Comments on: Think Ontario – 1985.

By: Harper’s Attempt At Bankrupting The Opposition « Cyberwanderer’s Blog

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 02:18:05 +0000

[...] agree with Scott’s Diatribe and what Jerad Gallinger have mentioned. I believe the Liberal and NDP should be allowed to form a [...]

By: janfromthebruce

janfromthebruce — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 01:16:36 +0000

Scott, I think that the BLOC will step up to the plate here – this is going to be the “great depression of the 21st century” and we need states-people who are willing to put partisan politics aside for the greater good. This is not the time to play politics.
I think that difference between 1985 and now, is that the working accord also means that this shared leadership means cabinet positions for the NDP. This is not exactly like Ontario 1985, and so it requires a working accord that actually shares power.

By: BlastFurnace

BlastFurnace — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:49:33 +0000

I think the 1985 accord would be a good base line on which to cooperate — and a lot of good came out of that, including on expanding the Human Rights Code to include gays and lesbians, the end of extra billing by physicians and equal pay for work of equal value.

The caveat is that back in 1985 David Peterson had actually won the popular vote (narrowly) although with four fewer seats than Frank Miller, so he actually could claim he had moral authority to govern. Stéphane Dion on the other hand lost to Stephen Harper by 11.4%.

Combined with the Jack Layton’s NDP they might conceivably be able to overthrow the Cons, but the Bloc? That’s a real wildcard. True, you see separatist parties working with the governing party on all sorts of issues in Belgium, Spain and Italy — but Canada?

As progressive as the Bloc is, The Question will always be, well, the question; and die-hard Liberals who have dedicated their lives to destroying separatism would well wonder if it’s a deal with the deal or a deal of necessity.