Another Election? Mr. Dion, you have another option!

September 26th, 2007

In the aftermath of their disappointing results in last week’s Quebec by-elections, the Liberal Party of Canada and the Bloc Quebecois have gone into panic mode. Unfortunately for Canadians, this means the opposition parties are threatening to prompt a federal election. Something the electorate simply doesn’t want.

For the Bloc and their leader Gilles Duceppe this is really no surprise. The separatists are always delivering ultimatums. We expect them to act irresponsibly since their entire purpose is to destroy the country.

After the Conservative Party of Canada took a seat from the Bloc in the heart of sovereigntist territory, Mr. Duceppe made five demands he says must be met in the upcoming Speech from the Throne or else he will bring down the Conservative government, triggering a general election. Given the decline of separatism in Quebec, Mr. Duceppe likely figures he has little to lose by this show of political bravado.

As for the Liberals, it appears the knives are being sharpened yet again as that party re-launches its trademark blood-sport of ‘knock-off-the-leader’. Just as Paul Martin’s supporters worked tirelessly for years behind the scenes to oust Jean Chrétien, supporters of failed leadership candidates Michael Ignatieff, Bob Rae and Gerard Kennedy were drooling at the prospect of deposing Liberal Leader Stépane Dion before the results of the Quebec by-elections were even tallied.

With their complete shut-out, including a devastating loss to the New Democrats in the Liberal bastion of Outremont, and despite the strong likelihood their party would lose seats, there are a good many Liberals who welcome a general election as a vehicle for Mr. Dion’s political demise.

The reality is that the determination for whether there is a general election lies mostly with the Liberals as the Official Opposition. The New Democrats simply don’t have the numbers to be a factor and besides, they have even less to lose than the Bloc.

The underlying myth in this debate about whether there will be an election this fall is that the Conservative Government must attract the support of at least one of the opposition parties to survive. They’re wrong. There is another option.

Conservatives set an historical precedent when we abstained from voting on the Liberal’s 2005 budget, allowing Paul Martin’s minority government to survive. At that time, our leader Stephen Harper said there were many aspects of that budget we fundamentally couldn’t vote to support. Yet, we respected the will of Canadians which strongly indicated they didn’t want an election.

Mr. Dion, as leader of the Official Opposition, could take the same, responsible course of action now. Canada’s economy is performing very well. Unemployment is at its lowest in 32 years. Taxes are down. Consumer spending remains robust and Canada is regaining its good reputation on the international stage thanks to the strong and decisive leadership of Prime Minister Harper.

Instructing his Liberal caucus to abstain from the vote on the Throne Speech is a lifeline that Mr. Dion may wish to grasp … and, more importantly, one that will save Canadians from an unwanted, unnecessary and expensive trip to the polls.