WDET News
- Canada's Governing Party Challenged
-
Dec 2, 2008Metro Desk - Link to Audio
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party gained parliamentary seats in October’s election but fell short of a majority. Now the country’s three main opposition parties…the Liberals, New Democrats, and the Bloc Quebecois have agreed to form a coalition which effectively dislodges the conservatives from power. Cheryl Collier is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Windsor. She says the parties felt bullied…especially when it came to a recent economic stimulus plan pushed by Harper.
“Instead of coming at it from a cooperative position as perhaps would have been assumed…they started the update with two very large attacks on the opposition parties…one being a threat or promise to take away public funding from political parties.”
Collier says Harper could derail the alliance by pushing for another election or by ending the legislative session early…buying him more time. Collier says the enthusiasm surrounding a coalition government could wane by the time Parliament is reconvened. I’m Noah Ovshinsky, WDET News.