Prime Ministers David Cameron and Stephen Harper discussed the subject of coalition governments at a press conference in the rose garden at 10 Downing Street.
The verdict of public opinion was pretty clear, which is that losers don’t get to form coalitions. Winners are the ones who form governments.
- Stephen Harper
Former Prime Minister Paul Martin advocated binding global financial regulations and limits to national sovereignty in a speech to the Empire Club and Canadian Club in Toronto.
A voluntary process of global coordination will lead nowhere. In short, if there is anybody who thinks that the voluntary subscription to global standards will be sufficient, then I’d like to introduce them to the tooth fairy.
- Paul Martin
Related Videos:
- Stephen Harper’s ‘enlightened sovereignty’ and humanitarian agenda (January 28, 2010)
- Prime Minister sets five priorities for G20 summit in Toronto (March 18, 2010)
The Aga Khan, spiritual leader of Ismaili Muslims worldwide, has become the fifth person to receive honorary Canadian citizenship in recognition of his humanitarian work advancing religious tolerance and pluralism.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered the Aga Khan Canadian citizenship at a founding ceremony for a Muslim cultural centre and museum in the Toronto suburb of Don Mills.
Harper previously granted honorary Canadian citizenship to The Dali Lama in 2006, and Aung San Su Kyi in 2007.
Stephen Harper says the G-20 has become the steering committee for the global economy, and that such global governance is required to prevent instability created by the free market.
A completely unregulated, ungoverned market, a market without governance is unstable. And to the extent that we now have a truly globalized economy, we need some semblance of a global governance …
We’re not talking about world government. I don’t think anybody is going to come in and say we’re prepared to surrender our sovereignty to the G-20 or some other body. But what they are going to say, in practice, is that we have to coordinate our policies to create stability for all of us.
- Prime Minister Stephen Harper
April 22 and 23, 2010 - EKOS pollster Frank Graves has ignited controversy over his recent advice to the Liberal Party that they should “invoke a culture war” on the Western Canadians.
I told them that they should invoke a culture war. Cosmopolitanism versus parochialism, secularism versus moralism, Obama versus Palin, tolerance versus racism and homophobia, democracy versus autocracy. If the cranky old men in Alberta don’t like it, too bad. Go south and vote for Palin.
- Frank Graves, President EKOS Research
The Conservative Party points to the fact Graves donated over $11 thousand to the Liberal Party during a time when taxpayers paid EKOS Reasearch $61 million under the Liberal governments of Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin. The CPC has raised questions about the CBC’s impartiality because the network always presented Graves as a “neutral pollster” in his frequent appearances on air.
Graves later apologized and denied any bias, but he repeated his calls for a culture war, and also says he has emperical proof to support his comments about Western Canadians and Conservative supporters.
There is a higher incidence of people who are less tolerant to homosexuals and more wary of other races, within the Conservative Party. I can demonstrate that empirically.
- Frank Graves, President EKOS Research
The Conservative Party has launched a letter-writing campaign protesting the CBC’s continued use of EKOS and Graves as their “pollster of record”.
Related Links:
Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff would cancel planned corporate tax cuts and take longer to eliminate the deficit in order to pay for new spending priorities identified at the Liberal thinkers’ conference in Montreal.
Ignatieff announced that a Liberal government would freeze the corporate tax rate at 18%, indefinitely deferring the Harper government’s plan to cut the tax to 15% by 2012.
We’re not the NDP here. We believe passionately in competitive corporate tax rates. We’re telling you though, we can’t afford them now. There’s just too much we have to do to get our fiscal house in order and make the investments that will make us a productive society.
- Michael Ignatieff
Ignatieff also pledged that a Liberal government would reduce the deficit to 1% of GDP within two years of taking office, somewhat slower than the Harper government’s plan which projects the deficit will fall below 1% of GDP in fiscal year 2012-13.
Ignatieff says these measures are needed to pay for the new spending priorities identified at the conference, which include national strategies for:
- Education and training, including a focus on illiteracy, language training for new Canadians, early learning and child care;
- Health care, including a focus on preventative health, home care for seniors, and increasing the compassionate care EI benefit from the current 16 weeks, and;
- Clean technology and renewable energy.
Related videos:
- Video: Ignatieff defends taxes and activist government (September 21, 2009)
January 28 to March 25, 2010 - Liberal Party leader Micheal Ignatieff has re-opened the abortion debate in Canada, following Stephen Harper’s pledge to make maternal and child health a priority for the G8.
Stephen Harper defended his government’s economic stimulus package in response to a recent Fraser Institute report claiming the stimulus had no effect on GDP.
We’re not going to act on the basis of ideology, we’re going to act on the basis of what the economy needs. And that is what we have done.
- Stephen Harper
Related Links:
- Fraser Institute: With all due respect Mr. Harper, you are wrong. Stimulus spending doesn’t work
- Globe & Mail: Canada’s growth to lead G7: OECD
February 10 to March 18, 2010 – The Liberals, NDP and Bloc Québécois are moving to assert the supremacy of Parliament over the government’s refusal to provide uncensored documents related to the treatment of Afghan detainees.
The opposition parties have introduced motions that would find the government in contempt of Parliament and could lead to a snap election.
Related Links:
- Parliamentary motion demanding uncensored documents (December 10, 1009)
- Justice Iacobucci’s terms of reference (March 13, 2010)
- Attorney General Rob Nicholson’s response (March 31, 2010)
Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered an anti-protectionist message to top officials representing the leaders of the G20 as he presented five priorities for their upcoming meeting in Toronto.
