Guelph's Liberal MP: Focus should be on fixing economy
December 03, 2008
Scott Tracey
GuelphMercury.com

OTTAWA — Frank Valeriote does not favour a coalition government and instead hopes Prime Minister Stephen Harper can work toward rescuing the Canadian economy.


“I believe in working toward a solution, not working toward a coalition,” Guelph’s Liberal MP said Wednesday.


Valeriote added he does not believe a Liberal-NDP coalition, with support from the Bloc Quebecois, will unseat the Tories.


“I have given no thought to that,” Valeriote said when asked whether he saw himself in a cabinet role under such an arrangement. “I am not, frankly, anticipating moving into government.”

Frank valeriote

Liberal leaving coalition

This is very interesting politics indeed. One has to wonder why Stephen Harper called an election recently. He stated parliment was dysfunctional. The election cost the taxpayers of this country over 300 million and what did we get? The money would have been better spent on infastructure or other more useful purposes. It was a gamble for a majority that should never have happened. Before the election the conservatives could pass any bill they presented. They dared the opposition to defeat any bill and invoke an election (which they never did). So instead of being able to further implement a conservative agenda ,we now have the ultimate dysfunctional parliment and are 300 million plus poorer. Stephen Harper has pushed the opposition into a corner and they have come out swinging. Even if Harper survives this crisis, the poisoned political climate will take a very long time to heal and not much will be accomplished in Ottawa (no matter what happens). He needs to eat crow and stop being such a control freak. He should have offered some conciliation and inclusion, but instead only provoked the opposition. He can no longer be trusted and should resign.You don't gain any allies by throwing left hooks (or in this case right hooks) . No doubt this whole fiasco will lead to some heads rolling within the PC party.

The sadest part in this is that our troops have given their lives so this could never happen in Canada. Even now they are probably wonderng why they will be home in a few weeks - Non Democradic Party wants them out as soon as possible-because freedom and women's rights mean nothing to this unholy alliance.

If these trators have any backbone they would face voters in an election, yet thet are very afraid of the results.

I think we should wear black arm bands with our poppies on them, to show that we respect our military and also the death of our freedoms that they gave their lives for. The Green, Non Democradic Party, LiEberals under DeYawn should go face the voters. [We already know that the Bloc wants t split up Canada and this will defenatly do it - sad.]

Why would normally intelligent men commit political suicide by attempting this doomed palace coup? " Scottie too hottie Reid", AKA "Mr. beer and popcorn", clearly described the purpose of the current self-inflicted phony crisis at the outset. Stephen Harper must be "killed", not literally of course but politically.

Entering his second term in office, it had become obvious that Harper had become public enemy number one in old Ottawa. He must be forced to resign or be thrown out of office by the GG or his own party.

In any coup the conspirators must succeed in killing the target or the entire exercise has failed. Lee Harvey Dion, AKA "dead man walking" is being used as the sacrificial lamb in the assassination. The usurper can never survive even if the coup is successful. Iggy and Rae will distance themselves from the killing and plead ignorance of the plot to legitimize the ascension of one of them to the leadership position. The Ottawa press is gleefully reporting the coalition talking points as "news"

The leadership must transfer to someone more compliant, Tory or Liberal, as long as the new leader understands how business has always been done in Ottawa. The National media, the civil servants, the political hacks and operatives, the lobbyists, the parties, and the old dominant families, their friends and associates can go back to the old Ottawa good life. The names of the people behind this will probably never be known.

Looney in Lotusland
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This morning the G & M's Dan Cook said Manley & McKenna were never in on a coalition economic planning committee.
Paul Martin and Roy Romanow did not return calls re: their participation in such a committee.

My question then is this: how did that piece of "news" - about a planning committee - get put out there?
Aren't facts checked with two or three different reliable sources before they're put out to the public?

Spin Stephen Spin!!!

Mathieu,Louise and Barry.....you should be very proud that Fat Jack Pariseau has wholeheartedly endorsed this separatist propped coalition..you are all in great company...and Louise,I heard Lizzie May say yesterday that she would be the first senator sitting in the upper chamber with 1 million votes......well actually,she probably went to the same school as you....since she barely received 12,000 votes in her riding.....remember the old slogan....figures don't lie..but liars can figure

Yes it's big fun attacking the proposed coalition, cos it so conveniently avoids thinking about the "Economic Fatwah" - sorry - "Economic Update" that precipitated this impasse.

Rather than everyone just lining up on the sidelines to support one side or the other, can anyone reading this simply contact our Prime Minister and ask him to act like a real leader and acknowledge the errors that everyone seems to agree were committed with the Economic Update?

