- Reaction score
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- Points
- 110
Bloc Quebecois sets stage for political showdown
Updated Fri. Sep. 21 2007 11:56 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
The Bloc Quebecois has issued a five-point set of demands for the Conservative minority government that appears to be a reaction the party's bruising in byelections earlier this week.
It also appears to be setting the stage for a fall election.
In early September, Prime Minister Stephen Harper decided to delay the opening of the fall session of Parliament by a month. He will go back to the house with a speech from the throne on Oct. 16, setting up the possibility of a fall election if the opposition parties vote against it.
Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe has repeatedly threatened to topple the government unless there is a clear mandate to withdraw troops from Afghanistan by February 2009.
The demands set out Friday are that the government:
Eliminate all federal spending powers in provincial jurisdictions;
Respect the Kyoto Protocol and establish targets for greenhouse gas reductions;
Assistance for workers in the ailing forest industry;
Changes to supply management for dairy farmers;
And finally, "non négociable," in the Throne Speech, an announced end to the combat mission in Afghanistan by Feb. 2009.
These demands come a day after Harper's Quebec lieutenant, Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon, gloated over his party's byelection victory and called the Bloc "useless" in Quebec.
In Monday's Quebec byelections, the Tories took one riding that had been a nationalist stronghold and nearly took another riding they'd lost by 32 percentage points in 2006.
In one other riding, Outremont, the NDP took a seat from the Liberals.
"Mr. Duceppe now knows that his enemy in Quebec is no longer the Liberal Party, it is the federal Conservatives," CTV's Chief Political Correspondent Craig Oliver said.
NDP Leader Jack Layton would not tell reporters Friday about his plans for a vote on the throne speech, but on Monday he said he was likely to oppose it.
Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion has said he won't support a Tory throne speech, even if that triggered an election.
A late-August poll for CTV and The Globe and Mail found that support for the Conservatives and Liberals remained stalled over the summer, and tied for support at 33 per cent each.
The survey also found Liberal voters are less committed to their party than Conservative supporters -- an opportunity that the Tories could exploit in an election scenario.
It appears Mr Duceppe has taken the bait, its Harpers to lose now, if he cant get a majority under these conditions, I dont know what to say. Im all for going to the polls,
this will certainly be an exciting election.
Updated Fri. Sep. 21 2007 11:56 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
The Bloc Quebecois has issued a five-point set of demands for the Conservative minority government that appears to be a reaction the party's bruising in byelections earlier this week.
It also appears to be setting the stage for a fall election.
In early September, Prime Minister Stephen Harper decided to delay the opening of the fall session of Parliament by a month. He will go back to the house with a speech from the throne on Oct. 16, setting up the possibility of a fall election if the opposition parties vote against it.
Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe has repeatedly threatened to topple the government unless there is a clear mandate to withdraw troops from Afghanistan by February 2009.
The demands set out Friday are that the government:
Eliminate all federal spending powers in provincial jurisdictions;
Respect the Kyoto Protocol and establish targets for greenhouse gas reductions;
Assistance for workers in the ailing forest industry;
Changes to supply management for dairy farmers;
And finally, "non négociable," in the Throne Speech, an announced end to the combat mission in Afghanistan by Feb. 2009.
These demands come a day after Harper's Quebec lieutenant, Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon, gloated over his party's byelection victory and called the Bloc "useless" in Quebec.
In Monday's Quebec byelections, the Tories took one riding that had been a nationalist stronghold and nearly took another riding they'd lost by 32 percentage points in 2006.
In one other riding, Outremont, the NDP took a seat from the Liberals.
"Mr. Duceppe now knows that his enemy in Quebec is no longer the Liberal Party, it is the federal Conservatives," CTV's Chief Political Correspondent Craig Oliver said.
NDP Leader Jack Layton would not tell reporters Friday about his plans for a vote on the throne speech, but on Monday he said he was likely to oppose it.
Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion has said he won't support a Tory throne speech, even if that triggered an election.
A late-August poll for CTV and The Globe and Mail found that support for the Conservatives and Liberals remained stalled over the summer, and tied for support at 33 per cent each.
The survey also found Liberal voters are less committed to their party than Conservative supporters -- an opportunity that the Tories could exploit in an election scenario.
It appears Mr Duceppe has taken the bait, its Harpers to lose now, if he cant get a majority under these conditions, I dont know what to say. Im all for going to the polls,
this will certainly be an exciting election.