This is a difficult question because a timely budget is so needed. It is also necessary to have a good budget. Unfortunately, good is defined differently by just about everyone. I don’t believe Ignatieff should have turned it down outright but I do believe he should have required significant changes before approval.
Regarding an earlier post blaming Quebec for the Conservative’s fragile minority government, each opposition MP has the same vote in the House of Commons as a Conservative MP, including Block and NDP members. Block MPs represent only Quebec but as far as I am aware, Quebec voters are as Canadian as Alberta voters and they have the same rights to representation in our government.
I am not afraid of the Block. I am afraid of those people who seem overly concerned about the Block and especially those who would use partisan politics to misinform other Canadians into believing that Harper is the rightful King of Canada. Don’t blame others for wanting an alternative to Harper. That will only result in animosity from Quebec and separation talks from multiple fronts, even Alberta.
Only a majority government would have given Harper a dictatorship over Canadians. Short only a few seats, this is not the case. A united opposition is actually stronger in the House and more representative of the voters because together they do have enough seats to form a majority government. The three opposition parties are ideologically well left of the Conservative party making them a closer fit than any one of them with the Conservative Party. The Conservatives are far right leaning, though they have been attempting to hide this in order to be more digestible among a generally center-left Canadian population. On this last point, they do seem to be having some success.
Michael is doing fine. Rhoda; You cannot speak for all Canadians, and parliament is not a closed shop. 1. The Liberal MP's were voted in by their constituents and as such, have the legal right to disagree with the government. 2. Michael 'is' an elected MP. He was also next in line in his party leadership campaign, when Dion resigned it was proper for him to be appointed interim leader, he is doing very well in his position, in holding the present government accountable for their actions, (The Harper government can no longer bully the HOC) and, if Ignatieff continues to do his job , there is no doubt his appointment will be confirmed.
The Liberals were not voted in...they have a leader now that is not elected and is still in limbo as far as voters are concerned...he has not been an entity in the party and should not have a vote as to our government. We did elect a Conservative Government - would have been more a majority except for Quebec (another issue in our system of voting). Layton is so "power hungry" he is laughable, except for the damage he does saying he is for the 'working people' - get real!
Zorine L. Johnson - 16 years ago
I am against having 40 billion $ deficits, as in my own life I do not live on borrowed money!!! If this fiasco would be solved by money being given to the banks, I'm all for it !! I do not believe it will go away by this huge deficit!
I am already showing at least 10,000 dollar loss in my RIF and don't see anything to help me with that.. But the CEO's who caused this collapse walk away with 18 billion bonuses !! We are being held to ransom, and only good gov't can help us through ,it seemed the conservatives were well on the way to good gov't .but the crying babies have to have their bottle.. ! we need more restraint which is so foriegn to the ME generation.!! But we definitely don't need another election !!
Ken Murray - 16 years ago
No. He want's a longer political Life.
Curt Halen - 16 years ago
Yes! he should have brought down the Harper government, as it does not have the confidence of the majority of Parliament. To do less is a mockery of our Canadian democratic system.
Then, Ignatieff would have been in a position to advise the Governor General that he and the Liberals were in a position to govern with the support of a majority of Parliament (i.e. with the NDP, Bloc and even with some of the Conservative members not happy with Harper's bizarre leadrship of late, in a truly non-partisan manner even Obama would envy).
Igor Sherman - 16 years ago
He should have demanded that Harper cancel the scheduled start of taxation for income trusts, since this was a liberal position when the legislation was introduced.
Caper - 16 years ago
The amendment should have included the issue of equal pay for equal work.. I believe that this would have not caused any great problems for Harper and would have shown Canadians that the Liberals are on top of the issues. This is not a serious Financial problem for government.
D Quesnel - 16 years ago
No, what I think it shows is that the Liberals are not ready to challenge for an election. NDP, as usual, condemn everything. It is time for Jack to retire and let somebody with good ideas take over. Aren't we all tired of the opposition just knocking down anything that the party in place does? We have, in my opinion too many parties. Especially the one Federal party that does not represent anybody not in the province of Quebec. How can that be a Federal party when they don't even try to represent the majority of Canadians? For this reason and this reason only I do not like the idea of them getting $1.95 per vote to advance their agenda against federalism.
Judith Caldwell - 16 years ago
The politicians took alot of time to review the issues with their constituents & thus the result of the budget...they listened...& so has Michael & sensibly so. We don't need another election, we don't need a coalition, & we need to see parliament working together...the people voted in the Conservatives...now is the time to make it work!!!!!