Nothing, NOTHING! would pull this Liberal supporter closer to supporting Harper than if he was able to somehow acknowledge that he took the wrong tack, and that his government is willing to work with a multi-party team to address the very real issues of the current world economic crisis.

Wouldn't this be a better idea than a tweet-enabled rabble-rousing website? Talkin' to you, Mr Taylor...

What about the impact our markets? The Canadian markets continued to plunge downward today, while the American markets held their own. This issue is driving Canada further into a financial crisis! Instability is not what we need at the moment.

Well maybe Layton is making concessions because he believes in teamwork. Did you ever think of that?

Maybe he understands that to be in a minority government means you must have some respect for ALL Canadians, not just Charles McVety and Ayn Rand.

Yes, lets do it your way you moron, lets give a power sharing arrangement to Jack Layton and a party with 18% national support and all start worshipping Buzz Hargrove.

Uh...COMPROMISE is what a COALITION is all about. You concede on points where you don't agree in order to get action on portfolios on which you do. Its called WORKING TOGETHER. Dion has also dropped his Carbon tax in favor of a cap and trade.

Its called "Co-operation". Something Stephen Harper has shown a total contempt for, which flies in the face of his MINORITY mandate.

Please tell me that your idea of working together does not mean compromising a sound conservative economic approach and agreeing to a tax and spend socialist approach of a political snake like Jack Layton. If not, and you can not see the coalition as the power play it is then you are either a naive Liberal or Conservative at best or one of the small % of Canadians who did not finish high school or belong to a union that support the NDP.

Some news:

#1. Bourque is reporting "Cracks in the Coalition".

#2. The Tasha Kheiriddin Fan Club is back with a screaming new YouTube of the Rescuer of Canada's Right summoning forth on CTV Stephen Taylor- & PMSH-esque amounts of courage, conviction and commitment in defence of national unity. A must see!

#3. PLEASE GO TO RALLYFORCANADA.CA AND SORTIE!!!!!!!

This is high stakes. The Liberal Party have lost its federalist credentials.
The coalition has shut out the west, they have written off any hope of future western support.
Roll Tide to BCS Championship.

Yeah, IF this coup goes down... I fully expect Western Canada to form its own Bloc. If that fails, it'll seperate.

Iggy is set to pull the rug out from under Rae's feet. Don't ya just love Kinsella (when he's not zinging your guy...)?

Senior Liberals have apparently had enough of the Dion/Rae nonsense and can see the writing on the wall for the Liberal Party of Canada if it sits willingly in government, in front of knife-holding separatists.

When Iggy tells the world he can't stomach the Rae / Dion deal with the devil, Rae will be dead. Layton will be done because he's announced to his people that the NDP is nothing more than redundant Liberal-lite.

Iggy will cruise to the leadership in May, pronouncing that he's saved the party from those who would trample on Trudeau's legacy... and will spend 12 months in opposition, letting Canadians get to know him.

It's going to take months before the coalition gets set up on the other side of the house,so how is this phony urgency for economic stimulus that could take 6 months to start going to be quicker than what Harper is doing?
The Bloc has given Dion 18 months of stable coalition,18 months,then what are they going to do create instability?I'll keep the stability we have now.
I'd rather a stable,calm government approach to our economic problems,wait for Obama and the U.S. to get their act together and work out our issues after that.
Remember all our ills in manufacturing and lumber plays heavily on what the U.S.,our major trading partner does to get their economy going.
We don't need instability with a coalition of three different ideologies that will have a problem dealing with each other when a recession is looming in the near future.

The coalition consists of the Socialist Party and the Toronto Party (Liberals) supported by the Quebec Party - the three losers of the last election. They're staging a coup d'etat to seize the power that couldn't be acquired by a conventional election.

The three conspirators claim that their grab for power was initiated by Harper's provocation. That's the same defence rapists commonly use. The victim was too provocative.

I think this might awaken the sleeping tiger of Western Separation. The half century of threats of Quebec separation will pale in comparison. ghambleton@sasktel.net W.O.W. - West of Winnipeg

What a gross grab for power the coalition represents, Layton is a power hungry egomaniac who is a so-so lifetime politician who has never run any type of business, Dion is incoherent blubbering French professor, why would any Canadian half awake want either of them anywhere near power in Ottawa. And surprise, Elizabeth May "the beaver" sticks her head out of her hole and starts yapping like anybody other than a few tree huggers gives a shit what she has to say. I hope Harper forces an election and we end up with a Majority Conservative gov't with at least few MP's that havea basic education in Economics.

