So today was the big day. Stéphane Dion went to visit Stephen Harper at 24 Sussex Drive to see if the two could agree on the possibility that of a co-operative Fall Parliament. Twenty-minutes later, Dion emerged and said, "It's official. We will have an election."
Hm. I was kind of looking forward to retiring the old By-Election blog next week. Oh, well.
Here's what the article on the Canadian Press website said went down at today's meeting.
"[Dion] said the prime minister called him over to seek a guarantee that no opposition party could ever make: Could Dion promise to prop up the Conservative minority government for another year?
"Dion apparently offered no guarantees - only a series of scoldings.
"He said he told Harper the country was headed in the wrong direction under him, dismissed the meeting as a charade, and said the prime minister was setting a bad example by ignoring his own election law.
"The prime minister's office later confirmed that Harper asked Dion whether he would allow the Conservatives to continue governing until October of next year.
"Tory officials said Dion was also asked what parts of the Conservative agenda he could agree with - and didn't cite any.
"The Liberal leader's reaction illustrates an unwillingness to co-operate with the government, Harper spokesman Kory Teneycke said.
"'There's very obviously little common ground there,' said the prime minister's spokesman."
The feeling amongst our local candidates is "C'est la vie." Well, almost all the candidates. Mike Nagy had this to say in the Guelph Tribune:
"'We are on the verge of a breakthrough here in Guelph and they are trying to take it from us,' Nagy charged, reacting to growing speculation that Prime Minister Stephen Harper will call a general election next week.
"The Greens believe both Harper and Liberal leader Stéphane Dion 'have seen a green wind coming into Guelph . . . and they are trying to stop it,' he said in an interview Wednesday."
Sources say that Harper will visit Rideau Hall later this week, sometime between Friday and Sunday, to ask the Governor-General to call an election for October 14th.
Day after Thanksgiving. Bummer.
Hm. I was kind of looking forward to retiring the old By-Election blog next week. Oh, well.
Here's what the article on the Canadian Press website said went down at today's meeting.
"[Dion] said the prime minister called him over to seek a guarantee that no opposition party could ever make: Could Dion promise to prop up the Conservative minority government for another year?
"Dion apparently offered no guarantees - only a series of scoldings.
"He said he told Harper the country was headed in the wrong direction under him, dismissed the meeting as a charade, and said the prime minister was setting a bad example by ignoring his own election law.
"The prime minister's office later confirmed that Harper asked Dion whether he would allow the Conservatives to continue governing until October of next year.
"Tory officials said Dion was also asked what parts of the Conservative agenda he could agree with - and didn't cite any.
"The Liberal leader's reaction illustrates an unwillingness to co-operate with the government, Harper spokesman Kory Teneycke said.
"'There's very obviously little common ground there,' said the prime minister's spokesman."
The feeling amongst our local candidates is "C'est la vie." Well, almost all the candidates. Mike Nagy had this to say in the Guelph Tribune:
"'We are on the verge of a breakthrough here in Guelph and they are trying to take it from us,' Nagy charged, reacting to growing speculation that Prime Minister Stephen Harper will call a general election next week.
"The Greens believe both Harper and Liberal leader Stéphane Dion 'have seen a green wind coming into Guelph . . . and they are trying to stop it,' he said in an interview Wednesday."
Sources say that Harper will visit Rideau Hall later this week, sometime between Friday and Sunday, to ask the Governor-General to call an election for October 14th.
Day after Thanksgiving. Bummer.
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1 comment:
Coming from a party that thought that Harper chose September 8 for the by-elections solely to screw up plans for the Green Party convention, Nagy's remarks should at least get points for consistency.
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