Sober Second (Green) Thoughts on Support of "Coalition of the Left"
The extraordinary situation in parliament deserves a bit of balanced thought regarding what way out of this we Greens should support.
The Conservative Move:
The inclusion of the proposal to remove political party per vote funding in the fiscal update was irresponsibly partisan, and may be looked at in the future as one of the dumbest moves by a governing party ever.
The presentation of a fiscal view that apparently no analysts seem to find believable is hard to understand in any terms other than partisan, or misleading.
The lack of fiscal stimulus is debatable. I've heard what appears to be reasonable comments indicating Canada's fiscal situation, as well as the need to clearly understand the U.S. direction, seem to warrant a well thought out package rather than a quick one (I am far from being an economist, so I will stand done on this if better observation are presented).
The "Coalition" Move:
A strong response was warranted, but the question must be asked "Why did the Liberals not have this courage and resolve in the previous parliament on issues of principle?" One answer is that they did not have the opportunity to grab power, or the need to avoid financial disaster.
Are we happy with a coalition that necessarily includes (as the Conservatives are barking, I know), the support of the Bloc, at least formerly dedicated to the political destruction of Canada as a country?
Are we happy (if we truly believe that the Coalition is doing this in the best interests of Canadians as a whole) that this potential change of government cannot accelerate a stimulus package, it can only delay it due to the overhead of changing governments, and aligning interests in the coalition.
Are we aligned to the need to change our government via a parliamentary procedure, not an election (assuming this will be the case), as opposed to use of the majority in Parliament to force the minority Conservatives to be humbled, and to modify their presentation? If this was the only outcome, would the threat of toppling the government pass, the the hubris of Mr. Harper then return?
As a Green I am conflicted. it is choice between a belligerent power seeking Conservative government that is closer to our fiscal values, and an opportunistic and potentially unstable association of parties of the left that do not. This is the choice in a predicted economic downturn of the likes most of us have never seen.
Given the vote distribution that we saw in the recent election, I'm sure there are many Canadians in the same situation. I'm interested in reading Green discussion on this. Help me out!
- Murray Reeves's blog
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Very good points Murray and
Very good points Murray and they pretty much mirror my sentiments.
My hope is that Harper now realizes the leash he is on is much shorter than he originally thought. He can choose to make his mark in history either as a great conciliator or as the most self serving PM Canada has had the misfortune to elect.
I'm a disaffected social conservative who is quite happy to be a newly minted Green and I agree that some form of proportional representation has advantages to our antique "first past the post" system. However given that the Bloc will need to be part of a coalition the idea of having the agenda of Parliament controlled by a party that wants no part in my Canada greatly disturbs me. I don't consider a vote of non-confidence with the objective being to form such a coalition to be a better way to represent the will of Canadians. Just the opposite in fact. I'm disgusted at both sides in this drama.
With a recession now in process and deflationary pressures (aka job losses) looming the idea of running such a great country as Canada with such a dysfunctional coalition is asking for another $300 million election early in 2009. Enough already.
Better the devil you know than the devil you don't - at least till Q4 2009 or Q1 2010. :)
I have mixed feelings, but
but I tend to be in favour of this coalition.
Though there are certainly differences, there are many many values that the Greens share with the NDP, the Liberals, and the BLOC; not the least of which is a our solid respect for the environment and sustainability.
Because of this, I feel that the Coalition may very well make financial decisions that are heavily influenced by our common environmental concerns. If a stimulus package is executed, it will certainly be a 'Greenish' stimulus package.
Though running deficits is something to avoid, they may be occasionally necessary in hard times. Fortunately with Paul Martin - also a financial conservative and environmentally conscious - as a senior advisor to the coalition, we probably don't have that much to worry about, compared to any other reasonable scenario.
Therefore, given our choices, I believe the Green party should support the coalition.
Through what little I can gleen from the media on the coalition action plan, I noticed today that they have said 'cap and trade' is part of it. Though their plan may not be perfect, it certainly will address many of the Green Party's core issues more than the Harper vision of Canada.
