Liberals say they won't vote down Harper government over throne speech

I thought they were going to wait and see what was in the speech. There seem to be conflicting signals coming from the Liberals but as of now it seems that they are so chicken about going to an election they will swallow any poison pill that they do not think is fatal even though it will make them and everyone else puke. If I were the Liberals I would go to the polls now. Unless they want to be constantly repudiating everything they supposedly stand for, fighting among themselves, and retreating ever more as their polls plunge they had better defeat the Conservatives right now.



Liberals say they won't vote down Harper government over throne speech

OTTAWA - Liberals won't bring down the Harper government over next week's throne speech, even if it effectively abandons the Kyoto climate-change pact, the party's environment critic says.

"The Liberal Party of Canada isn't going to be goaded into the boxing ring with Stephen Harper," David McGuinty said Friday. "We're not that gullible or foolish."

McGuinty was responding to a report that Tuesday's throne speech will describe the Kyoto targets for slashing greenhouse gas emissions as unattainable. That could put Liberal Leader Stephane Dion, who has cast himself as the champion of Kyoto, in an awkward position.

Sources have told The Canadian Press that the prime minister believes Liberals are so desperate to avoid an election that they'll accept the throne speech even if it contradicts Dion's position on Kyoto.

With Liberals still trying to regroup in the wake of three humiliating byelection losses in Quebec last month, party insiders have said there's little chance Dion will opt to bring down the Tory minority government over the throne speech.

More likely, Dion and his front bench will vote against it while most Grit MPs absent themselves, allowing the speech to pass without a Liberal endorsement.

Insiders say it makes sense for Dion to wait for a more opportune moment to topple the government over an issue that plays to Liberal strengths.

Harper last week appeared to set the stage for a series of perpetual confidence votes this fall, saying he will designate not only the throne speech as a confidence matter but all major legislation that flows from it.

However, he seemed to soften his confrontational tone Friday. He said the government reserves the right to decide what constitutes a confidence matter, adding: "We're not going to abuse that right."

In addition to the traditional confidence votes on budgetary matters and the throne speech, Harper said there'll be others on matters deemed to be "principal objectives" of the government, particularly those that have been held up for some time by opposition parties.

He raised his government's crime legislation as an example.

"You know, I don't think you can consider something confidence that isn't significant enough to fight an election over if you were defeated on it."

McGuinty said Harper has been saying for months that Kyoto is unrealistic and such an admission in the throne speech wouldn't be any different.

"That's nothing. That's the Chicken Little, defeatist stuff we've seen for 20 months," he scoffed.

If Harper really wants to prod Liberals into defeating his minority Tory government, McGuinty challenged him to declare that the government is going to repeal the Kyoto Implementation Act. He predicted such a move would prove deadly to Tory electoral hopes.

"Who's really trapped here? Let them go to the Canadian people (with that)," McGuinty said.

Later in the day, Saskatchewan MP Ralph Goodale told Regina radio station CJME that the Liberals haven't decided one way or another what its members will do.

He said they won't know until after they hear what's in the speech.