Canada’s main opposition Conservative Party moved in for the kill Wednesday, saying it would try to quickly topple a fragile minority Liberal government that has been badly damaged by a corruption scandal.
If Conservative leader Stephen Harper succeeds in bringing down Prime Minister Paul Martin’s 10-month-old government, Canada would likely be set for a June 27 election. Polls show the Conservatives have a narrow lead over the Liberals, who have been in power since November 1993.
The Liberals have been in serious trouble since an inquiry into a spending scandal heard allegations that Liberal Party members in Quebec had demanded kickbacks in exchange for lucrative government contracts.
Harper can either try to defeat the government over its budget or press for a motion of non-confidence to be presented to Parliament.
Third-party deal
Martin struck a deal with the left-leaning New Democrat Party on Tuesday to boost spending and defer some planned corporate tax cuts in return for supporting the budget, a development Harper said was disgusting.
“It’s the most disgraceful thing I’ve seen in all my years on Parliament Hill. ... As soon as we get back, I will be asking our caucus to put this government out of its misery at the earliest possible opportunity,” Harper said in a televised speech from Amherstburg, Ontario.
Although the Conservatives and the separatist Bloc Quebecois have just enough votes to defeat the combined forces of the Liberals and the New Democrats, the margin is so narrow that the final result would most likely depend on the votes of three independent legislators.
Three non-confidence motions are winding their way through the machinery of Parliament, and the earliest they could be voted on by the House of Commons is mid-May, paving the way for a June election.
The deal between Martin and the New Democrats would delay tax cuts for large business and boost government spending by $3.7 billion over two years.
The deal was sharply criticized by the business community. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce called the agreement “a crass political act,” while financial analysts said it would undermine markets’ faith in Canada.
Leader: I didn't swing
But Martin — who as finance minister in the 1990s eliminated a large budget deficit — said the deal was fiscally responsible and brushed off the notion that he had swung to the left to keep power.
“I have not changed,” he told Reuters in an interview.
Martin set up the public inquiry under Judge John Gomery last year to get to the bottom of the spending scandal, which stemmed from a federal sponsorship program aimed at countering separatism in French-speaking Quebec. Martin has vowed to punish those responsible for any wrongdoing, but the results have been little short of disastrous for the Liberals.
“I think that obviously what’s happening in the Gomery Commission is having an effect. ... But I’ve accepted my responsibility to deal with it, and I’m going to clean it up,” Martin told Reuters.
The scandal has also boosted support for separatism in Quebec, reaching its highest level in more than seven years, according to an opinion poll released on Wednesday.