Canadian politics is fun again! The GG cannot rule in the absence of an event of non-confidence requiring the PM to take a walk from 24 Sussex. Until and unless that happens there can be no talk of a coalition government because there is not a triggering event. These guys are playing fast and loose with the rules of the Westminster Parliamentary system in a mad bid for power and their acts are seditious and not in the interests of the country. It is useful to investigate the Australian constitutional crisis of 1975 and consider that the bloodiest nose in that debacle was that of the GG who forced a coalition against the will of the country. Beware, Excellency, beware!

Now her position is a tough one... is there a stable coalition when all parties said less than 2 months ago that there is no hope of a coalition, when the coalition rests on the support of a separatist party which today gloated that the conditions of separation are being laid in the presumed new parliament? By tradition she must take the "advice" of the PM who will call for a new election. Remember that she has baggage - put in place by the Liberals and married to a suspected former separatist. On the other hand will a new election result in unblocking the Parliament? She has a tough call to make but the odds are in favour of an election in my view.

Now consider that the Liberals are in debt and the rebate cheques aren't in the mail. Will a bank lend them money when it is obvious that the rebate is likely to be rescinded? Is any party but the Conservatives in any better shape? I rather suspect that Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition has cooked its goose over this nonsense and later this week you will see a lot of very unhappy Liberal members leaking to anyone who will listen that they will be absent for the much anticipated non-confidence vote - only 12 are needed to be fishing that day. If you were a Liberal backbencher would you vote to join a coalition led by the guy who destroyed the jobs of a lot of your friends and supported by a group who exist only to destroy your country? Who wants their career to be evaluated on that basis. It will be interesting to watch this play out and keep an eye on Mr. Ignatieff's body language... he must be feeling decidedly uncomfortable right now.

Ive heard rumours that there is a detailed "memo of understanding" between the Bloc, Liberals, and NDP. Any way to get a copy so that we could see what concessions have been made to each of the coalition "partners". Id like to see what their politcal maneuvering will cost us on top of the $15k I lost yesterday, and not necessarily inclusive of the huge bailout plan their conceiving. Correct me if Im wrong, but if the apparent reason for scuttling the sitting government is lack of speedy action on the economy, wouldnt it be more practical to wait for the early budget? From my calculations it will take longer for a new government to be sworn in, get access to current economic updates, then have ministers get updated with their portfolios before making any decisions. Something just isnt making sense to me here

Nothing to stop them from imposing a "different" $50 billion corporate tax though.

Hmmm interesting, just like Stephen Harper rejected his promise to have fixed elections....Oh yah, not to mention the backtracking on the weekend of promises the CPC made last week......was Stephen Harper cracking????

Maybe Harper should have tried some compromise a little earlier himself and he wouldn't be in this predicament. Instead of lamenting the current state of affairs the CPC should be taking a good long hard look at Harper's lack of leadership abilities.

I can only shake my head at the astonishing degree of ignorance exibited by those who would criticise the PM and support this dirty coalition. At this point I hope we have another election and then you coalition supporters will realize how things are in Canada, or at least outside of downtown Toronto. Come and visit my community - Liberals will never have any credibility here again, ever.

Two ex liberal members of Parliament have said on a talk show that part of the deal with Duceppe is appointing 8 senators and 1.5 billion more for Quebec. We have forgotten that Dion started out as a Separatist this should be brought up in the press.Jack Layton is nothing but an opportunist weasel who would sell his soul for power.

Scot Brison's hesitance and body language sounds volumes to me.
Could these jokers have NOT really ironed out anything concrete in their mad lust to usurp Parliament?
When the 'blush' wears off (as it most surely will), will the infighting be loud enough to deafen Canadians?

Y'know Steven these characters are in so deep now that they HAVE to either successfully pull this off and somehow prevent future democratic elections in Canada or they stand to be obliterated into the political wilderness as the conspirators they truly are..
Exciting times & unsavoury operatives these desparadoes are.

Harper is a bully receiving payback. Get someone to replace him who will work with others.

Barry, you're a moron.

PMSH is not abusing his powers, hence not a bully. He's just strident.

It is funny how opposition is so quick to say how many didn't vote for the Conservatives, but they fail to say 73.76% did not vote for Liberals, 90.03% did not vote for BQ, and 81.80% did not vote for NDP. Now the Green Party is hoping to find a way into the House of Commons without having enough votes to be eligible to sit in the House. They 93.20% did not vote for Green. All these parties came in behind the Conservatives and this message should have been clear to them.

