Well folks, here it is for you in black and white right from the order paper for March 25th 2011:
Opposition Motion
March 23, 2011 — Mr. Ignatieff (Etobicoke—Lakeshore) — That the House agree with the finding of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs that the government is in contempt of Parliament, which is unprecedented in Canadian parliamentary history, and consequently, the House has lost confidence in the government.
This is the motion that will, it appears at least, bring down the government. The motion is simple really. If one looks at the order paper there are numerous motions of varying length and complexity, so I commend Mr. Ignatieff for crafting a straight forward motion.
It appears that all the opposition parties are going to vote for this motion, resulting in our fourth federal election in seven years. But is it a forgone conclusion that all opposition parties will vote for the motion? Perhaps not. We must remember that Ottawa is the place where haggling seems to take place almost daily. Remember when Belinda Stronach and Scott Brison fled from the Conservatives over to the Liberal party? That happened almost without warning. I think that since the NDP said they were not supporting the Budget that the Conservatives have been playing around behind the scenes to find SOME support. I seriously don’t understand how they would want to go to an election on this budget. It offers almost nothing, though the strategy of releasing budget highlights the day before the budget came out sure made it seem like there was enough for the NDP to support. I think that anything is still possible.
Is it possible that Flaherty and the Bloc could suddenly come to an agreement on the HST remuneration for Quebec? Is is possible that more could be added or amended by the NDP that the Conservatives would accept? Who knows? But you can bet your house on the fact that phones between the NDP, the Conservatives and the Bloc have been ringing non-stop since Tuesday.
