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OUR OPINION
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Harper’s playing the numbers game
09/03/08
Well looks like we’re off to the polls October 14.
It appears Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be visiting governor General Michaelle Jean sometime this week and ask her to dissolve Parliament because it isn’t working.
Now The GG could in law refuse his request and ask Liberal leader Stephane Dion to form a government. But that’s unlikely. The request will be granted and the election will be on.
An election that really no one except Harper and his Conservatives want.
We were wondering why the PM suddenly did an about face and decided the time was right for an election for his party (even though he passed a law fixing election dates, the next one being October 2009).
The answer became clear following the release of a national poll on Monday.
A poll conducted for the Globe and Mail-CTV News finds the Tories sitting at 37% with the Liberals at 29%. The other parties were NDP at 17% and the Greens at 9%. We won’t include the bloc since they aren’t really a national party.
In the 2006 election the Tories received 36% to the Liberals 30%.
In any case these new numbers put the Conservatives within striking distance of a majority government, 40% plus being the magic number.
But more importantly for the Conservatives is the answer to the question “Which one of the political parties do you think is best able to manage the economy if there is an economic slowdown?’’
In response 38% of those polled picked the Conservatives versus 27% for the Liberals.
We’re sure Conservative strategists have similar numbers through the party’s own polls which is why Harper has decided to play hardball with the opposition.
The meetings with the opposition leaders over the weekend were, in our opinion, a smokescreen.
Harper knew very well that they couldn’t guarantee to support his government until October 2009. That is not how a minority government works. By the very fact it is a minority government it must make compromises with the opposition in order to stay in power.
It cannot be handed what Dion has called a “blank cheque”.
Of course Harper knew that going into the meetings but he can say he tried to avoid an election by simply having the meetings.
So we’re off to the polls soon.
What all this political manouevering will mean will be evident October 14.
We’re sure it won’t make a damn bit of difference and the country will still be in a minority government situation.
Only $400M poorer.
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