|
Is Canada Ready for ANOTHER Federal Election
| quote: | Media raps Canada opposition for election push
OTTAWA, Sept 2 (Reuters) - A promise by Canada's main opposition party to try to bring down the minority government provoked much head-scratching and little enthusiasm in big Canadian newspapers on Wednesday.
Commentators said the promise from Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, and the possibility of a second federal election in little over a year, offered few guarantees of success for the opposition, which is neck-and-neck with the ruling Conservatives in most opinion polls.
Ignatieff says the government has not done enough to deal with the economic crisis, and he plans to bring in a a motion of non-confidence in the government as soon as possible.
"Mr Ignatieff could not have picked a worse time to make complaints about (Conservative) management of a foul-weather economy," the right-leaning National Post said in an editorial that also said a stimulus package was helping to end the recession.
Other observers puzzled by why Ignatieff -- who pulled back from a threat to topple Prime Minister Stephen Harper in June -- was so determined to bring the government down now, given the last election took place only in October 2008.
"It remained unclear from Mr Ignatieff's remarks exactly what he was demanding of the government to justify an election that in June he had argued Canadians did not want," said Globe and Mail columnist Jeffrey Simpson. "For some unexplained reason, they apparently desire one in November."
Canada has had three minority governments since June 2004 and the Liberals have kept the Conservative government in power this year by backing crucial legislation such as the budget.
Chantal Hebert, columnist for the left-leaning Toronto Star, said the Liberals had no guarantee of winning an election, and some Liberal legislators from the powerful province of Ontario disliked the idea of an early vote.
"The fact that the members of Parliament closest to the biggest battlefield of the next campaign are also among the least enthused about heading to the polls is both noteworthy and significant," she wrote.
Don Martin, writing in the right-of-center Ottawa Citizen, rapped Ignatieff for "what must rank as the most nonsensical excuse at the worst possible time" for another election and mocked the Liberal leader's talk of building a better Canada.
"A delusional Ignatieff seem to think the economy won't drive the campaign as he raps himself in a visionary flag," he wrote.
Commentator Alain Dubuc of the French-language La Presse newspaper was one of the few to show sympathy for Ignatieff.
"If he brings down the government people will accuse him of plunging us into another election. But if he doesn't bring it down, he will no doubt be accused of backing Harper," he wrote.
"He will pay a price for triggering an election. But the price of not doing so will no doubt be higher." (Reporting by David Ljunggren; editing by Janet Guttsman)
|
It will be interesting to see what happens come September 14, 2009.
So does anybody think we are ready for another election?
___________________
| quote: | | Scott has been introduced to the rave scene, and Ecstasy, by Craig. The two of them go out on the weekends, with some of Craigs friends, and stay up all night, dancing in a drug-fueled trance. |
Last edited by Moral Hazard on Apr-26-2011 at 07:48
|
