Davenport MP Mario Silva says party will respect GG's decision

Print

E-mail

Text

Mario Silva, MP for Davenport, said the Liberals are disappointed in Governor General Michaelle Jean's decision to grant Prime Minister Stephen Harper's request to prorogue Parliament until January.

"We thought we'd made a strong case," Silva told The Villager today, responding to the Governor General's unprecedented decision during a phone interview from his office in Ottawa, "but it's her decision and we respect it."

However, now that government is on hold, there is no legitimate agenda, no new economic stimulus, said Silva.

"Everything has been brought to a halt at a time when we need the government the most," he said.

Today, Liberal Leader Stephane Dion, New Democrat Leader Jack Layton and Bloc Qu�©becois Leader Gilles Duceppe each sent a petition to Jean, informing her that the House of Commons has lost confidence in the government. Dion writes that the majority of MPs believe that a viable alternative government can be formed within the present House of Commons.

Gerard Kennedy, MP for Parkdale-High Park, called the three opposition parties' agreement, to form a coalition cabinet, an "extraordinary" development on Monday, just moments before Liberal Leader Dion held a press conference in Ottawa to announce the formation of an alternative government.

"These are extraordinary developments, but we find ourselves in an extraordinary place," said the MP and newly-minted Industry Critic. "The opposition government has acted responsibly."

Dion, Layton and Duceppe announced Dec. 1 that indeed an agreement had been reached among the opposition parties to support a cooperative government. Liberal caucus members agreed unanimously on Monday that Dion would stay on to lead a Liberal-NDP coalition, after the two parties reached a tentative agreement to replace the minority Conservative government if it failed.

"He would be replaced after the leadership race on the schedule we have now," Kennedy said.

"Mr. Harper stands alone among world leaders," Kennedy told The Villager, adding that this led to "discussions blossoming into an actual proposal," an alternative government in way of a coalition.

Had Harper done what he was supposed to do when he was elected and worked with the opposition parties, said Silva, this situation could have been avoided. Silva said Harper tends to step on them rather than offer them a hand.

"He has been bullying the opposition for a long time. We said 'enough is enough,'" Silva said. "When you're a minority government, you have to work with all sides. He has not done this."

In Canada, we don't vote for a government, we vote for parliamentarians or parliament, Silva said. As a minority government, one has to have the confidence of the opposition.

"If that fails, then there has to be an election, but how realistic is that? There's been three elections in four years," Silva said. The parties have put aside their partisan issues in the interest of the rest of Canada, Kennedy said.

Dion had informed Jean of the agreement and asked that she exercise her constitutional authority to appoint him Leader of the Official Opposition to form a new collaborative government. However, the coalition now has its hands tied, as Parliament will only resume in January.

In a statement, Harper called the announcement "a shocking display of undemocratic arrogance," before pleading his case before Jean to prorogue Parliament.

"The new socialist-separatist-driven coalition is an attack on Canada's democracy as the proposed leader of this unelected, illegitimate, coalition remains St�©phane Dion, whom Canadians would still reject as Prime Minister were another election held today," he said. "Canadians did not give St�©phane Dion a mandate to lead Canada. He was personally rejected by voters just as he was subsequently personally rejected by his party. Nor did Canadians give the Liberals a mandate to form a coalition with the NDP. In fact, the Liberals explicitly promised there would be no coalition with the NDP."

The proposed coalition government would have been comprised of 24 members of cabinet with Dion as prime minister; 18 Liberal cabinet ministers, six NDP cabinet ministers; six NDP parliamentary secretaries and two caucuses that would sit side by side in the House of Commons.

The NDP agreed to support the collaborative government for 30 months and the Bloc Qu�©becois agreed to support it until June 30, 2010.â�¨