So after getting through a crisis of entirely their own making
...Trying to dodge a vote of non-confidence that would fell their minority government, the Liberals have offered to drop divisive environmental provisions from the budget bill.
Government House Leader Tony Valeri said Tuesday afternoon that if the finance committee recommends that so-called Kyoto provisions be removed from the bill, they'll be dropped.
Liberal insider (well, maybe former insider) Tom Axworthy suggests that PM Paul Martin go for a political Hail Mary by introducing a bold policy in the vien of Medicare or Health Care (he suggests a even larger Daycare program), bring the NDP into their government and make NDP Leader Jack Layton a Cabinet Minister. Yeah, he'll go for that.
I am not sure if this is lunacy and panic. Maybe a little bit of both. Mr. Axworthy thinks that MP Layton and possibly MP Duceppe can be bought off until late 2006. A Liberal can dream, can't he?
Update: Either the Toronto Star is dreaming the same dream or it is not the far-fetched.
...New Democrats, meanwhile, believe that voters want to see the federal politicians working out this dispute, and NDP advisers have been hinting that they might be willing to help the Liberals out in fighting back any combined Tory-Bloc assault, in return for some environmental or other concessions they might want to see in the budget bill.
Oh yeah, and Frank Grave of EKOS Research is on the "no one wants an election bandwagon". To which I say, you are a polling firm, for crying out loud, do a poll and then talk about it. But they must be like salespeople, coin operated, unless you feed them coin they don't do anything.
However, the Liberals may not be out the woods yet. Canadian Press is reporting that Conservatives will decide what to do after the testimony ban has been lifted, according to Deputy Conservative Leader Peter MacKay.
..."If they lift the publication ban, then and only then will we be able to assess how the public reacts to it - but the directions it's going right now, it's extremely serious," MacKay said.
"The more serious the allegation, the more serious the evidence that comes forward (will be) impacting on the fortunes of the government and our opinion on whether we would support any kind of motions that would trigger an election."
Update: The government will last past any non-confidence motion from the Bloc Quebecois. Looks like MP Stephen Harper wants to see how this will play out. It seems that the infamous ROC is waking up to what Quebecers already knew. The Conservatives have decided to let even more information out before they do anything. I guess the next "crisis" is once the publication bans for the testimonies of the "big three" is lifted.
..."There's nothing to indicate that we should be having an election immediately," Conservative leader Stephen Harper told reporters after a weekly meeting of Conservative members of Parliament.
But he also said: "I haven't made a judgement, and I don't think the public's made a judgement, that an election should be delayed indefinitely."
Earlier in the day the separatist Bloc Quebecois said it was considering moving a no-confidence motion on April 14, though it said this was not its primary option.
"We will not be calling a national election because the Bloc Quebecois tables a motion," Harper said. "We will not be led there by the Bloc."
Update: You watch the actual press scrum here. MP Harper has been criticized in the past for being too bland (I may have done it myself) but I have to give him credit this time around. People from all stripes, media, politicians and bloggers have been whipping themselves into a frenzy over a potential election (again, guilty as charged) but MP Harper is taking the slower path. As I mentioned above, they will wait until the "big three" have testified. Also, there has not been a public poll released based on these latest revelations, let alone the reaction to the Conservative convention. So no election for several weeks. Months is a different story though.
This was a good statement.
...He said he wants to be the prime minister of all Canadians, not just those outside Quebec.
"It's the people of Canada, from one end of the country to the other, who have to decide that the time has come to get beyond the debate in Quebec between corruption and separation," said Harper.
"We've got to have some other kind of option."
And this is smart as well.
...Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said Wednesday that he is pleased that he has found an ally in federal Conservative Leader Stephen Harper in his plea for fair treatment from Ottawa.
Mr. Harper initiated talks with Mr. McGuinty last week over the gap between what Ontario contributes to the federal treasury and what it receives from Ottawa. His overture comes after Prime Minister Paul Martin's government rebuffed Mr. McGuinty's request for a meeting between the federal and Ontario Liberal caucuses.
"I'm trying to treat this as a non-partisan issue," Mr. McGuinty told reporters Wednesday morning. "I'd love to get all-party support on Parliament Hill."
