Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Unholy Alliance
THE gravest threat to Canada’s economic fortunes has overnight become the unconscionable pact the federal opposition parties have struck to defeat the Harper government in the hopes of forming a coalition government and saving their $27 million worth of tax-supported allowances. They invite a self-fulfilling prophecy by claiming such action is required because the country is in much worse shape than the government had reported to the country and the world in its economic update Thursday.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper most certainly can be faulted for seeking unannounced to pull the comfortable financial rug out from under Liberals, NDP and the Bloc Québécois, but that was as nothing compared to the peril they create for the economy with the unholy and ludicrous alliance they are forging to try to usurp power.
The proposed alliance is unholy because New Democrat and Liberal federalists will make common cause with separatists, and will join to bring a party sworn to the destruction of a united Canada into power in Ottawa. It was bad enough that the Chrétien Liberal government, in order to ensure it got from taxpayers money it felt entitled to spend on party activities, extended the cash grab to the Bloc and thus ensured its survival.
The alliance is ludicrous because the only thing the three partners have in common is that they are not Conservatives. Should they succeed, they would be led by Stéphane Dion, who doesn't command respect even within his own party and who was rejected by Canadians in such an emphatic way that his party suffered its worst defeat ever just six weeks ago. His first lieutenant would be NDP Leader Jack Layton, who believes the way to attack uncertain times is by severely taxing business. His second lieutenant would be Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe, who would be demanding an equal voice for Quebec and creating international doubt about who speaks for Canada.
It is impossible to believe that should the alliance defeat the government that it could present a credible argument to Gov. Gen Michaëlle Jean that three disparate factions somehow suddenly agree on tax policy, fiscal policy monetary policy and all the other levers of power that must be used in ways that inspire confidence at home but, more importantly at this time, in international markets.
If they somehow, incredibly, passed that sniff test and formed what clearly would be an unstable coalition government, one that could collapse at any time or one that could be blackmailed into making bad choices or decisions, markets that already are more jittery than they have been in memory would most certainly react, and it wouldn't be pretty.
That the opposition would even discuss risking all this in a collective act of hubris is all the evidence Canadians should need to conclude the alliance is unfit to govern. Prime Minister Harper Friday urged Canadians to send that signal to the opposition parties. He was right to do so. Canadians, however, should also contact Conservatives and demand they find a way to allow the opposition parties to climb down from the precipice to which they seem intent on taking the country.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 29, 2008 A18
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