I have learned a lot from
I have learned a lot from other Greens about many environmental issues despite having engaged in environmental activism myself during the late 70's and 80's, and I am still learning a lot. But it seems that when it comes to economics, politics, social and cultural issues the knowledgeable ecological thinking of so many Greens on environmental issues suddenly gets turned off, or at least not as coherent. For instance, why are so many of us so prone to frequently position the Green Party as right, left or center? The holistic and balanced thinking that is inherent in the word ecology means that we should not be thinking of ourselves along the spectrum that the linear world view uses. Even within that linear way of thinking, it it quite a stretch to refer the parties making up the coalition government in Ottawa as left wing. Being left or right, in an ecological way of thinking, has become obsolete.
Another positioning sentiment I have often heard is that the Greens are closer to Conservatives on fiscal matters than any other party. Hogwash!! I know that it has become part of the popular political mythology that Conservatives are more fiscally responsible than other parties but any close examination of Conservatives historically or even over the past 3 decades will show that this simply is not the case. And it has become abundantly clear that the current Conservative government in Canada certainly has no idea about what it means to be fiscally responsible. Fiscal prudence belongs to no one political party (well, except maybe the Greens, but then our rubber has not yet hit the road).
So I hope the posters above can stop wringing their hands about whether to support the coalition government taking over in Ottawa. Look, all five parties experienced a measure of loss in the last election. We did not get any seats in Parliament even though we increased our vote. Dion accepted the Liberal party loss like a gentleman, Jack is still wiping egg off his face and Duceppe realizes that Bloc support is melting away in Quebec. But the one person who has not accepted his loss (no majority and 170,000 less votes) is Stephen Harper and thus his irrational anger as reflected in the fiscal update last week. Plus he still does not get it. The man who encouraged Canadians to buy stock just a few days before the election doesn't see any need to provide any significant stimulus to the economy.
What is his answer? 'I'll teach those 8.4 million Canadians who did not vote for me about whose boss. I will take it out on the parties they voted for.' Who in their right mind could not lose confidence in leadership like that. In fact, I would not be surprised to see a few Conservative MP's cross the floor over the next few months. Maybe there still are some progressives left in that bunch who would be delighted to join a coalition of enlightened, environmentally concerned, people-oriented and democracy loving people. After all, there were more than 3 million Canadians who voted for Liberals, NDP, Bloc and Greens than voted for the Harper Conservatives. The coalition of the concerned certainly would be far more representative of ordinary Canadians than the Conservative Reform Alliance Party is.
Len Sawatsky
Why is the GPC unconditionally supporting the Coalition?
We are not the NDP. We are not the Liberal Party. We aren't the left. We are the Green Party. Why are we unconditionally throwing our support behind a coalition that has at its core, a massive economic stimulus package to prop up growth in the economy, and in particular in the manufacturing sector, auto and forestry.
How many members of our party work for GM? Not many I bet. How many of our members work for MacMillan Bloedel? Very few I imagine. I thought we believe in less consumption not more - and especially not artificially stimulated consumption. I thought we believe in sustainability not unlimited growth.
Are we unconditionally supporting the cutting of more trees and the building of more cars and more roads?
What the heck is going on?
Rob Brooks
Hull-Aylmer
Working with what we have
Hi, Rob. I think you raise a good point, particularly since it appears that the Liberal Green Shift has gone the way of tax free income trusts.
However, the only viable alternative is an election. The government does not have the confidence of the House of Commons, and I believe appropriately so. I don't think anyone wants an election. So the only way for this parliament to work is the coalition.
As a democratic exercise, it does represent a step in the right direction. The coalition achieved 54% of the popular vote and 53% of the seats and the government has 38% of the popular vote and 46% of the seats. Therefore, more voters are represented by the coalition than the Conservatives. Moreover, the government has acted in a manner which would suggest that they no intention of cooperating with anyone.
I think that, if they do a good job of it, it could be a good demonstration to Canadians that party cooperation is a productive idea.
Jim Johnston,
Lambton-Kent-Middlesex
Opinions expressed are my own