In Canada, we get our dark orange the honest way
The Liberals and NDP have apparently decided to work more or less together for the next couple of years until of course any one party finds reasons to not continue to work more or less together.
Like, say, if they disagree on something.
The leader of the Conservative party issued a statement decrying this “coalition,” saying Canadians didn’t vote for an NDP government, this is just a “power grab” and nothing but “back-door socialism.”
Yes, all the jokes about threatening us with a good time have been made. I will refrain from adding to that.
I understand the job of the Opposition is to oppose, which must be very aggravating some days. Still, I need to bicker juuuuust a touch.
First of all, whatever loosey-goosey arrangement the NDP and Liberals have is not a coalition. In parliamentary governance, a coalition means members of the parties involved share cabinet positions and are thus part of the executive branch. This is not the case here. We just have two parties saying they’ll support each other until they decide otherwise.
Second of all, I’m not sure what power is being grabbed but I’d just like to remind elected representatives that they are the ones with the actual real genuine power to stop whatever grab there is by organizing enough MPs to vote against it in Parliament.
But the thing that gets my goat about this is the Conservatives complaining that Canadians didn’t vote for NDP government. Like, obviously that’s true.
If you take a minute to look at the results of the last federal election, you will notice that Canadian voters chose a minority Liberal government (with 157 seats) that can be propped up either by the NDP (24 seats), the Conservatives (121 seats) or the Bloc (32 seats).
Canadians, you could definitely argue, chose to vote for politicians to work together to get things done more and spout nonsense less. A loose agreement between two parties to do exactly that so long as there aren’t significant reasons not to is, I submit, exactlywhat Canadians want and voted for not six months ago.
