Justin Trudeau states what should be obvious. There is no “national unity” crisis. It’s nothing but manufactured bullshit on the part of the Conservatives. The formal agreement between the coalition partners explicitly states that issues surrounding sovereignty aren’t even on the table for at least eighteen months.
And what can one possibly say to this sort of inflammatory nonsense?
Ontario MP Bob Dechert accused the Liberals of trying to destroy the country by aligning with the separatist Bloc.
“They’re getting into bed with the separatists,” he said. “They’ve actually written a deal giving the separatists a veto over every decision of the Canadian government. That is as close to treason and sedition as I can imagine.”
Appalling. Is there absolutely no depth to which Stephen Harper and the Conservatives won’t stoop in order to hold onto power?
28 Comments
December 3, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Appalling. Is there absolutely no depth to which Stephen Harper and the Conservatives won’t stoop in order to hold onto power?
I think doing this kind of bullshit when they had power got them into trouble also…
December 3, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Day lied about his attempt at an accord with BQ.
Harper lied about Canadian flags not being present at Coalition signing ceremony.
Harper lied about his attempt at a coalition with the BQ.
Harper recorded an opposition caucus meeting.
Harper uses major economic crisis as a chance to crush opposition.
The question isn’t why does any one support the coalition. The question is why doesn’t everyone?
December 3, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Justin Trudeau! Wheeee!
I look forward to when the first question he’s asked is what he thinks, not what his father would have thought.
December 3, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Funny, I just watched Jean Lapierre say that Quebec is just waiting for one more Quebec bashing by a rednecker – and sovereignty will be an issue.
Harper didn’t get the results he wanted from Quebec – so to hell with them.
Harper is creating a unity crisis.
December 3, 2008 at 3:08 pm
I suppose we should just take those people who not quite a month ago where vowing never to form a coalition at face value too then? There is zero credibility left anywhere in Parliament. No one is trustworthy or honest. Any claims otherwise are purely driven by partisanship. Enough of this madness.
December 3, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Never say never.
I think that should be carved in stone someplace.
December 3, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Harper is shooting himself in the foot big time. If he ever wants a majority he will need Quebec votes, and the game he’s playing right now isn’t going to help him.
December 3, 2008 at 3:21 pm
It’s like everything the Harperites do. The more they talk, the worse it gets.
I caught Deb Gray on teevee this morning and should looked really…well…appalled.
December 3, 2008 at 3:25 pm
On Politics this afternoon, Travers and Lessard were saying that at the recent convention in Winnipeg, the Conservatives had pretty much “written off” Quebec and decided instead they’d get the votes they needed for their majority from “ethnic” voters instead.
Not sure if that’s actually the case.
December 3, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Ti-guy:
I am intriqued. Appalled at what Stephen Harper was doing or appalled at the idea of a coalition?
December 3, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Trudeau is right. To the people of Quebec the economy is more important then separatism at the moment.
Why interviews like this don’t get air time over some of the crap I’ve seen today I have no idea.
December 3, 2008 at 3:41 pm
I am intriqued. Appalled at what Stephen Harper was doing or appalled at the idea of a coalition?
Just appalled. She recommended that all them be locked in a room and not come out until they come to some sort of agreement.
Reformers like Deb Gray had integrity, which is why she’s no longer in the Harper Party.
December 3, 2008 at 3:47 pm
this clip needs to be circulated as much as possible. merci.
December 3, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Integrity? Puh-lease. Like how she made a big show of rejecting the MP pension – and opted back in just before she wouldn’t be able to anymore?
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2001/01/25/grey_pension010125.html
Hypocrites don’t come any bigger then Deb Grey.
December 3, 2008 at 3:51 pm
[...] (h/t Red Tory) [...]
December 3, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Just watching Harper on the teevee right now.
Hilarious.
He sounds just pathetic.
December 3, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Hey … there are no Canadian flags behind Harper!
Snerd
December 3, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Say … What is all that clumping going on in the background. Sounds like someone with wooden clogs going up and down wooden stairs?
Snerd
December 3, 2008 at 4:11 pm
REd: “… He sounds just pathetic.”
Yah! CBC was wonder which Harper was going to show up … I guess it was the “People Pleader”
I guess when spin is your content, you gotta go with your ‘content’.
Snerd
December 3, 2008 at 4:14 pm
All the clumping … Could it have been the movers?
Snerd
December 3, 2008 at 4:17 pm
I’m surprised he didn’t wear his sweater vest.
I guess I should see if the clip is available at the PMO’s website…
December 3, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Well, Red, here’s my version typed in about 30 seconds even before he was finished. It sums it pretty accurately and comprehensively:
“We’re good guys. We’re working on a plan. We have open doors. I smile. See, I just did it again.
Oops, a turn for the worse. Dark clouds overhead. Evil people want to destroy Canada.
I won’t let them. Evil Evil. Fear.”
December 3, 2008 at 4:25 pm
If this is all “treason & sedition” why can’t Steverino declare martial law? Just because Bush didn’t do it doesn’t mean he can’t.
December 3, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Boy, how does one handle all that new information?
Snerd
December 3, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Did I just hear Duceppe’s translator say, “…Stephen Harpie …”?
Snerd
December 3, 2008 at 5:26 pm
I’m surprised he didn’t wear his sweater vest.
I’m convinced that in 20 years time, historians will agree that his failure to wear his sweater vest was the last straw for many Canadians.
December 3, 2008 at 5:27 pm
[...] signing off. There’s no unity or coalition crisis. This is a phony crisis, stared by Harper in attempt to regain power by dividing his political [...]
December 3, 2008 at 5:46 pm
So, when do the camps open Generaloberst Bob Dechert?
The conservatives are following a strategy that could easily lead to Quebec separation.
* They talk down and mock french speakers (like Dion) who are not fluently bilingual.
* They treat the majority of MPs elected from Quebec, sovereigntists, as an infection that must be shunned.
* They say advocation of sovereignty is not just a political position they respectfully disagree with, but is certainly criminal, supassed only by what is considered the ultimate crime, treason.
* They do not international climate treaties, supported strongly in quebec.
* They are disinterested in international issues in general. Haiti and Congo were absent from the Conservatives’ radar.
* The conservatives cynically stoke the fires of Western alienation, as well as other regional gripes, and then claim to act to diffuse them.
* The conservatives are very interested in increasing the power of provinces, and diminishing Ottawa’s influence in provincial or regional affaires. (Energy and climate issues, wheat board, senate elections, Quebec UN representation, enforcement of the Canada Health act.)
Why would the conservatives do this? Because they know that if Quebec separates, their power base: anglo, western, rich, and protestant, would be proportionally larger in a Canada sans Quebec. The Liberals, by contrast, have the most to lose from Quebec separating.