Conservative Rhetoric
Separatist Coalition Government - 2008-12-04
The Conservatives have been calling the proposed coalition government the "Separatist Coalition" since the beginning of all this in an effort to create the impression that the Bloc has some kind of veto power or will be dictating the legislation that the coalition will produce.
This is completely false and meant to mislead the public on exactly how the coalition will work for their own partisan reasons.
The Bloc have agreed not to defeat the government on any confidence vote for a period of up to 18 months. As always they have every right to vote against any other price of legislation and no more right to dictate any legislation than they do now.
Cooperation Between Parties - 2008-12-04
The Conservatives have also said they wanted to work with the other parties to try and solve the economic problems faced these days. The NDP were the only party, as far as I know, who presented the Conservatives with a plan to deal with the economy but they were completely ignored.
In addition to this, the first "fiscal update" of this government was designed to further their attempts to bankrupt the opposition parties by cutting off funding sources. During the last Parliament they effectively created the Liberal party, and maybe the others by setting very low limits on political donations knowing that their own donations which were normally small and many while the Liberal's donations were usually large and fewer.
At every opportunity, this government who talk like they want to work with the other parties, do whatever they can to damage the other parties both in reputation and fiscally. Someone needs to explainto this government that working with the opposition means compromising and sharing ideas, not beating them into submission.
Had they even made a moderate attempt to work with even one of the opposition parties, this coalition idea would never have become an issue as there wouldn't have been enough support for it.
Right to Rule and Wasted Votes - 2008-12-04
Harper makes a big deal about having the most seats in the house and therefore the right to rule. The Canadian electoral system does not allow us to vote for a ruling party. We vote for a local representative and the group with the largest number of representatives, who are willing to work together as a group, are the ones who make up the government. We've come to believe that this means the party with the most members is the government but, as I understand it, there doesn't need to be any party affiliation between the group of representatives who make up the government.
As for votes in the last election being ignored or wasted by the coalition government, this is another false statement. The representative for each riding remains the same and they have the same right to vote for, or against, any piece of legislation. They have lost no power and are still able to represent their riding with their vote.
