To hear the Liberals tell it, there won't be an election any time soon. But to hear maverick member Garth Turner give the same news, the announcement is only a few weeks away. How is that possible?
It all follows last week's
Throne Speech, which Grit boss Stephane Dion tore apart but vowed he would grudgingly support with
an amendment that was designed to fail. That first test was met in the House of Commons Monday night, when the NDP, the Bloc and Conservatives all ganged up to defeat the face-saving addition by a vote of 203-89.
So far, everything was going according to plan. And then Tory-turned-Grit
Turner let slip a bombshell that's leading many to wonder whether we're safe from a fall vote after all. "We have an opposition day next week," he reveals. "We have the opportunity of putting forward a motion that will call into question the confidence in the government. We have that possibility. And so I think right now we're trying to determine if this is the right thing to do."
Does he think it is? His answer speaks volumes. "I still believe that we are going to have an election in the next few weeks."
The move, if it happens, seems to be in direct contradiction to what Dion said so publicly in a sometimes rambling 45 minute rebuttal last week. Why introduce a motion to bring down the government when the party itself is abstaining from voting on the Throne Speech or its crime bill? It's hard to answer that question, but the Liberals insist all options are on the table. "I'm the deputy leader," answers Michael Ignatieff. "I have to have heard of it. No, we're considering our strategy. We're not here to roll over, let me tell you."
It comes even as members know the party would likely get flattened in an early vote. This latest twist has the other parties seeing red - Liberal red. "It's a sad tactic," condemns NDP leader Jack Layton. "When you get to the point where a party is ostensibly standing up to a government but instead ends up sitting down."
The final and most crucial vote for the Throne Speech comes Wednesday. And all the parties may want to consider their options carefully. A new poll indicates 70 per cent of Canadians don't want an election at least until spring. Should the Liberals decide to 'spring' one now, there may be a price to pay at the polls in the form of a new kind of non-confidence vote from constituents