Dion claims victory!
Stephane Dion is quite proud of himself for having thwarted the election plans of his arch rival:
“We have succeeded to make sure thatMichael’sthe government’s plan would fail.”
I suppose we can infer from this that the Liberal Senate has decided to pass the budget.
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Update: Dion’s victory party may be a bit premature.
Then again, maybe Dion should push for an election now anyway.
June 16th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
Well it was a cute little laugh to start the day. I really wish the CPC had called his bluff and forced him to put up or shut up though in a confidence vote, something the Bloc or NDP could not of supported.
June 16th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
I’m not sure that the government can call for a vote of confidence on itself.
June 16th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
LMAO, I meant to force them to vote for something that would of been a confidence vote. The perfect scenario would of been the blog and NDP voting against the budget and the LPC having to vote for it to put off an election.
June 16th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
You don’t know what you speak about!!
June 16th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
I can’t believe what an idiot Dion is:
“I am celebrated as a hero for avoiding an election which will allow Harper to continue as PM for at least another year.”
Some people are seriously predicting that the government may last until 2009 now! Great job Dion!
June 16th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
The perfect scenario would of been the blog and NDP voting against the budget and the LPC having to vote for it to put off an election.
That would have been sweet!
June 16th, 2007 at 6:59 pm
Some people are seriously predicting that the government may last until 2009 now! Great job Dion!
As long as minority government is on a tight leash (i.e. bending over backwards to make “liberal/centrist citizen’s happy as observed by his “liberal” budget”) no problems at all…
The addition will give CPC plenty of time to screw up even more (i.e. McKays flip flop, O’conner, Atlantic deal, trust funds…etc)
June 16th, 2007 at 8:22 pm
From The London Free Press link:
“That said, his homework over the summer includes working with a language coach to improve his intonation.”
I’d say Mr. Dion is doing quite well with his intonation, singing a song favoured by many Liberals: “When will the Prime Mean’ister apologize …”
He would say of himself “That Stephane Dion is a fast learner.”
Yes, he likes to refer to himself in the third person:
From the same link:
“I think if her wish comes true and *Stephane Dion* becomes prime minister, and if my preference comes true and Madam May is in the House of Commons, our country will be in better shape,” he said.
June 16th, 2007 at 8:22 pm
Harper wants to get rid of the senate. Why would Harper want a majority with a senate that will cause him grieve. Lose the small battles but win the war. That Harper plan
June 16th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
I’m not sure that the government can call for a vote of confidence on itself.
It’s possible that the government can move a vote of confidence. I might be wrong, but I think this is in part how the Pearson Liberal minority survived a surprise defeat on a tax bill in February (I think) 1968 when a lot of cabinet ministers were absent due to their campaigning to succeed Pearson.
June 16th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
Brian, that does sound familiar about Pearson, now that you mention it.
June 17th, 2007 at 2:33 am
Last week in Question Period it was hilarious listening to the Conservatives mocking people like Ralph Goodale with things like “Then call an election Ralph” or “So take us to the polls Ralph”.
The Liberals are in NO financial shape to go to an election. And they need one badly so they can change their leader. One Tory actually called Dion their Interim Leader this week which got a bunch of hoots from the House.
June 17th, 2007 at 4:30 am
Jo - yes, the gov’t can come out and simply ask for a vote of confidence.
That would be pretty funny to watch with this Parliament.
I think they can call ANY vote (even non-money) a confidence vote if they want to.
June 17th, 2007 at 7:57 am
I think they can call ANY vote (even non-money) a confidence vote if they want to.
Candace, if the budget gets held up or amended in the Senate, they may have to do just that.
June 17th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
Were not some of the first words out of Dions mouth after winning (?) the Gliberal leadership (?) that we needed an election “as soon as possible!”? How can he claim a victory when his stated desire for a quick election has been denied? Why does no-one in the MSM bring up this inconsistency?