parties have be playing.

I love the stat that 62% of Canadians voted for someone else, no kidding, we have five unique parties, people will resonate with one more than the other and vote accordingly. The party that wins is the one that gets the most votes Compared to the rest. This time it was the Conservatives. Thats how democracy works, like or not.

It's not illegal in Canada (and other parliamentary democracies) for parties to form grand coalitions and replace the minority government of the day...it least not the last time I checked.

It is not a requirement to have an election before it can be done. Harper seems to think it is necessary and in that case he should go right ahead and call one.

He can also sit down with the coalition and seriously address their concerns and perhaps with compromises regain their confidence.

Of course his giant ego and domineering style would not allow him to give in, so I guess Canada has its behind in a sling called Steve!

This is going to be either really good for the Conservatives or really bad.

If there is another election they will crush the Liberals. Is there an out clause in the agreement between the communist, the seperatist and the whore to end the coalition if an election is called? It wouldnt matter anyway, even the lefties wont be able to forget the deal that Dion made with the devil.

Go ahead Dion. I dare you to run on a platform of a coalition government!

"The economy will really be in the dumper by then and he won't be able to deny it. Bye, Bye, Conservatives!"

The day the 3 idiots signed the deal the TSX dropped 700 pts. That is what Bay Street thinks of the coalition. Does anyone think these three idiots can fix the economy? Does anyone even think they know what an economy is? Big 3 bailout, pandering to big labor and Quebec. Its would not be good. The west will be screwed. POWER TO THE PROVINCES! The time is now to reduce federal powers. The multi party system doesnt work. May in the senate? WHAT?

OK folks here are the rules, if you want to run this country you basically need 3 things. You need to be rich,french and have a law degree, Stevey your days are numbered bud, go get a real job

If you are the GG, dissolving Parliament and calling another election (regardless of the cost)is a better option than giving power to the coalition. If she truly does love this country, how could Ms. Jean give any amount of legitimacy and power to the Bloc, whose sole purpose is to break up Canada. That thought should be offensive to her.

Perhaps she will choose Option 1, giving the Harper Government another chance to right the ship and save the people of this country a whole lot of anguish.

"The day the 3 idiots signed the deal the TSX dropped 700 pts. That is what Bay Street thinks of the coalition"

Actually that is not why according to the market analysts. It was the USA retail info plus the continuing drop of the mining and energy stocks which affects Canada more than the USA since we have had a petro dollar and we are still a "hewers of wood and drawers of water" country and the TSX composite is weighted towards those types of stocks.

Harper is not a well liked leader based on polls in th country. Another leader with more diplomacy and less of a prima dona attitude would likely have won the Conservatives a majority.

He is taking a big chance which many think is to bolster his ego rather than improve the country. He would likley love to be the Harper, the benevolent dictor.

An election will decide who is acting in good faith. But it will come at a great expense to the country. If you think that the TSX has dropped because of parties in Ottawa trying to do what they were sent there to do, wait till we get an election call. There will be another 40+ days of wait and see and BS on TV from all parties.

I know one thing, if the Liberals and NDP ran as a coalition, which is the way it is done in some European countries, and the votes were the same as they were in the last election, the coalition would win a landslide victory and the Conservatives would be the party that would be in disarray since they will not know who to select as a new leader - PC or Alliance or Reform or whatever. That "coalition" could disintegrate once more.

Be careful what you wish for.

Dion is a turd I hope never becomes Prime Minister.

Another election will not solve anything. We are now a politically regional fractured country today and there is no sign of that changing, and thus no sign of minority governments going away.

Option #5 is the conservatives make Jay Hill their leader for this parliament and move Harper to another portfolio in the conservative cabinet team. Isn't that Jays job in this kind of situation anyways?

I think Harper argued his case well yesterday in Parliament. But he still needs to step down IMO. He politicized a crisis and should have to pay the cost for that.

"Actually that is not why according to the market analysts. It was the USA retail info plus the continuing drop of the mining and energy stocks"

Nice try. Surprises send the market into tailspins. The drop monday was one of the biggest ever (if not the biggest). The US retail data was expected. Expected data doesnt effect markets in this manner. Expected data is priced in in advance. Wanna guess what the big suprise was? Nice try though. The old 'a little bit of knowledge.'

