Am I the only one who finds this coronation of the great Ignatieff a bit odd?
At some point 3 years or so ago,the Liberal party said "Hey Iggy!...come home to Canada (after being way for 30+years in the Uk and U.S.) and we will see that you get to be Prime Minister!"
And to hell with all those loyal Liberals in the party that have worked damn hard for Canada for many years!
(yes,I am sure there are some)
If I was a Liberal party member,I would be more than bit miffed!
What...there was nobody here in Canada or within the party that could do the job?
Regardless of whether or not Ignatieff is the right guy for the job,he IS out of touch with Canada and the canadian people.
The only ones who benefit from this self-serving move are the members of the Liberal old boys club at the top and to hell with the peasants in the shadows.
What is good for Canada or canadians in general, has very little to do with it.
Which is exactly why the once powerful Liberals are sitting in the opposition and will remain there for a long time to come.
In their fall from grace,they have actually leaned very little.

I'm with you andy!

So I hear Harper being accused of being a tyrant and an all around POS.
Yet he was democratically elected along with the rest of his party.
Then we have the official opposition trying to unseat the government with a coalition of the LOSING parties who still do not have enough seats because they lost them to the conservatives and (gasp) the bloc.
So what do the liberals do?
They APPOINT a new leader without a democratic process, excluding all the rank and file members and the executive did not even have a voice.

Now does that mean that if another election were to occur and unseat the current party in power, would that make M.I. emperor?
Or does it mean that we still have a democracy?

At least if he was emperor we wouldn't have an election every time the MPs couldn't get along :)

never saw that positive aspect, good one.
And to remove an emperor is a permanent solution, no come back possible, usually it is a lead pill.

John Adams the father of the American experiment and 2nd president of the United States (by far the most influential in shaping the good of America) lived in Europe for 14-years before becoming president of the United States. Ditto for Thomas Jefferson (an evil man, but good for his country). So time out of the country isn't that big of a deal... at least Ignatieff only has one passport.

And how many CANADIAN prime ministers have lived outside the country for a significant period?

Well he sure didn't waste any time letting us all know he's prepared to form a coalition with the NDP, ( and of course with the Bloc, but he dosen't want you to be thinking about that ), if Mr. Harper dosen't perform to "his" specs from here on.

Same s--t, different day!

Watch out you dastardly Conservatives!! Mikey has the leash now, he knows it, and he'll give it a yank whenever he thinks he and the boys in the back room can get away with it, especially if it looks like it could make him acting Prime Minister !!

He and Jack are gonna be calling the shots from here on and the hell with what the people of this once great Country want.

One can always wear them down later by telling them there was no other choice but to take over this way, "for their own good".

palomino

conservatives 148 seats up 19
liberal 77 down 26
bloc 49 down 2
ndp 37 up 8
green 0 no change

where did the extra seats go?
it would take every opposition seat to even come close to making this real.
That is assuming they don't tear each other apart during planning meetings.

oops, the opposition only has 134 seats in total.

Emperor Harper & his court jester Day must be laffing their faces off. Tweedledee & Tweedledumber have bought into his Big Lie as they think it is OK that a party with 38% of the vote can go around and poke sharp sticks in the eyes of the other 62% of the Canadian public. Only in Canada EH!

Loki, the opposition has more seats than the Conservatives. That is why they could form a coalition government. In our Parliament, whichever party or parties (a coalition) can muster up the most MPs' have the right to form the government. A lot of people on this forum seem to confuse our system with the U.S. Presidential process, where whoever gets the most electoral votes gets to be president, majority or not. Harper has effectively used this ignorance of our government for powerful propaganda. It is laughable to claim that a coalition government is undemocratic. Yet Harper has convinced a great number of people that it is. The prospect of Bloc Quebecois support is more effective than a Reichstag fire to Canadians who don't know better. Here is to reinstating some basic courses in government in Canadian schools.

Herbster.

The total seats held by the Liberals and NDP are 114, while the Conservatives have 143, so therefore they do not have enough seats to form a coalition Government.

If you have been watching the news you would know that the Bloc did not, I repeat DID NOT sign the Coalition Agreement with the Liberals and NDP. What they did was sign a separate letter stating that they would support the Coalition on votes of Confidence, and that they would vote as they pleased on any and all other issues.

So the question is WHERE IS THE COALITION???. 114 Seats are insufficient.

The Bloc could not sign the Coalition Agreement, because to do so would make them a part of the Government of Canada, with Cabinet Posts etc; This would effectively be the end of the Federal separatist movement.

The Bloc voted with the Conservatives over 100 times in the past few years, and on a number of occasions these were votes of confidence, did that make them part of a coalition with the Conservatives? They also in the past voted with the Liberals, did that make them part of a Liberal coalition? Of course not.,

So we have established that just because the Bloc votes with a particular party, or in this case the Liberal, NDP, coalition, it does not make them part of that coalition, and therefore the Liberals/NDP didnt have enough seats to form a Government.

Dont you think that the Governer General, and all her high priced help could figure this out????

So in essence the Bloc could vote with the Liberals and NDP to defeat the Government, but because they could not form a **legal Government** we would go to an election. In this case is was obviously determined that it was better to porogue Parliment than go to an election, however if the Government falls in January, I suspect that we will be into an election.

Of the Canadian who voted in the last election::
90% voted against the Bloc
72% voted against the Liberals
81% voted against the NDP.

Only 62% voted against the Conservatives.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Amen to that Palopu!

You are quite right Palopu, the coalition is between the Libereals and the NDP. The Bloc is not a part of it.

Thankyou.

It is refreshing that a right winger has finally made it clear that when Harper and otheer Conservatives say the coalition is the Liberals, NDP and Bloc, he is a cynical liar.

The Governor General could, if Harper is defeated in a confidence vote and if she chose to do so, call on the party with the next highest number of seats to form a government if she believed that it would get enough votes to survive a series of confidence motions. Whether she would do so instead of calling an election is not certain, and we are going to have to wait and see if Harper is defeated. It is permitted by our constitution.

By all accounts it appears Harper may have eaten crow and changed his mind about his budget. If he has, and now governs cooperatively, we may yet see some value from this Parliament. What is clear is that many Conservative supporters may have jumped the gun regarding the coalition and pronounced it dead before its time. Ignatieff and Layton both appear to believe it is still alive, so perhaps it is. If it is it will be a really good tool to keep Harper from the worst of his excesses. There is nothing like the fear of losing a confidence vote to keep a government in line.

Right on Palopu!!

Palopu, don't you think the Bloc Quebecois working constructively with the Liberals and NDP might be better for the future of this country, than to be called down as traitors, and seditionists as many Conservatives have done? Harper has demolished a great many bridges to Quebec in his scorched earth policy to maintain power. Lets hope Canadian unity is not just collateral damage to his ambition. Of course if you are a Western separatist, you are no doubt delighted by this turn of events.

If Mr. Iggy don't work out I wonder who will be next?

Harbinger I don't think we have anyone else waiting in the wings unless one looks to the conservative back bench.

there is always bob rae,
he has only pulled out of the leadership race about 3 or 4 times.