Globe and Mail: Parliament shut down till Jan. 26
Stephen Harper gets desperate:
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has obtained Governor-General Michaëlle Jean’s consent to temporarily shut down Parliament, a move that allows him to avoid a confidence vote next week that he was expected to lose.
It’s a blow for the Liberal-NDP coalition, backed by the separatist Bloc Québécois, that was seeking to replace the minority Conservative goverment.
The development buys time for Mr. Harper to assemble an economic package that he hopes will discourage the multiparty alliance from taking him down at that time.
In response to the move, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion, who would become PM if the Tory-led gov’t falls, said Harper was “running away,” and that only a “monumental change” would get him to withdraw his bid to overthrow Harper.
Harper really is one of the most divisive PM’s we’ve seen in a long time…here’s to hoping we’re on our way to finding a stable, representative government ASAP.
