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2- The Oakville Beaver, Friday December 5, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com Governor General gives Tory government a reprieve Continued from page 1 in order to give the various political parties a chance to reconcile. "For me it's always been about making sure everybody's voice is heard and that we work together collectively regardless of our political stripes," she said. "What we're going to do this Christmas is set up as many meetings as possible in Halton. We want to make sure that people come out and express their points of view. Now that we know the option is to have the Bloc Quebecois, a separatist party, holding the balance of power in Canada, we really need to make sure we can work with the Liberals and NDP for whom people in our riding actually voted." Raitt said no other choice existed for the government but to ask for a prorogue. Turning the country over to, what she called, a flimsy coalition of Liberals and NDP bent on appeasing the Bloc Quebecois would be a disaster for Canada, said Raitt. Oakville MP Terence Young was also pleased with the Governor General's decision, noting the coalition's plan to take power was undemocratic and inappropriate. He said the decision to prorogue will give the government much needed time. Halton MP Lisa Raitt "An awful lot can happen in seven weeks," he said. "For example, we did not want to finalize any potential plans for the auto industry until we had a good idea what the U.S. congress was going to do. This is a fully integrated industry. What the U.S. congress does for the Detroit three would be very relevant to what the Canadian government should do." Young also noted the prorogue will give the government time to put its budget together with the process only halfway complete as of now. "It didn't make any sense at all to interrupt that process now and install a whole new group of people who ran against each other in the last election," he said. "This is simply a power grab." The troubles that lead to this situation began last Thursday when Finance Minister Jim Flaherty released an economic update that did not contain an expected stimulus package, forbid public servants from striking and outlined plans to cut funding to political parties. In the wake of the opposition joining forces the Conservatives withdrew some of these proposals, however, the effort to bring down the government and replace it with a coalition has continued to move forward. Oakville's former Liberal MP Bonnie Brown was disappointed in the Governor General's decision and pointed out the coalition has every right to replace Harper. "The basic tenant of any parliamentary democracy is that any government has to have the confidence of the House of Commons," she said. "We had a situation where the House of Commons lost confidence in the government and in the prime minister and he should have faced a vote to that effect." Brown noted this is not the constitutional crisis many citi- Oakville MP Terence Young zens seem to think it is, as in reality very few people voted for Harper, but rather for their local MPs, who are remaining where they are. She also pointed out that this seven-week reprieve will do nothing to change the minds of the opposition about flooring a no confidence motion despite the fact that Harper's budget, scheduled for release after Parliament resumes, is expected to address the current economic crisis. "The Conservatives in the campaign and ever since have consistently said things that weren't true in order to deceive the public, and I just can't see how you can have confidence in a prime minister who doesn't tell the truth," said Brown. "Bob Rae said it today and I think he speaks for every member of the opposition, it's gone beyond not having faith in Stephen Harper to take good care of the economy. It's gotten to the point where they think he's a liar and they don't trust him." Brown said this feeling could change if Harper were to step aside and allow a more honourable Conservative member to replace him. For Oakville NDP president Brian Hopkins, the prorogue comes as no surprise, but it has again risen the question, `Does Canada need a Governor General? "The Governor General has no backbone at all. She just does the prime minister's bidding," he said. "We really shouldn't have a Governor General at all, I mean are we a democracy or a monarchy?" Hopkins noted that if Harper does not want to govern with what he has, the Governor General should permit a coalition to take power. He said the prorogue is also further evidence of a prime minister who will do anything to hang on to and centralize power. 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