Peggy Revell
Billed as the man who united the right, now Prime Minister Stephen Harper also has helped unite the left as opposition parties have joined together to battle over who will be governing the country through the current economic turmoil.
“Basically what happened is that Stephen Harper lost the confidence of the House of Commons,” said Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP John Rafferty, who won the riding for the NDP back on Oct. 14.
“So I think he [Harper] is going to have to make a decision in the next couple of days to accept this, he and his colleagues to accept this, and not create any further instability,” Rafferty added.
On Monday morning, Liberal leader Stephane Dion and NDP leader Jack Layton signed an agreement that signifies their willingness to work together to form a coalition government, as well as a framework for how that coalition would work.
The Bloc Quebecois has agreed to support the coalition, as well.
“I think the agreement on how the coalition government would work is fair and balanced,” said Rafferty. “And we do have an action plan to stimulate the economy.”
The Liberals, NDP, and Bloc already have released “A Policy Accord to Address the Present Economic Crisis,” which highlights the areas that they, as a coalition government, would address to deal with the economic crisis.
“There will certainly be a forestry stimulus package as part of the coalitions plan,” said Rafferty. “We need to kick-start the forestry economy. We need to sustain and create the jobs.”
Part of the proposed coalition’s outline for economic plans include a stimulus package for the economy, which would include funding for infrastructure, as well as “investing in key sector strategies (like manufacturing, forestry, and automotive) designed to create and save jobs, with any aid contingent on a plan to transform these industries and return them to profitability and sustainability.”
Other areas include such things as skills training for Canadian workers, establishing a Crown corporation for Employment Insurance, and reforming bankruptcy and insolvency laws.
The political situation remains fluid, and it’s really a question of what Gov.-Gen. Michaelle Jean will do and accept, noted Rafferty, adding that at this point the outcomes range anywhere from Harper resigning to a new election being called.
The push behind the coalition government came after last Thursday’s economic update from the Conservative party, which Liberals, the NDP, and the Bloc dismissed as partisan and inadequate to address the growing economic crisis.
While the Conservative party holds the most seats in the House of Commons, it does not hold the majority of them.
In the case of a coalition government, Rafferty said he doesn’t want to speculate on where he would fit into it, saying that’s really more of a question for Layton and Dion.
“But I think it’s important for Northern Ontario to have seven NDP MPs as part of the government, and I think that can only be good news for Northern Ontario,” he stressed.
“What we seek in the short-term is to boost consumer confidence and that will be good for businesses in Northern Ontario,” Rafferty explained. “And you know what? There was nothing like that in the Conservative’s economic statement.”
Rafferty said the global financial crisis “hasn’t really touched the ‘real’ economy yet”—the one made up of men and women “who work and produce things and good and services that we all consume.”
“Those people have not been truly affected yet, and we need to make sure that the situation doesn’t arise in Northern Ontario that people’s mortgages are worth more than their houses, and that sort of thing,” he remarked. “We need to kick-start the economy and we need to do it now before the real economy takes a serious hit.”
But in light of all this political uncertainty, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce is urging MPs to “put Canadians ahead of politics.”
Christine Denby, outgoing president of the Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce, stressed it is important for all of the political parties in Ottawa “to work together to get business back on track, which will ultimately be good for every single Canadian because we are looking at tough times.”
Yesterday, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce released a list of principles it said the government should focus on instead of engaging in “partisan maneuvering.”
This includes:
•“Immediate and intensive” consultations with the business community, and various levels of government, to identify “priority infrastructure projects” and how they can be implemented quickly;
•Identifying sectors where “urgent action may need to be taken,” and developing a way for these sectors to be assisted as best as possible; and
•Eliminate “internal barriers to trade and mobility” by working with the provinces and territories.
This strategy should be based upon “realistic assumptions about the expected performance of the Canadian economy,” provide the correct amount of stimulus to foster economic growth, but also ensure there is a plan to avoid “long-term structural deficits.”
“I fully support these principles and encourage MPs, in the best interest of Fort Frances, the Rainy River District, and all of Canadians, to focus their efforts in a non-partisan manner towards advancing these principles,” said Denby.
