Amanda Stephenson
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Gillian Slade
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Political junkies in Medicine Hat were kept on their toes Monday, as new developments on Parliament Hill kept coming in at a furious pace.
Medicine Hat College political science instructor Terry Chapman was glued to the news, fully aware that there is no precedent for the coalition deal that was signed Monday afternoon by the leaders of Canada’s federal opposition parties.
“We’ve never done this before,” Chapman said. “The one coalition in our history was in 1917, and there was a war on.”
Chapman said the writing may be on the wall for Harper — in fact, she believes it has been on the wall for him since the election in October, when he did not deliver the majority he had promised.
“Most parties don’t give a leader more than two chances — it’s kind of a two strikes, you’re out kind of thing,” Chapman said. “Now I don’t know if this (the formation of an opposition coalition) will really make people question his leadership within the party.”
But is the proposed coalition a good thing for the country?
“I’d rather have this than plunge us into another election,” Chapman says.
Bev Botter, who ran for the Liberals in the last election, says the opposition parties have made a responsible move.
“I think it’s appropriate,” she says. “I think we have to put Canada first — people are losing their jobs and homes and Harper hasn’t shown he has a plan to deal with it.”
Botter said she got a lot of calls Monday from people wanting to talk about the political situation, and believes Canadians may finally be taking an interest in their own government.
“This is going to spark interest in people who usually don’t show interest in politics,” she said. “How involved do you want to be? It certainly should make you want to get out and vote, and even consider getting involved with a party that represents your own slant on things.”
On the streets of Medicine Hat Monday, however, people were bristling with anger at the recent political developments in Ottawa — particularly the possibility of another election.
"They're acting like children and should stop the mud-slinging," said Lynda Hiebert, who agreed with the Conservatives’ decision to stop giving taxpayer funding to political parties.
For Terry Daniels it was the cost of another election, which she considered unnecessary in tough economic times, that was difficult to understand. "There'll be even lower voter turnout next time," she said.
"It is unfortunate that in spite of living in a democracy we have no say about what is going on," said Dominique Hirsch who was obviously distressed at the recent turn of political events. “They should be worrying about the economic times and instead it is a popularity contest. It seems very self-serving and especially so for the party that does not even have a leader. I thought we had a constitution that protected us form this sort of thing,” said Hirsch.
Ward MacDonald said he felt that Stephen Harper had "lied and cheated his way to the top."
"The fact that he wanted to cut grants to political parties was self-serving," said MacDonald. Harper did not keep his promises about the ice-breakers for the Arctic and he was going to replace two ships for the navy and then he reneged on that, he said.
However, a completely contrasting view came from Jason Crooks.
"Harper is the only one that has any balls. The NDP don't have a clue. Harper is not perfect but he's better than the others. These other parties just waste our tax payers money," said Crooks.
It all seemed totally ridiculous to Kristine Deblois.
"Why don't they just figure out a plan. It is unnecessary to have an election. We have just incurred a huge cost from he last one," said Deblois.
Shane Wold said he thought it was a stupid move on the part of the other parties.
“They couldn't beat Harper in the last election so they are doing this now,” said Wold. |
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