Blood in the Water

[The Chameleon]

Bloc to force election if fiscal imbalance not settled

RHEAL SEGUIN

Globe and Mail Update

The Bloc Québécois says it will defeat the minority Conservative government and force an election early next year if Prime Minister Stephen Harper fails to deliver on his promise to settle the fiscal imbalance in the next federal budget.

Anything short of $3.9-billion for Quebec in the next budget will constitute a broken promise, party leader Gilles Duceppe said yesterday while warning Quebec Premier Jean Charest against accepting anything less from his Conservative friends.

“Jean Charest must absolutely maintain the $3.9-billion and change friends and stop being a beggar who is satisfied with receiving crumbs. We will keep an eye on him and we will demand a $3.9-million settlement,†Mr. Duceppe told more than 250 Bloc Québécois members at the party's annual meeting.

The party was determined to win back the seats it lost in the Quebec City region in the last campaign and was determined to take aim at the Conservatives right-wing agenda.

The Globe and Mail:

Bolstered by recent public opinion polls that show the Bloc Québécois holding a commanding lead in the province with the support of about 44-per cent of voters, Mr. Duceppe expressed confidence that Quebeckers have definitely turned their backs on Mr. Harpers ultra-conservative social and moral values.

The party has served notice that by the end of December it will be ready to fight an election.

The Harper government has given the Bloc plenty of ammunition to fight the next campaign, Mr. Duceppe said. He noted that the Conservatives were not only backtracking on their promise to settle the fiscal imbalance but they have disappointed Quebeckers by supporting U.S. president George W. Bush's military policies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He also argued that the Conservative values are opposed to those defended by Quebeckers listing tougher sentences for repeat offenders, the discarding of the gun registry and a more rigid judiciary as measures voters in the province will reject.

Calling the Conservatives “heartless†Mr. Duceppe said that despite the billions of dollars and surpluses, the long-awaited financial package for elderly laid-off workers in troubled industries such as the textile and forestry sectors, fail short of expectation. And he pointed to the Conservatives environmental policy, which abandoned the targets set in the Kyoto protocol for the reduction of greenhouse gases as another example of how Mr. Harper had distanced himself from the values cherished by Quebeckers.

Mr. Harper has said that a vote of confidence on his proposed environmental measures will not be considered a vote of confidence against his government. But if he changes his mind, Mr. Duceppe said the Conservatives will be defeated.

“If Mr. Harper holds a vote of confidence on these measures, don't expect the Bloc to support them. If he wants to do that we are ready to go into an election on his environmental plan any time,†Mr. Duceppe warned.

Convinced that the Conservative government will be defeated in the House of Commons in the spring, the Bloc Québécois launched preparations this weekend for the next campaign, which according to Mr. Duceppe will be decisive for the sovereignty movement.

“It (sovereignty) will be at the heart of the campaign. Conservatives told us they want the power. I tell them we have the will. And to have the power is to have all the powers and that's called giving ourselves a country. That's what it means and we will talk about it,†Mr. Duceppe said to a cheering crowd.

In order to organize a strong campaign, the Bloc appealed to its members to help the party raise $2.3-million during the current fundraising campaign. The head of the party's election committee, Roberval MP Michel Gauthier said he didn't like the prospect of another election so soon but that the party had no choice but to prepare for another fight.

“We don't know when it (the campaign) will start. But we know when we will be ready. And we will be ready by the Christmas Holidays,†Mr. Gauthier said.

The main objective will be to win back the seats lost in the Quebec City region at the hands of the Conservatives. Mr. Harper's promise to settle the fiscal imbalance during the campaign last December helped him win four of the five seats in Quebec City as well as four other seats in ridings just south of the city.

Mr. Duceppe commissioned a report from party president Hélène Alarie who recommended a more active presence in the region, which felt abandoned at the expense of Montreal. While most of the report remained secret, the party acted promptly by opening a bureau in the city and organizing a series of event aimed at promoting Bloc initiatives in Ottawa.

On Sunday, the Bloc will devote the day debating issues that affect the Quebec City region while the outlining the Quebec Conservative members' failure at representing the needs of their constituents.

Story Link

Edited October 23, 2006 by Guest

[Hux]

The Bloc is eager to get those seats back....

I think they see the writing on the wall, ie. numerous Conservative policies have seriously driven away support in Quebec - likely for good.

These guys are their own opposition - it's hilarious.

Edited October 23, 2006 by Guest