A Canadian government it seems cannot stand alone, unless they have a majority, then they can do what they want. Canadians don’t see it often but in November 2005 a minority liberal government was defeated by a conservative motion of non-confidence. This is possibly the most useless act in world wide politics. Keep in mind I’m saying this one day after the governments defeat, and it won’t be until January 23rd that I’m proven right, but I will be proven right.

Before I get too far in I’ll give you a bit of an explanation for those of you who don’t follow Canadian politics, non-Canadians can probably skip this paragraph. Any member of parliament can move to vote on no confidence, the government themselves can even do it. If the vote goes against the government they must either resign or call an election. In the case of the November vote, Stephen Harper moved for a vote of no confidence, the first even successful straight vote of no confidence. Usually a vote of no confidence is attached to a bill, the government will often use the vote of no confidence to force through bills that its own party don’t agree with.

If they don’t vote for a bill with a no confidence vote attach they risk an election, and thus they risk their jobs. So basically the vote of no confidence has been used by Prime Minister to keep their MP’s in line. This is most useful in majority governments when the PM knows that all they need is their own party to vote with them. In this most recent case it was a Liberal party that fell. Until recently the NDP were keeping the Liberals in power. They do this sort of thing for other favours, you vote my bill I’ll vote your bill, you don’t defeat my government I’ll add a pay raise for you here, etc… Seems useful right, seems the NDP may have something up their sleeve right? Wrong.

The NDP are more confused that the conservatives and the Conservatives don’t know their head from a hole in the ground, and this is coming from someone who has only ever voted conservative! Why is this whole process useless you may be asking by know, for the same reason I’m just getting to my point now, it’s a waste of time. The Liberal government is just going to be re-elected. They won a minority in the last election and they are going to win a minority again. The Conservatives are not trusted enough to win an election.

Their radical viewpoints may have been accepted twenty years ago, but today Mr Harper, most of us are ok with gay marriages, try peddling that view point in the US. Fears from ancient Alliance and Reform policies, such as their gun policy, do not help either. Maybe the NDP will get elected? Fat chance, you’re hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t think of the NDP as a big joke. Well maybe the liberals will win a majority government this time? That will be tough with the sponsorship scandal still fresh in our minds. The result will be another minority Liberal government, but first we need to pay for an election and election campaigning over Christmas, hooray!

The blame should lie in the conservatives lap. While the Liberals historically rule this country the Conservatives do get in once in a while and make so advancement in directions the Liberals don’t. So why can’t they get into power now that the Liberals look so terrible? The conservatives split into three separate parties. Canada has enough trouble just getting people to vote in the first place, now we have to worry about understanding party affiliation as well. And those who do vote are always going to vote for the party that allows gay marriages, abortions, and pot smoking. Oh yeah and if you think economic policy is going to change someone’s mind, think again. Economic policies have about as much place in the voters mind as they did in this article.

Joe DeClara, is a researcher/writer for Askipedia.com. A question isn't just something that you have answered, it's a chance to learn something new, and what is more important than expanding our area of knowledge. Come learn with us, all you need is a question.

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