With an election just months away, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has decided to abandon the traditional all-broadcasters debate hosted by the nation’s major broadcasters and for the first time will be streamed on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. The Liberals, NDP, Green Party and Bloc Quebecois have all agreed to participate but the Conservatives refuse to even negotiate.
A Huffington Post review of Elections Quebec records shows Conservative and NDP MPs have donated to separatist causes since 2000. A review of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s days as a Reform MP reveals he pushed Jean Chretien’s Liberal government to accept a 50%+1 majority result during the 1995 Quebec referendum.
The PQ announced the creation of their coveted Charter of Quebec Values yesterday and was met by opposition across the board on the federal spectrum.
The NDP launched robocalls yesterday to attack their former MP Claude Patry for defecting to the Bloc Quebecois last week. Patry left the party because of their stance on the Clarity Act and Quebec nationalism.
NDP MP Claude Patry in the Quebec riding of Jonquière-Alma has defected to the Bloc Quebecois becoming the second of the Orange wave to leave the Official Opposition. Patry leaves citing his stance on Quebec sovereignty sparking backlash from the governing Conservatives on the NDP’s commitments to Canada. Patry will join the other 4 remaining Bloc Quebecois MPs changing the seat count to 5 for the BQ and 101 for the NDP.
The NDP’s Unity Act states that if Quebec sovereigntists can garner 50%+1 of the votes in a referendum, or a bare majority, Quebec can form its own country. The bill would repeal the Clarity Act which was introduced in 1995 when Quebec came marginally short of separating from the rest of Canada and inherits the bulk of the views that were taken with the Sherbrooke Declaration of 2005. Additionally, this kind of policy would never work within the NDP itself.
Political parties are strategizing these days and Canadians are weighing in. Despite the party members and their views, the electorate will inevitably get the final say and recent polling numbers paint an interesting story about Liberal-NDP cooperation and prospective Liberal Leadership candidates.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper campaigned on having a “strong, stable, national Conservative Majority Government” to protect Canadians from a “coalition with the separatists.” It turns out that after a secret meeting with former PM Brian Mulroney and current Quebec Premier Jean Charest, Harper is ready to work with the separatists.
While the new Nanos poll told us that the Conservatives and NDP were in a statistical tie, that doesn’t mean that either party was particularly liked and when it comes to choosing between the major parties to form a government, Canadians are dragging their feet.