In a close vote last night the opposition Conservatives and Bloc Québecois
passed a procedural motion asking for a recommendation to be issued for the Liberal government to resign. PM Paul Martin is not treating it as a confidence motion, though it does suggest that the Liberals do not have the confidence of Parliament. The Liberals have stated that they will hold a
budget vote on the 19th, which is also a conscience vote.
Martin points out that with BC provincial elections on the 17th and a visit from the Queen starting on the 17th, it would be wise to slightly defer the election season. The opposition claims that Martin is stalling. Rhetoric has been particularly heated, with the opposition calling the Queen "a prop" and wheeling out their
cancer-stricken MPs.
The whole affair is shameful. There are certain events that take priority over domestic political matters. One of these was the
VE-Day celebration in the Netherlands, for which the PM and opposition leaders showed up a day late because of political feuding. Another of these is a visit from the Queen. In the long run, it won't amount to a hill of beans whether this government falls tomorrow or next week or the week after. But Stephen Harper (Con) and Gilles Duceppe (Bloc) smell blood in the water and are blind to anything but the power they have a taste for.