"because of parties in Ottawa trying to do what they were sent there to do"

Really? I must have missed the part of the Liberal platform where they said they would make a veto deal with the Bloc. That is not what they where sent there to do. 52% of Canadians (according to the poll made public this morning) are against the coalition. Some of these people voted Bloc, NDP or Liberal because we both know the Conservatives didnt get 52% of the vote. So apparently people disagree with what they where sent there to do. That means election time.

The election is not such a bad thing. $300 million is nothing when the Coalition will give billions to the Big 3 and Quebec. Plus its good for the economy. So lets let Canadians decide.

How I would fix this situation is to make it so that no MP any longer has an assigned seat in the House. They no longer sit as party blocks in the house, only as individual MP's. They can form up in packs outside of the House, but not in the house other than through ideas on their own merit.

We should have a 6/49 kind of ball mixing machine that gives each MP a ball with a random seat number on it for every sitting of the parliament. This would solve all of Canada's problems.

This way every sitting they would be mixed up different socializing with the various MP's of differing parties, so they in effect start to debate issues rather than approach them from the perspective of pack mentality to score points. People would watch on TV for entertainment just to see the match ups that might have various political foes sitting next to each other... add in a rule that any MP that violates the space of another MP loses all privileges and has to run in a fresh run off election to get their seat back. Soon they would have no choice but to step up to a higher standard and cut out the animation, or risk looking like complete fools, if it could be imagined bigger than they already are today.

Time Will Tell

Option. 5. The Conservative Government could hand the Government over to the 3 lefties, and sit in opposition with Harper as leader. There is no reason for him to resign.

Option. 6. Harper could fire the present Governer General and have her replaced by someone more in tune with the times. It is highly unlikely that he would choose this option.

If it wasnt for the hard work over the years of Harper and some others there would be no Conservative party to-day, so dont expect him to cut and run over this fiasco.

At the end of the day we will have to have another election because even if this so called coalition came into power, it is highly unlikely that they would last 3 months. Dont forget that the Coalition is between the Liberals and the NDP, Giles Duceppe's signature is not on the letter that was sent to the Governer General. All he did was right a letter stating that he would support the so called coalition until June 2010, so in effect the coalition has less seats than the Conservatives and can only stay in power with the support of the Bloc. I doubt that Canadian will tolerate this type of BS for very long.

I seriously doubt that the Governer General will authorize a coalition Government to run Canada that can only survive with the support of a self declared successionest. This flys in the face of credibility. We would then be faced with the Bloc having the controlling power over not only the Liberals and NDP, but over the Conservative Opposition who would have 100 plus more seats than the Bloc.

This whole fiasco is unmitigated BS brought about by the losers in the last election, and I would predict if we go to another election we can kiss them goodbye for sometime to come.

PS. The Bloc only agreed to support the Liberal/NDP on motions of confidence, on all other issues they will vote as they chose.

Have a nice day.

This situation was brought about by Harper refusing to accept that Canada did not give him a majority. Due to that he had an obligation to work with other MPs so as to ensure any confidence bills were passed. He, and he alone, is responsible for this. The arrogance of that man is astounding, thinking that no matter what he does the whole country has to bend over and lick his boots.

Then we have all the closet fascists in the country sending phony opinions to all the blogs and radio talk shows, not because they are truly motivated to do so, bur because their Lord and Master, Harper, sent out a cheat sheet telling them what to say. You can always recognise those dumbnuts by the use of "three stooges", "idiots", "treason", and vicious bigoted attacks on Quebec, usually involving some pejorative use of "French".

Don't be too keen to call an election, dumbnuts, Harper's attacks on Quebec are making an impression in that province. He needs MPs from Quebec to form a majority government, but his disgusting attacks on Canadian citizens in that province has cooked his goose there for sure and made it all but impossible for him to ever make any progress. He is no longer a lame duck, he and his supporters have now shown themselves to bigoted turkeys. The Reformers never change do they? What's next, invade Quebec and make them vote for King Harper?

"Don't be too keen to call an election, dumbnuts, Harper's attacks on Quebec are making an impression in that province. He needs MPs from Quebec to form a majority government"

Uhh no, he doesnt!

"but his disgusting attacks on Canadian citizens in that province has cooked his goose there for sure and made it all but impossible for him to ever make any progress."