BRAVO! Louise, you said it very well, even Charles Adler plastered a caller on the same issue, he told the caller exactly what you wrote. and I say our DEMOCRACY HAS BEEN HIJACKED.
Louise, canadians especially in toronto,quebec, and maritimers are manipulated daily by the MSM; they(MSM) want nothing to do with the prime minister they hate him so much that they will do everything in their power to manipulate you about the prime minister. In fact louise, Scott Reid(liberal strategist) said on television that he wants to have the prime minister killed and to put him in his grave -not once did the MSM come to prime minister defense-most likely Louise, someone will do the job requested by SCOTT REID and still the MSM will say nothing yet those same lousey MSM were all over the prime minister when he came out with the PUFFIN ads. Do not trust the MSM, they are the three Desparados, Bandits opposition parties very best friends. They knew that the opposition parties were planning this plot months ago to overthrow the governement .Not a word of warning from the MSM.

well said, well said

Your name is Stephen Harper not Stephen Taylor, Obviously if you understand democracy you would not care what happens. This coalition is democratic because every MP is elected by the canadian people. This rally is pro conservatives, it is false to say that its a pro democracy rally! The coalition is happening for a reason, because most canadians are against Harper but he gets elected because of the fragmentation for the other parties. I support this democratic coalition, finally what the canadians want!

Mathieu, Jean Chretien only won his majority governments because of the splitting of votes caused by the Reform Party and The PC's. I guess you could call it a fragmented opposition. Instead of whining that they didn't win and plotting to over-throw the PM, they decided to undergo a democratic merger of the two entities which Canadians decided was a better choice than the Liberals. This was what Canada showed they want, yet sour grapes on the left has caused them to seek power at any cost, democracy be damned! As for me, I will only support a government that takes its mandate directly from the people through a vote, thank you!

But most Canadians hated Chretien and Martin as well.
I support the coalition for different reasons: I am an Alberta/Western Separatist at heart. This plays perfectly into my game plan.
We should have gotten out when the NEP gripped us by the neck and strangled us to near death. We gave it one more chance. We now see how the East views the West- especially Alberta, and when the chips are down, or opportunity arises to throw the smack down on us there is never a second guess- we just get it across the chops.

Mathieu,

Jack Layton only won 45% of the vote in his own riding. Most Canadians in his riding are against him but he got elected because of the fragmentation of the other parties.

Remove.

Mathieu, MPs are pledged to parties with agendas... not individuals just forming a posse after elections.

and more Canadians voted against Dion than did against Harper, your argument is useless

and looking at all the polls on the major news websites (including those that have a extremely pro left readers) it looks like most Canadians do not want the coalition

and if you count the 2 parties that are forming the coalition, they have less seats than the Tories do

and finally I've said this many times before
voters who voted for bloc, are now supporting liberal corruption
voters who voted for the ndp, are nowsupporting for a isolated Quebec
voters who voted for the liberals, are now supporting ndp entitlement programs

you are right about fragmentation, but that NEVER made these parties identical

The Liberals under Dion, Ignatieff, and Rae can't wait to put the Separatist Bloc into Government, if not into Cabinet.

But they still can't even decide if the problem is that Harper has spent too much money and put Canada into a great deficit, or if Harper hasn't spent enough money.

All they do claim is that there will be no cohesive Government policy on the issues of the day, except to spend billions more taxpayer dollars.

Should they proceed with their reckless plan to overthrow the current Government, the GG must apply the learnings from the past, recognize the inherent instability of a Government officially propped up by Separatists, and call a new election.

Let the coalition run as such, with only one name on the ballot against the Conservatives, and only one Leader at the Debates. Let's recognize the formation of a new, united Party on the Left and the dissolution of the NDP and Liberals as separate political entities.

Or, unlike Stephen Harper, is Layton capable of compromise, for the good of the nation? See, it all in how you phrase it.

They agree they want power.
They agree they hate Stephen Harper and Conservatives.

Beyond that, they don't agree on anything!

Layton wants to increase taxes, Dion thinks that's a reckless thing to do going in a recession.
Layton wants to spend $30 billion, Dion just criticised the Conservatives for spending their way into deficit.
Layton wants out of Afghanistan, Dion wants to complete the mission.

Of course, this is politics. And in politics, people change their minds.
Harper changed his mind about taxing income trusts, floor crossing, appointing members to Cabinet, fixed elections dates, etc.
Dion is changing his mind about negotiating with separatists, making distinctions between Canadians and Quebecers being different people, creating coalitions with the NDP, etc.
Duceppe changed his mind about leaving to lead the Parti Quebecois, and whether you can vote on something multiple times if you didn't like the initial result.
Layton is certainly entitled to change his mind about raising taxes in a recession, isn't he?

