{"id":275,"date":"2009-01-02T16:52:46","date_gmt":"2009-01-02T21:52:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.stuzog.com\/majoritycoalition\/?p=275"},"modified":"2009-01-02T16:52:46","modified_gmt":"2009-01-02T21:52:46","slug":"harper-wanted-coalition-with-bloc-in-2004","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.stuzog.com\/majoritycoalition\/harper-wanted-coalition-with-bloc-in-2004\/","title":{"rendered":"Harper wanted Coalition with Bloc in 2004"},"content":{"rendered":"

Letter to Governor General reveals current hypocrisy<\/p>\n

Above: U-Tube video shows Harper then and now<\/p>\n

Toronto — <\/span>A letter sent by Stephen Harper in September, 2004 to Governor General Adrienne Clarkson and recently circulated by Canadian nationalist Mel Hurtig, reveals that prime minister Stephen Harper has performed yet another flip-flop in his condemnation of the electoral legitimacy of a coalition government for Canada.<\/p>\n

And a U-Tube video<\/a> (embedded above) contrasts Harper’s recent strident condemnation of the electoral legitimacy of a coalition government with his position given in a TV interview on April, 2005.<\/p>\n

The letter, republished last month<\/a> in the online news publication The Canadian<\/a> shows that Leader of the Opposition Mr. Harper had been working on a three-way coalition with the Bloc Quebecois and the NDP. Harper’s 2004 letter to the Governor General reads:<\/p>\n

\n

September 9, 2004 <\/p>\n

Her Excellency the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson,
\nC.C., C.M.M., C.O.M., C.D.
\nGovernor General
\nRideau Hall
\n1 Sussex Drive
\nOttawa, Ontario K1A 0A1<\/p>\n

Excellency,<\/p>\n

As leaders of the opposition parties, we are well aware that, given the Liberal minority government, you could be asked by the Prime Minister to dissolve the 38th Parliament at any time should the House of Commons fail to support some part of the government’s program.<\/p>\n

We respectfully point out that the opposition parties, who together constitute a majority in the House, have been in close consultation. We believe that, should a request for dissolution arise this should give you cause, as constitutional practice has determined, to consult the opposition leaders and consider all of your options before exercising your constitutional authority.<\/p>\n

Your attention to this matter is appreciated.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

Hon. Stephen Harper, P.C., M.P.
\nLeader of the Opposition
\nLeader of the Conservative Party of Canada<\/p>\n

Gilles Duceppe, M.P.
\nLeader of the Bloc Quebecois
\nJack Layton, M.P.
\nLeader of the New Democratic Party<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

U-Tube video shows contrast<\/p>\n

The contrast between Harper’s current attack on the legitimacy of a coalition government is illuminated by a recent U-Tube video<\/a> that contrasts statements he made in November, 2008 with an interview he gave in April, 2005. Then leader of the Opposition, Harper persuaded the Bloc and the NDP to write to join with his Conservative party to oust the ruling Liberals.<\/p>\n

“There has been chatter around the Hill in the last few years, that if a Prime Minister were weakened either by his own party or defeated in the house, that he could automatically call an election. That’s not our understanding of how the constitutional system works” Harper said.<\/p>\n

“[Before] putting in a minority parliament if the government is defeated, because [if] other Opposition parties agree on some measures, or even if some government members agree with some measures, the Governor-General should first consult widely before deciding to dissolve parliament.”<\/p>\n

Harper said then that he would not want the prime minister to think that he could simply fail in the house of Commons as a route to another election. What could possibly have changed his mind?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"StephenA letter sent by Stephen Harper in September, 2004 to Governor General Adrienne Clarkson and recently circulated by Canadian nationalist Mel Hurtig, reveals that prime minister Stephen Harper is being hypocritical in his condemnation of a coalition government for Canada.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.stuzog.com\/majoritycoalition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.stuzog.com\/majoritycoalition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.stuzog.com\/majoritycoalition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.stuzog.com\/majoritycoalition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.stuzog.com\/majoritycoalition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.stuzog.com\/majoritycoalition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.stuzog.com\/majoritycoalition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.stuzog.com\/majoritycoalition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.stuzog.com\/majoritycoalition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}