Please reference one or some of these attacks.

do we really need a hysterical whimp to lead this country.the only winner will be duceppe.while all this is going on the cpp fund is losing millions by the day as is the e.i. funds,and many other pension funds.as well as rrifs and rrsps.

Sorry if you are offended Lamb,but you don't even want to be on the same planet when I get really *issed!

ammonra. Wake up and smell the roses.

1. The NDP and the Liberals were working on this Coalition right after the election and would have found a reason to bring it forward regardless of what Harper did. The fact that Harper was going to take away their taxpayer funding just forced them to move sooner rather than later.

2. Millions of Canadian voted for the Conservatives, and they are quite capable of writing letters etc; without the coaching of the Conservative party.

3. Harpers so called attack on Quebec, was on the Quebec Separatists,, and Giles Duceppe the so-called Sovereignist, and not against those people who voted for the NDP, Liberals, Conservatives, or the Green Party. This is obvious to everyone in the Country so I dont understand how you missed it.

4. You have overlooked the closet Communists and Stalanists in the Country who can be recognized by the use of phrases such as *boot lickers** **dumbnuts** **Lord and Master** **bigoted turkeys** **facists** etc;

5. In a minority Government the people in opposition have as much or more responsibility to make the Government work as the Majority party. The Liberals and NDP gave Harper very little wiggle room, and even after he dropped the political funding issue, and the right to strike issue they continued to go forward with their Coalition Option which therefore makes it obvious that, that was their intention all along. To use the economy as an excuse it pure BS because at this point in time Canada if fairing better than most Countries in the world, and the Conservatives had a plan for further stimulus that would have been brought forward in their February budget. They even proposed to bring this budget forward to January to no avail.

6. On close examination of this issue it is pretty obvious that the **fly in the ointment** is the Liberals and NDP, with the colusion of the Bloc. To come to any other conclusion is an admission of an inability to comprehend the inner workings of Politics and Political Parties. Im suprised you missed the point.

Bang on palopu, but don't expect ammonra to wake up. You gotta wonder how some people can be wired so backwards and don't know it. Bring on an election and we'll see what Canada wants.

The Liberals and NDP have stated that they have made no promises to the BLOC and that the promise in place means that they have no veto power (they have agreed to vote with the coalition on all confidence matters).

Do they think that we are all stuipid? Duceppe is getting what then? Good times? Male bonding? No promises? That lie is a smack in the face of all Canadians.

The Bloc has the rest of Canada by the balls

Do you people really think that, if there was an election, the Conservatives would stand a chance? The Liberals and NDP would just run one candidate between them in each riding (the party that would run would be the one that received most votes last time in that riding). The left-wing vote would not be split like it was last time (I doubt the Greens would campaign very hard, if at all), and the Tories would have far less seats. The coalition would have a majority, even without having to rely on the Bloc, and the Conservatives would have less than 1/3 of the House. If I were the CPC I would be very afraid of this possibility, and I think it's part of the reason why the coalition is pressing so hard... they know it's really win-win for them.

Unfortunately, it's probably not win-win for Canada.

Actually, I take time to smell my roses every day when they are in bloom. I like the miniatures in particular. The miniature Peace rose is particularly nice. I grind my own coffee so I smell that every day as well.

1. You don't know what MPs would have done if Harper had been cooperative and taken the view of other parties into account when drawing up legislation. Any statements you make on that are just partisan political posturing (but that's OK). On the other hand, his refusal to put into effect legislation passed by a majority in the House shows his contempt for other MPs and emphasises that it has to be his way or the highway. He has got the highway.

2. Millions of Canadians did not vote for the Conservatives, and they also have the right to express an opinion. The difference is that only the Conservatives have sent out a cheat sheet telling their followers what to say in those "personal" opinions. Compare the expressions used all over the country. It is no coincidence that Conservatives in Vancouver are using exactly the same language, exactly the same insults, exactly the same arguments and are doing so all within a 24 hour period. Coincidence? I think not!

