Well said, Al.

Here's my prediction: If the GG approves a request by Fat Stevie and the Harpies to prorogue Parliament until the new year, they will spend the time coming up with a budget that includes the removal of public financing for political parties, but otherwise addresses the economic crisis with enough sanity that the opposition parties will have to vote for it or prove the Harpies' right that the opposition is just greedy.

It's almost enough to get one blogging again!

Don!!!

You need to get to Rideau Hall yourself and give them all a good talking to.

They all need a nice chicken fat oatmeal cookie.

Deb Grey following Ed Broadbent on the CBC is great.

By the way, Deb, my vote was in part a vote to allocate the public funding $1.95. Run on that policy if you want to change the meaning of my vote.

"Three failed visions of the country competing."

That makes so much sense. It is exactly what is happening.

First step in the seven week process - Dion needs to quit in favour of an interim leader.

I am both shocked and pleased that the GG accept Harper's wish. I am very curious to why the GG accepted prorogation so quickly, without even talking to the coalition.

Has she decided that the coalition is a joke? Surely if the government falls on January 27 then she would not let the coalition govern, or else she would just let them govern now.

Dion is in a world of hurt.

Tracy --

Either granting it or refusing it would have been proper. Meeting the opposition leaders before making her decision, however, would have been highly improper -- only the PM is allowed to advise her on those decisions. (Mind you, breaking a convention isn't sanctionable, so she can do what she likes.)

"Tracy" is a bot, Ben. Doesn't really exist.

tracy, I think there are some flaws in your analysis. The GG is advised by the First Minister of her government, in this case, Harper. I predicted 2 days ago that she would follow his advice. He obviously advised that Parliament should be prorogued and she heeded this advice. Harper could have advised that he felt he had the confidence of the house and continued the parliamentary session. If the house voted against him, the GG would have had the option of asking the coalition to form government but Harper did not let it get to that point. He intervened by making a request that parliament be suspended, saving the embarassment and difficluties of losing a confidence vote. Or he could have advised that he had already lost the confidence of the house and suggested another election. Her action was dictated by the overriding convention of acting on the advice of the PM. As Ben suggests, it would have been improper to have talked to the coalition and there would have been no reason to do so, their proposal having been made quite clear in advance. As mentioned above, the PM's request for prorogation essentially pre-empted other considerations. Whatever the GG's personal opinion of the coalition, I think we can consider it to have expired with the prorogation of Parlaiment. The coalition may renew itself in this interim period on the same or some other basis. If Harper leads Parliament to the brink again he has similar choices: He can ensure that he has the confidence of the house in advance of any confidence votes or he can "roll the dice" with a motion that the opposition parties (who together have a majority of seats) cannot support. Then, with the government falling, the GG could consider the options of a general election or asking if there is a viable coalition among the opposition parties and letting them see if they can win the confidence of the House.

Al, what do you mean?

"She" is a computer program leaving the same message on blogs across the land...

Another example of the Tory propaganda war. How terribly pathetic that they are using robotized internet trolling as part of a communications strategy. What an insult to the voter. If Harper supporters are really digital bots, kinda makes one wonder what all this "real Canadian" BS was all about. LOL. At least I am a human being :)!

Alan:

I am? If I were I'd be spamming alot more. I leave pretty much the same message cause that's my opinion.
I've visited maybe 10 blogs today.

Hans:

Your prediction is better than mine then. I thought the GG would give the coalition a chance and not prorogue parliament simply to save Harper.

I cannot see the coalition being a viable option in January.

Don't bot me again, tracy. I delete that sort of spam usually.

Having a capital "T" in your name would help, too.

Blog etiquette dictates that you at least do your interlocutors the courtesy of typing out a unique comment for them, if you want unique responses.

***

Me, I can't see the government surviving in January -- I think we're headed to the 41st general election.

Stark choice -- Harper or the coalition.

There you go. A capital T. :)
I didn't bot you. I don't even know how.

One of your collegues Sean even emailed me yesterday and we had a quick email conversation.

I apologize for any trouble.

What Ben said. No problem but cut and paste commenting is an (unintentional in your case) insult to conversation.

Also, I want a single slate - I want to vote for the Grit-Dipper cause.

I love how Alan keeps control of the comments here. I wish Macleans would do the same thing.

The GG pretty much had to acede to Harper's request. Her responsibility is to take the advice of the prime minister and to use her power's sparingly, if at all, and even then in the least interventionist way possible. To have said no would have been none of these things.

The coalition will not last to the end of January, at least not with Dion, or with its resolve to topple Harper. Already Dion took the smallest of steps backward today, saying that there would have to be "collosal change" for him to be able to support the budget. Yesterday night he was adamant about taking down Harper no matter what.

