Hello NUCAUT members,
Like most of you, I have been overwhelmed by the potentially historic national political activities of the past few days, which started while we ourselves were all in Ottawa attending CAUT Council.
I have been participating in daily teleconference meetings of the CLC Executive Council, commencing last Saturday, with today’s just having been completed. The situation has been evolving at such a rapid pace, and my apologies for not passing on regular updates which in any case have become public very soon after I receive them.
You all know that a Coalition agreement has been signed and announced by the three party leaders at the press conference yesterday, with the Liberals and NDP agreeing to govern (if given the chance) as a Coalition to June 2011, with Bloq support to at least June 2010.
We are being urged to do all we can to educate the public that this is how parliament does work; that a Coalition government should be given a chance now that it’s clear that Harper has lost the confidence of the House. We have evidence (draft letter to gov gen, copied to NDP and Bloq; as well as CBC radio interview) of Harper urging the gov gen in September 2004 to consider allowing the Tories to form a coalition gov’t with the NDP and Bloq should the Liberal minority gov’t fail!
The non-confidence vote is set to happen next Monday, December 8th, but the fear is that Harper’s request to the Gov Gen to prorogue parliament may be granted before that. Constitutionally, parliament can be prorogued for up to 364 days(!), but it would be likely that the gov gen (who is now returning from her European visit) would ask that the Tories have some plan in place for parliament to re-convene in January. Government members have already announced their back-tracking on withholding the $28M to political parties and the banning of public sector strikes to 2011, and a moving ahead of Budget Day to January 27th. All of this of course is just damage-control, with no announcement yet on any economic stimulus plan whatsoever (unique among the G20 governments!).
The Conservatives have commenced their huge PR campaign and costly advertising attempts to convince Canadians of the unfairness of them not being allowed to govern. Latest indications is that their position will be that if a non-confidence vote succeeds then at very least we should have another election to let the people decide.
We are countering with a “Coalition Yes - Make Parliament Work” campaign, with radio and other advertising which you will soon hear. Rallies are being planned for major centres across the country, for this Thursday. The Toronto and Montreal rallies however will be on Saturday. It is expected that the pro-Tory rallies will also be on Saturday. The Coalition rally in Toronto will be at Nathan Phillips Square, with the Tory one set for Queen’s Park.
We are encouraging our members to attend the pro-Coalition rallies, each of which will be presided over by a community leader, with a senior Liberal MP and NDP MP speaking. We are also encouraging our members to participate in the education of the public as to the legitimacy of a coalition government, through conversations, email messages, letters to the editor, poll-participation, etc. Proroguing Parliament is not the answer!
Dileep J A Athaide
Secretary-Treasurer
Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of BC (FPSE)
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 12:03PM by