From today's National Post:
Yes, yes. We know that Stephen Harper, while he was opposition leader in 2004, co-signed a letter along with NDP leader Jack Layton and Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe asking then-governor general Adrienne Clarkson to consider letting the opposition attempt to form a government without an election if the then-newly elected Liberal government of Paul Martin should fall. It’s probably hair-splitting to insist that was different -- that Messrs. Harper and Layton were not going to the governor-general with a done deal in hand. Nor did they do what is being done now -- trying to get her to sign off on a coalition government knowing full well that the only way it could survive is with the Parliamentary support of the Bloc, whose price would include billions for Quebec’s forest industry and perhaps even assurances that federal services in Quebec should be provided only in French.
But it is not hair-splitting to remind Canadians that the Tories were roundly and rightly upbraided for making nice-nice with the separatists four years ago, and by no one more so than the Liberals. The Liberals called the Tory-NDP-Bloc letter evidence of an “unholy alliance,” and proof the Tories were “gambling with the future of the country.” Meanwhile, the Liberal deputy house leader at the time, Mauril Bélanger, said it would be unconscionable and perhaps even unconstitutional for the opposition parties to seek to change government without first going back to voters. “You can’t have your cake and eat it, too,” Mr. Bélanger declared. “You can’t defeat the government and not expect to have to go to the people.”
Of course, that is exactly what Mr. Bélanger’s party is now trying to do itself, but unlike the Tories in 2004, the Liberals are largely getting a free ride.
M. Bélanger, if you really meant what you said in 2004, then stand up for the principles you articulated 4 years ago. Prove that you are deserving of the title Honourable by putting Country before Party.
No comments:
Post a Comment