They agree they want power.
They agree they hate Stephen Harper and Conservatives.

Beyond that, they don't agree on anything!


Exactly! The Coalition of Hate.

Stephen, like to get an expert opinion on this. If the present government is defeated in a non-confidence vote then Prime Minister Harper has to present himself to the GG and report that he has lost the confidence of the House at which point the GG has a number of options, two of them are either call an election or request a meeting with the Leader of the Opposition and ask if he can garner enough support to form a government. At this point if the Leader of the opposition can cobble together enough support to lead a government then the GG can appoint a new government. I think this is covered under British Common law as the Queens' perogative. How ever if a group conspires to overthrow the duly elected and appointed government of the Queen without her consent then they have acted to commit treason. Before anyone can plan a government they must receive the Queen's consent to form a government. The current situatuion seems to have overlooked the fact that in a Constitutional Democracy the final arbitrer of the Queen's Justice is the Queen and although it is now looked on as a formality in receiving Royal consent the basic fact appears to be that this coalition, conspired and colluded to overthrow Her Majesty's government without consent. This conspiricy was formulated prior to the last election and implimented before it was requested, therefore the GG has no option but to call an election. It would appear that the three amigo's have outsmarted themselves. This is how one of the checks and balances work in Canada. Can you get a constitutional lawyer to comment?

I'm no lawyer, but I do know this: The Coalition is doing nothing illegal, though very underhanded and unethical. If I was GG I would be very uncomfortable with allowing a coalition to govern knowing they were being propped up by a group of warriors dedicated to the destruction of the country they are attempting to govern. As for the Constitution part of our Constitutional Monarchy that we live under, ask around and find out how many Canadians got to ratify that document through a vote, like almost every other democratic country in the world. Not here, thank you Mr. Trudeau. Then ask about the Monarchy, that distant head of state in a foreign country. The GG? Her representative, whose job is beholden to the PM who appoints her/ him? So, if we have a Constitution that's not ratified, and a Monarch's rep that's not legit, what's left? Anarchy? Look now and ask if the Coalition coup makes sense. The inmates have finally begun to run the asylum.

There have been several indications that this grand coalition is pretty loose in its policy direction and is quite cobbled together. In addition to the corporate tax cuts here, I heard on CBC radio this morning Bob Rae talk about how the $30 billion in stimulus was a number picked out of thin air and he had no idea where it came from. That's absolutely scary. We're in the biggest economic quagmire of the generation, and we have a political class that is making it up as they go along, with the media jumping on every tidbit. Excuse me while my head explodes.

That ought to play well with investors. The Libs were humiliated in QP, Premiers are not backing the Coalition,and public anger is very strong. This thing is dead. The Libs. are in serious trouble. Their brand has been irreparably harmed for a generation.

What disgusts me is not only the MSM's spin on Layton's betrayal of his socialist principles and how he now, in effect, supports a $50 billion corporate tax cut, but Dion's betrayal in regard to the carbon tax. Canadians shouldn't forget it was the carbon tax that MSM played up as "good policy, bad politics" throughout the last election... something that is good for Canada, good for the economy and something we just weren't smart enough to grasp..... I specifically remember Dion saying that a struggling economy needs a carbon tax, specifically playing up was the angle that it's a great green job-creator (remember that???), needed in this fiscal downturn of all times---the cure for what ails a struggling economy. But now it's being pushed by MSM, eager to see this coup succeed, and even MORE eager to see Harper defeated, as something we shouldn't worry about seeing implemented....... So you mean a carbon tax is something we should've feared all along? Deliberately mislead by MSM during the campaign. Damn. Fooled again I guess.

Controlling the message track is vital to coup plotters and their surrogates in the opening phase of any takeover... controlling the airwaves and saturating it with the new regime's propaganda whose primary objective is to maintain calm in the population, allaying our fears and telling us that things won't change for the negative in our day-to-day lives, that it'll be a smooth transition, and repeating that message over and over again until we simply accept and submit to it, is critical for success. In this instance, "corporate tax cuts will stay; no carbon tax" among others is now the MSM's reinforced message track while downplaying the challenge to the credibility of both Dion and Layton who championed those positions respectively, not as policy No. 26 but the MAIN plank of their platforms... this ultimately strikes at the core of not only Dion and Layton's credibility and trustworthiness, but the MSM's as well.

Anyone who pays any attention to the news knows Layton has agreed to leave the corporate tax issue be. It was one of the main points in the release announcing the coalition. That you would pretend not to know that, as a smart person who reads most of the news, is discouraging.