This is a difficult question because a timely budget is so needed. It is also necessary to have a good budget. Unfortunately, good is defined differently by just about everyone. I don’t believe Ignatieff should have turned it down outright but I do believe he should have required significant changes before approval.
Regarding an earlier post blaming Quebec for the Conservative’s fragile minority government, each opposition MP has the same vote in the House of Commons as a Conservative MP, including Block and NDP members. Block MPs represent only Quebec but as far as I am aware, Quebec voters are as Canadian as Alberta voters and they have the same rights to representation in our government.
I am not afraid of the Block. I am afraid of those people who seem overly concerned about the Block and especially those who would use partisan politics to misinform other Canadians into believing that Harper is the rightful King of Canada. Don’t blame others for wanting an alternative to Harper. That will only result in animosity from Quebec and separation talks from multiple fronts, even Alberta.
Only a majority government would have given Harper a dictatorship over Canadians. Short only a few seats, this is not the case. A united opposition is actually stronger in the House and more representative of the voters because together they do have enough seats to form a majority government. The three opposition parties are ideologically well left of the Conservative party making them a closer fit than any one of them with the Conservative Party. The Conservatives are far right leaning, though they have been attempting to hide this in order to be more digestible among a generally center-left Canadian population. On this last point, they do seem to be having some success.
Michael is doing fine. Rhoda; You cannot speak for all Canadians, and parliament is not a closed shop. 1. The Liberal MP's were voted in by their constituents and as such, have the legal right to disagree with the government. 2. Michael 'is' an elected MP. He was also next in line in his party leadership campaign, when Dion resigned it was proper for him to be appointed interim leader, he is doing very well in his position, in holding the present government accountable for their actions, (The Harper government can no longer bully the HOC) and, if Ignatieff continues to do his job , there is no doubt his appointment will be confirmed.
The Liberals were not voted in...they have a leader now that is not elected and is still in limbo as far as voters are concerned...he has not been an entity in the party and should not have a vote as to our government. We did elect a Conservative Government - would have been more a majority except for Quebec (another issue in our system of voting). Layton is so "power hungry" he is laughable, except for the damage he does saying he is for the 'working people' - get real!
I am against having 40 billion $ deficits, as in my own life I do not live on borrowed money!!! If this fiasco would be solved by money being given to the banks, I'm all for it !! I do not believe it will go away by this huge deficit!
I am already showing at least 10,000 dollar loss in my RIF and don't see anything to help me with that.. But the CEO's who caused this collapse walk away with 18 billion bonuses !! We are being held to ransom, and only good gov't can help us through ,it seemed the conservatives were well on the way to good gov't .but the crying babies have to have their bottle.. ! we need more restraint which is so foriegn to the ME generation.!! But we definitely don't need another election !!
No. He want's a longer political Life.
Yes! he should have brought down the Harper government, as it does not have the confidence of the majority of Parliament. To do less is a mockery of our Canadian democratic system.
Then, Ignatieff would have been in a position to advise the Governor General that he and the Liberals were in a position to govern with the support of a majority of Parliament (i.e. with the NDP, Bloc and even with some of the Conservative members not happy with Harper's bizarre leadrship of late, in a truly non-partisan manner even Obama would envy).
He should have demanded that Harper cancel the scheduled start of taxation for income trusts, since this was a liberal position when the legislation was introduced.
The amendment should have included the issue of equal pay for equal work.. I believe that this would have not caused any great problems for Harper and would have shown Canadians that the Liberals are on top of the issues. This is not a serious Financial problem for government.
No, what I think it shows is that the Liberals are not ready to challenge for an election. NDP, as usual, condemn everything. It is time for Jack to retire and let somebody with good ideas take over. Aren't we all tired of the opposition just knocking down anything that the party in place does? We have, in my opinion too many parties. Especially the one Federal party that does not represent anybody not in the province of Quebec. How can that be a Federal party when they don't even try to represent the majority of Canadians? For this reason and this reason only I do not like the idea of them getting $1.95 per vote to advance their agenda against federalism.
The politicians took alot of time to review the issues with their constituents & thus the result of the budget...they listened...& so has Michael & sensibly so. We don't need another election, we don't need a coalition, & we need to see parliament working together...the people voted in the Conservatives...now is the time to make it work!!!!!
Shows Canadians like Ignatieff's judgement!