3. Harper also attacked the NDP and Liberals, including those in Quebec. The Bloc has the largest number of MPs from Quebec and an attack on them is clearly an attack on Quebec itself. His followers repeatedly use the anti-French arguments that we saw years ago during the Reform and Alliance days when right wing attacks on the French language and Quebec political representation were an almost daily occurrence. The present reappearance of that bigotry can only do harm to the Conservative cause in that province. Harper, by leading the anti Quebec charge and encouraging this nonsense, has done more to promote the separatist cause in Quebec than any Prime Minister has ever done before in Canada. An example of his arrant nonsense is seen when he lied in the House, yesterday I believe, by claiming that the leaders of the opposition parties refused to be seen with a Canadian flag. That was a bald faced lie, and there is no other way of expressing it. The Canadian flag was in the background for every Canadian to see, including Harper. Still, he lied. Is he going to apologise in Parliament for that lie? Does he have the balls to admit he was wrong? I doubt it. What Harper wants is clear: Power! Power! Power over everything! And this is our Prime Minister. God help us all!

4. It is "fascist" not "facist". How surprising that only when I use the same language as the Conservaitives do I get a response. If Conservatives can call the NDP communist, exactly why should I be criticised for calling the Conservatives who do so fascist? Sauce for the goose and sauce for the gander, once again. "Do as you would be done by", is one way it was put in a children's fairy tale, but obviously as a child you did not learn the lesson. I did not use this language until I got sick and tired of seeing it from all the pro-Harper bigots. Live with it.

5. True, all MPs have a duty to do whatever they can to make Parliament work, but that is not an absolute obligation. The onus is on the party forming the government to introduce legislation that a majority of MPs can vote for. If they do not do that, then they may have their legislation fail. It is not a bazaar, where MPs of different parties bargain back and forth to see what the minimum price the governing party has to pay. It is both a duty and an obligation, and plain common sense, for a minority government to discuss legislation prior to introducing it in order to ensure it is acceptable to enough MPs. If the governing party does not do that and it is a confidence motion and it is defeated, then they must take the consequences. This is not rocket science. It is an integral part of our parliamentary system, and Harper was well aware of that. People who play chicken should not complain when the chicken (not a puffin) shits all over them.

6. I do not miss the point of this discussion. I just have a different opinion than you do. It must be clear that I have now made up my mind on this issue. I did so because of the ignorant, insulting filth being spewed by Conservative supporters in their "big lie" campaign to get around Parliamentary procedure. I find it incredibly offensive that Harper and his cronies prefer to attack legitimately elected MPs from all regions of this Great Country than to work with them to resolve our present problems. Harper is not Canada. It is not here for his personal benefit. It is here for Canadians, and at the present time my opinion is that it would be better to remove Harper from having anything to say about how the country progresses, and pass responsibility for it it on to those MPs who actually care about the citizens.

ammonra:
Communism is ear marked by equal pay for unequal skill, very clearly the way unions work. NDP are pro union. Therefore I would respectfully suggest that they are correctly labelled.

Now please explain to me exactly what makes the Conservatives (or Conservaitives, as you call them) fascist?

Oh wait, spelling doesnt really matter. Sorry I pointed out your mispelling, that is a tool that someone would use when thier argument doesnt hold water but they are pissed that they are getting their buts kicked.

Dear editor

Is it appropriate to provide links to other news sources in the comments section? I have been tempted to but am unsure if it is allowed.

Ammonra. If you replaced the words NDP, or Liberal for Conservative, and Mr. Dithers (Paul Martin) Chretian, or some other Liberal Prime Ministers, for Harper in your dialogue, you would have it exactly right,.

You make it sound like the back biting, knife shoving, corrupt liberals, and the **hangers on** socialist NDPers are clean as a whistle.

Give me a break.

Born in BC, the NDP is not communist, they are social democrat with some democratic socialists. If you are ignorant of the difference, then look it up in Wikipedia. In extreme brief mode:

The NDP differs from communists in the ownership of private property, the insistence and practice of democracy, and the acknowledgement and acceptance of capitalist investment. Social democrats see no need for the state to own everything.

The NDP differs from capitalist parties in the belief that "sweat equity", i.e. the participation of workers in the workplace is a valid form of investment and should recieve an appropriate return. For that reason labour unions can negotiate with companies on their members behalf, if a majority of employees wish it and a democratic decision has been taken.

One fundamental belief of the NDP is that ALL citizens have the RIGHT to share in the wealth of the country, not just those who have the ear of government, nor just those who pay the election bills of a party, nor just those who are corporate friends of the party in power. ALL should benefit, from the tiniest baby on up.

An innovative philopsophy, I know, but there it is.

