The Blogosphere Responds

My hope for the new coalition government in the UK is that it will at the very least start Canadians thinking about how our system of government works, or perhaps more accurately doesn’t work, our approach to minority governments and coalitions and how it all fits into the scheme of things. If the blogosphere is any indicator, that is exactly what has happened.


Brian Mulroney’s former Chief of Staff, Norman Spector weighs in with his two cents worth on the Globe and Mail’s blog saying that Harper could respond to the coalition this way, “... the Prime Minister could note that the British coalition is perfectly legitimate since Liberal-Democrat Leader Nick Clegg had made it clear throughout the campaign that the party that won the most seats should be given the first crack at governing the country. And neither Mr. Cameron nor Gordon Brown dismissed the possibility of getting together with him after the election — as Stéphane Dion did in 2008.

Things would have been quite different, Mr. Harper could note, had Mr. Clegg instead gotten together with Mr. Brown’s Labour Party which, as Jeffrey Simpson noted yesterday, “lost” the election. And the prospect of the governing coalition surviving at the whim of the Scottish Nationalist Party was truly frightening.”

He got a few people’s attention:

M. Martyn responds by saying “But the key here is the very fact that a coalition is legal and constitutional, not illegal and unconstitutional as the Mr. Harper's hyperbole machine repeatedly stated.

As someone who was told that I should be hauled in front of a firing squad for supporting the notion that a coalition in Canada could be something not only legal but also profoundly democratic I take issue with your oversimplification of what is clearly a double standard drawn along partisan lines.”

Stan L. Says “Norman......Harper has a LOT to defend and the talking points he has sent out in the matter are palpable and destructive and in my mind to defend him is to defend a PM deliberately misleading the public about a legitimate democratic process of our government.

If he gets asked, Harper needs to suck it up and offer the right answer.....as much at it would kill him to actually say something Prime ministerial.....and not self-serving.”

Onceanislander comments, "Did Harper promise to send John Baird to the UK? He could advise them like he did Canadians in the halls of parliament, while his boss was on bended knee begging the GG for a reprieve that he didn't deserve.

Baird to reporter -- the GG hasn't the authority to approve a coalition, and "if she does, we'll go over her head, directly to Canadians."

Harper and Baird need to tell the Queen. Apparently, she's operating outside authority and precedence when she accepted Cameron and his coalition.

Mr. Spector - how can you support these toads who blatantly misinformed people about the legality of a coalition government? Oversimplification is right. This article reeks”

Keep talking Canadians. It is time to take a hard look at Ottawa.