Coalition would be a Victory for Democracy

In moving the confidence vote off by one week, Stephen Harper has bought himself until December 8th to try to turn Canadians against the idea of a Coalition Government. Public opinion could impact the momentum for this - the most exciting and encouraging development in Canadian politics since... maybe ever.

His first shot across the bow of a coalition is that it is "back room and anti-democratic." Well, as we know, the first-past-the-post system got us another Conservative government with the votes of 5,205,334 Canadians who chose Mr. Harper's party. The Green vote at 940,747 is 18% of the Conservative. The Conservatives received, as we know, a minority of the votes of the people who voted. Only 37.6% of the voters chose this government. That's how the system works. They get a shot at a minority government.

To make it work, a Prime Minister in a Minority must consult with the Opposition Party leaders and try to develop a consensus. Historically, in a Parliamentary Democracy, a Prime Minister is a "first among equals." It is the House of Commons that is government. Not the Prime Minister by himself. This is especially true in a minority government situation. The Minority Government need the confidence of the House to govern. That's how our democracy works.

After the election, Mr. Harper made some very positive statements about how he wanted to see the next Parliamentary session be more cooperative and less combative.

I was in the House for the Opening Day and in the Senate Chambers for the Speech from the Throne. There was good will in the air. But by Thursday in Question Period, the first day of Question Period, it was clear that not much had changed. The heckling and the rudeness seemed only slightly less awful than last spring when the House rose in recess.

And then came the economic statement. As I wrote in my last blog, the economic statement failed the demands of the current economic crisis. Entirely.

Where the current recession threatens to become deflationary, we need confidence. We need investment. We need an economic stimulus package with investments in green energy and green collar jobs. We needed it yesterday. Granted, it is difficult for the Harper Conservatives to find the resources for a stimulus package. Their bad economic strategies, cuts to GST and massive increases in spending, wiped out the surpluses and the reserve put in place by the previous government. The cupboard is bare. Well, that's life. We are stuck with where we are. Deficit financing will be necessary. Even Mr. Harper's claims in the election that deficit financing would be "dangerous" miraculously morphed to him, at the APEC Summit in Peru, describing deficits as "essential." But, as we know, the economic update claimed the government would run a surplus over the next five years. No one believes that. The nation's leading economists basically say Flaherty "cooked the books."

On top of total abdication of responsibility for the welfare of the nation, the Harper government threw in a "poison pill." A political calculation with nothing to do with responding to the economic crisis. As Jeffrey Simpson wrote in the Globe and Mail (Nov 28), the Conservatives "are trying to use this economic crisis for their partisan advantage." He went on to point out "Canadians fought a long battle to get these inducements for people to give to political parties; they can't let one party's naked self-interest push back progress."

So, from any perspective, it is impossible to think that Stephen Harper approached the new Parliament with an approach to earn the confidence of the House. He has clearly lost the confidence of the House and he has no one to blame but himself. He could not resist the instinct for non-stop campaigning, for no-holds-barred partisanship. He doesn't just want to win elections. He wants to permanently eliminate the opposition.

Don Martin in the National Post put it this way: "this showdown (is) an unforgivable breach of the trust voters bestowed on Mr. Harper. He was elected to lead a minority government with a spirit of co-operation. He thought he had set a deadly trap for his opponents. He may well find himself as the victim."

What can we expect in the next week? I predict we'll see new Conservative attack ads aimed at the Opposition Parties and the idea of a coalition. No doubt, the attack ads are in production as we speak. They will try to portray a Coalition Government as some sort of evil coup.

That argument will be all hype and spin. It is the opposite of truth.

When you look at the election results, it is clear that a coalition government is entirely democratic. In fact, it is the most democratic result possible under our current system. Add the Liberal vote (3,629,990) to the NDP vote (2,517,075) and our Green vote (940,747) you get 7,077,812 votes. That is over 7 million votes for parties other than Conservatives without even counting the Bloc Quebecois vote of over one million. So all in all, over 8.4 million Canadians did not vote for the Conservatives. In percentages it's 37.6% versus 61.2%. Clearly the democratic choice is for a coalition government representing the vast majority of Canadians.

So in the next week, please do not leave this to the Conservative attack machine to shape public opinion. Sadly, Greens are not in the House, but we are at the grassroots, in neighbourhoods and communities. PLEASE spread the word. Send letters to MPs (what Mr. Harper suggested.) Blog on media sites. Post comments. Write letters to the editor. Organize your own events. Attend the planned climate rallies on December 6th and support the dream of a Coalition government supporting global action at the climate negotiations running in Poland from December 1-13. We could get Canada back on track to join the movement for hope and change south of the border. We could protect savings for seniors. We could act to help low income Canadians and people with disabilities. We could protect jobs and make new ones. Retrofitting homes and buildings is a great economic stimulus, fighting climate change at the same time. We could have an economic stimulus that moves us to renewable energy and better rail service and mass transit. We could have a government that represents what the majority of Canadians want.

And that is something worth fighting for. Do not watch this from the sidelines. We don't have to take over an airport to get a change in government. All we have to do is support Parliamentary Democracy and make it clear the Canadian people support a Coalition and want the Governor General to give it a chance.