I explained my reference to fascism in item number 4 previously. Please reread it.

Could you tell me, since you are so knowledgeable about unions, whether you consider the British Columbia Medical Association (BCMA) communist? It is the oldest union in health care in the province and has negotiated pay etc for doctors for decades.

Kicking my butt? Don't be ridiculous! I posted responses to six points and all you can do in reply is distort NDP philosophy by lieing about it with pedantically tortuous reasoning. Respond substantively to the points I made if you want to even come within ten miles of kicking my butt.

Pal - Harper can't fire the Governor General.
The Governor General's decision will be based on the Statute of Westminister.
It is all clearly laid out.
The Governor General will not be influenced by political manouvering but rather by the rule of law.
The Governor General is the Queen's representative in Canada.

It is interesting after so many years,the Bloc has finally gotten what it has always wanted...POWER!
And Dion and Layton have handed them that on a platter.
The unfortunate part is as much as I dislike his politics,Duceppe could lose both Dion and Layton in a phone booth at the same time,and that is exactly what he will do.
He will hang these two mutton heads the first chance he gets, and that is when it will all fall apart.
And he will hang Canada too.
The most devastating part of all this is that all the nasty and dishonest things we have suspected about about our government/s and and our elected politicians for so long,is in fact all true.
We were not wrong or uninformed after all, as those we elect have always told us we were.
They said we just didn't understand.
Well, we did understand.
For any canadian party or "coalition" to lie down with the separatists in exchange for power is a truly disgusting thing.
Canada may never be the same and it won't be for the good.
I would like to believe canadians will not allow this to happen but unfortunately, we will probably not get a say in it.
We do need an election,no matter how much it costs.
Time to clean house once and for all and start over.
You never know,when the smoke clears someone with brain and some integrity who will actually DO something for Canada may actually appear.
Hopefully,there will still something left to work with!

So let me get this straight! The oposition is more or less telling the voters (tax payers) that they were wrong to chose Mr Harper as our Priminister?? They want to over turn government and take control of something they did not earn?? Like dirty thieves in the night they go againts the wishes of the voters from the election! Shame of them and shame on us if we allow these LOSERS from the election to undermine the wishes of the Canadian people at a time of economic crises.

This is like a slap in the face like none other. We get dragged to the polls twice...and twice we vote in the same man. AND NOW THEY TRY AND REMOVE THE MAN WE WANTED BY FORCE???? Amazing!!

We must always remember that the leaders of all three opposition parties are the WINNERS in their respective ridings, as were ALL MPs, including those of the Bloc. These WINNERS have decided to exercise their constitutional rights and not vote in favour of a government confidence motion.

As he knows that he will be the LOSER in that scenario, Mr. Harper may try to avoid the confidence vote altogether in an act of political cowardice, knowing that he would be the biggest LOSER of all in this whole affair.

Please read this:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/12/03/bc-mp-sign-burned.html

This one, too:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/12/03/day-bloc.html

It seems that the minority who support the idea of a coalition have a personal hate-on for Stephen Harper. Short sighted to say the least.

Self serving crap from the political left.

BTW - Try not to wet yourself in excitment Ammon.

I suppose that snide ignorance is supposed to be a pithy example of what passes for wit in that brain of yours, DeathWisher, is it? Your half right, anyway!

Oh snap! 2/3 of the crap on this page is your leftist rhetoric. I don't know where I got the idea you where salivating over the thought of Layton being part of an actual governing party (or whatever you wanna call this abortion).

ammonra

I don't know how you have the patience to hang in with the uneducated but I admire you, don't give up. I am afraid I don't have the patience for them.

good old dion,a day late and a dollar short again.(with his response on t.v. to the prime ministers address.)

Its sad people get upset over the way our Parliament works. While I suppose its only natural for most Conservative voters to be ignorant that the majority of Mp's can in fact overturn Harpers' minority government, its pathetic the way Harper himself is surprised. If people really want a Conservative government, then why do boobs like Kim Campbell, Joe Clark, and now Stephen Harper keep getting elected as their leaders?

I see the leader of the Far Right Wing Coalition has his minister of propoganda [Stockwell Day] out spreading another Big Lie; this time trying in vain to deny Harper ever approached the Bloc Seperatists about forming a gov't to oust Paul Martin. On and on it goes!