And Down She Goes

Paul Martin’s Liberal minority government was just defeated in a vote of non-confidence after 17 scandal-stricken months at the helm. What this means is that parliamentary hopefuls will have to campaign throughout the holiday season, with the election tentatively set for January 23rd.

Maybe I was naïve in thinking that this minority government might actually work. In May, the Liberals had to make a deal with the NDP just to get the budget through the House. What the NDP got was more money in the budget for social programs, etc. This seemed like a positive step, but unfortunately the Liberal government was embroiled in the Sponsorship scandal. Millions of dollars in kickbacks had been made and there really wasn’t anywhere for Paul Martin and his boys to hide.

I’m just not sure the Conservatives are going to gain as much ground as they think. If any party is really going to benefit, it’s the NDP. They showed a lot of gumption in the House of Commons and really deserve more seats. My opinion is that the government will be another Liberal minority, but probably without the Liberals + NDP + Independents = Conservatives + Bloc seat total situation. Then we’ll go through the same process again, which is to say that we’ll have to listen to Steven Harper (leader of the Conservatives) whine about how brutal the minority government is instead of trying to make it work.

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