My Letter to the Governor-General

[Dennis Ruhl]

Your Excellency;

You may have to make one of the toughest decisions to make in Canadian history very shortly. Perhaps I can provide some useful advice. The Canadian people just indicated their preference in a national election and now the people may be asked to accept a coalition government for which no-one voted.

There is no precedent in the King-Byng affair. Mackenzie King lost the election but refused to resign. It was very clear that the only choice was to allow Meighan, the winner, a chance to govern. The situation at hand is less straight forward. The people have just spoken and clearly prefer Mr. Harper to be prime minister and more clearly chose Mr. Dion not to be. If Parliament has no confidence in the leadership, another election must be called. It would be atrocious if the leader of a party that gained 25% of the constituencies and 26% of the popular vote were allowed to govern. It's time again for the people to decide.

Yours truly

Dennis Ruhl

[Dennis Ruhl]

There seems to be a coup d'etat happening in Canada. The losers didn't like the results of the recent election and as the Conzervatives are 6 seats short of a majority, the Liberals, socialist New Democrats, and the Quebec separatists led by a Communist decided they wanted to take over. They feigned outrage at economc mismanagement, although Canada has no recession, but a recording surfaced showing long-term planning. The citizenry is outraged. I would really hope the governor-general would call new elections instead of putting these power hungry losers in charge.

[Dennis Ruhl]

The Governor-General agreed to the Prime Minister's request to porogue Parliament to January 27 thus avoiding a confidence motion. It was only about a week before Christmas break. At that time we get to see whether a coalition of Liberals, socialists, communists and treasonous bastards takes over. I'll have to wait before I consider buying an Alberta idependence party membership. The disfunctionality in Canada may not be fatal yet.

[Dennis Ruhl]

Public opinion polls are in and the people are upset that the government of Canada could be overturned by a backroom deal shortly after they stated their preference in an election. The word is that incompetent Liberal leader Dion is scheduled to be unceremoniously dumped by his caucus shortly. The Liberals are 20% behind the Conservatives and the New democrats have gone from 18% down to 14%. I think the crisis will be over for the moment. As a Conservative I'd love a new election to come from this stupidity.

[Jimmy]

I watched the debates on C-Span. I really like Jack Layton. I also liked Elizabeth Mays.

[Dennis Ruhl]

Originally Posted by Jimmy

I watched the debates on C-Span. I really like Jack Layton. I also liked Elizabeth Mays.

I despise them both.

[James Grey]

Originally Posted by Dennis Ruhl

There seems to be a coup d'etat happening in Canada. The losers didn't like the results of the recent election and as the Conzervatives are 6 seats short of a majority, the Liberals, socialist New Democrats, and the Quebec separatists led by a Communist decided they wanted to take over. They feigned outrage at economc mismanagement, although Canada has no recession, but a recording surfaced showing long-term planning. The citizenry is outraged. I would really hope the governor-general would call new elections instead of putting these power hungry losers in charge.

Sounds like Zimbabwe. Be careful as the English have been involved in Canada as in Zimbabwe, and Mugabe states that the cholera is part of a germ warfare attack against Zimbabwe to 'cleanse' the population

[Dennis Ruhl]

Originally Posted by James Grey

Mugabe states that the cholera is part of a germ warfare attack against Zimbabwe to 'cleanse' the population

I'm sure the UK was relieved when they could finally be done with Rhodesia 30 years ago and it could move on to the prosperity the colonial imperialists were denying it so it could thrive under local leadership.

There is nothing more pathetic than hearing a group of ex-colonials whining about how the English stole some never existing wealth. And rememember the colonial empires mostly ended 50 years ago.

[Robert J.]

For what it is worth, I have been reading this thread. I just don't know anything about Canadian politics to comment either way.

[Dennis Ruhl]

Originally Posted by Dennis Ruhl

There is nothing more pathetic than hearing a group of ex-colonials whining about how the English stole some never existing wealth. And rememember the colonial empires mostly ended 50 years ago.

I'm not including India in my rather harsh observation. It is recognized as having wealth akin to European standards at the time of colonization.

[Dennis Ruhl]

Originally Posted by Robert J.

For what it is worth, I have been reading this thread. I just don't know anything about Canadian politics to comment either way.

The prime minister is not elected to his position by the people. Normally the leader of the largest party in Parliament is asked by the governor-general to be prime minister. He must maintain the confidence of the house by winning all direct votes of confidence which are regularly introduced by the opposition. Government money bills are also considered votes of confidence. Once Parliament expresses non-confidence in the government it must resign, usually recommending that the governor-general call an election. It is a matter of debate whether the governor-general could ask an opposition leader to form a government instead. There is a tradition that the governor-general is obligated to do whatever the prime-minister asks but it is also true that the governor-general has absolute power in this area and there could be no such thing as an appeal to the courts.

The governor-general is appointed by the queen, for a 5 year term, on the recommendation of the prime minister. He/she is supposed to be above politics. Our current governor-general is Michaëlle Jean, a woman, who was born in Haiti. I think she is universally liked. That could change. The job involves a lot of public appearances and signing all government legislation and orders. Independent thought is rarely a requirement of the job.

The Canadian prime minister has considerably more power than the US president should he have a majority government. Government members are not free to vote independently as they could bring down their own government. The situation with a minority government means constantly trying to appease one of the losers and it usually leads to bad short-sighted government.

[Little Arminius]

The situation with coalition governments is interesting, it would seem to be sort of a check and balance mechanism which keeps the P.M.'s party from pushing through extreme legislation in either direction. This is similar to the situation in the U.S. when one party controls the presidency while the other controls the Congress. At one point people derisively referred to it as "gridlocked" government but it's now viewed more as a moderating mechanism. The incoming government won't be structured like that, however, it will be run by one party (Democrats) for at least the next two years.