Politicians of all political stripes were attempting to put their spin on the turmoil on Parliament Hill yesterday as Prime Minister Harper planned to address Canadians in a nationally televised speech last night to state the Conservatives’ case.

The politicking followed the unveiling on Monday of an historic accord between the Liberals and the NDP to unseat Harper’s minority government and replace it with a coalition supported by the Bloc Quebecois.
The new coalition government would be led by Liberal leader Stéphane Dion until May when the new leader of the Liberal party would take over. NDP leader Jack Layton and five of his MPs would get seats in the 24-seat coalition cabinet and the Bloc Québécois has pledged to support the coalition government on three confidence votes including the throne speech and two budgets.
All three parties have vowed to defeat Harper’s Conservatives in a confidence vote on Monday and go to Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean to ask her to install the coalition government.
“My own point of view is this is the best thing that can happen to Canada right now,” former Liberal MP Denis Paradis told The Record.
“I think the person responsible for the crisis is Stephen Harper,” he said. “The first thing he needed to do as Prime Minster in a minority government is get along with fellow parliamentarians. But the first thing he did was provoke them.”
Instead of addressing the looming economic crisis, Harper decided to cut funding for the three other parties, abolish the strike vote for civil servants and cut pay equity programs for women, “all things he would damned well know would make the other parties angry,” said Paradis.
The former MP for Brome-Missisquoi said Harper gambled that the federal election had just happened and opposition parties would not dare defeat the government.
Far from being the “coup d’état” as the Tories ascribe, Paradis said the three leaders of the opposition parties represent a majority of voters in the country and a majority of MPs in the House of Commons. “They are completely at right to form the government.”
“Harper lost the confidence of the House of Commons,” said Paradis, telling Harper “you just chose to forget about the people who don’t think like you.”

For full story, please pick up today's Record

By Rita Legault
Sherbrooke

Thursday, December 4, 2008