Dion, like losers everywhere (see all Toronto sports franchises), was only able to find his resolve and start having some success once there was really nothing left to lose. Then he overplayed his hand, which ensures his total failure.

What Matthew said, and then Al before that minus the me voting for them part.

What David said. I want to vote for them but I only will if the platform makes any sense.

And the only thing that could have made Dion's "message from planet Zayton 12" better is if the audio was at 37% of normal and no one really could hear what he was actually saying.

My idea for the coalition splinter slogan: "Hey Hey Ho Ho Mr. Dion's Got To Go!"

A single slate? As in the 1st or 2nd place Liberal/NDP MPs running in all ridings under one platform? Even against the Bloc? I think that's too much for Layton and the NDP as a party to give up.

Thinking about this more, I wanted to add that even though the GG made the right choice, Harper's decision to ask her was pretty desperate and a bit cowardly. The Lesser Trudeau's analogy of pulling the fire alarm before your exam is apt - it also smacks a bit of 13th and 14th century Kings refusing to meet Parliament for long stretches simply because they didn't want to deal with them.

And despite all of that, I think it was ultimately the responsible thing to do. To move further along the road of constitutional crisis, to potentially throw the government to a weak and divisive coaltion could have been disastrous; and everyone needs some time to cool off, think, and hopefully examine their own positions not just that of their opponents. Proroguing parliament, I'm coming to think was the best choice.

Another remarkable contradiction of Canadian governance - that a decision that is on the surface irresponsible and desperate is ultimately the responsible choice for the country.

Well, "capital T", if they are not in for a penny they are not in for a pound. They have to run a different campaign to make a difference.

I see 6 to 10 seats in Ontario's 905 that go coalition as long as the vote is not split. With the loss of 5 seats in Quebec due to his chain jerking, Harper could well be opposition leader by April.

The "Coalition" is dead guys. Dead simply because the Liberal Party realizes that it is electoral death to be seen as in league with the Bloc. And they are hearing this from their constituents. Defections have already begun. Will the defectors be kicked from caucus? Maybe, but I can't imagine Dion getting that job done.

Harper and the CPC have six weeks to a) kick the living bejesus out of the Grits for consorting with the Bloc, b) appoint assorted Liberals to remunerative occupations outside the House of Commons, c) prepare an election budget, d) dare the Opposition to defeat that budget.

Then the Grits are also dead.

I'm a colleague? I didn't know Genx40 was a corporation. I want my damn shares certificate!!!

I for one liked the fact that JC set up the $1.95 in fed funding in the first place. It got rid of huge donations being made by special interest groups. One would think that the Condroids would have liked that.

I see 6 of the next seven weeks being used to plan and work towards a better organized coalition. Why not? Also, if Stevie Blunder wants to be Undemocratic and try to shut down a parliament again, damned if I am not going to write a huge analogy on a new blog about similarities between Steve and Darth Sidius. Cue the Imperial March music!

"Then the Grits are also dead."

Why yes, yes they are.

Bye Grits.

LOL at Jay's statement.

Mind you, it's very possible...

Well, I think they need to find their inner Elsie Wayne as any party that rejects its obligations in opposition to confront Government and seek to replace it does deserve to die. I think Jay is frankly off on a pipe dream on this point - not on the coalition but the death of the Liberals - but if he is right he is very right though not because of some flaw in the policy or some need of the majority of Canadians to be led by a small percentage of puritans fed by western resentment. But because they would have fundamentally ceased to be acting as politicians and have lost their capacity to act as politicians representing the constituency they obviously have had.

The course the Libs are on will lead them to Jay's pipe dream. The coalition died with the prorogation. I agree that Dion must go right now and an interim leader be found (i.e. not Iggy, Bob or Dom). Ken Dryden might be a good choice as an iconic figure of calmness during this trubulent time. If Dion goes the Libs can safely say "No coalition, we're re-grouping thanks" and then they can go, well, re-group. As for the Harper Tories, it would be good for the country and their own long-term credibility if they actually tried governing the country and working with Parliament to get a few things done. Jay might not get his pipe-dream if they do that but the country might get a few good policies and measures. Try it, Steve, you might actually like this governing thing, its what PMs do!

Thinking out loud: If the coalition dies over the next 6 weeks, it'll certainly be proof that the GG made the right decision, as it hardly speaks to the stability of the would-be replacement govt.

Total aside: I for one am tired of the west and their whinings. Okay, maybe not Manitoba, and definitely not BC, well, not all of BC. So I guess its just Alberta and Saskatchewan. But we never hear from Sask do we.. really. I guess I am jus ttired of Alberta.