Canada’s opposition threatened on Monday to force the country’s fourth snap elections in five years, rejecting the ruling Conservatives’ economic recovery plan as “just not good enough.”
The government, however, appeared not to budge.
Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff told a press conference that the minority government’s quarterly update on measures it has taken to stimulate a dour economy provided too few details, and he demanded more.
Failing that, Canadians can expect to be politicking over their summer holidays, instead of lazily basking in the sun at lakeside cottages, he said.
“The government’s answers in this accountability report just aren’t good enough. The government’s performance in parliament just isn’t good enough,” Ignatieff said.
“Canadians don’t want an election. I don’t want an election. But our job [as the official opposition] means standing up for our principles, standing up when the government lets Canadians down,” he said.
Canada entered a recession late last year.
Since then, its first budget deficit in more than a decade has climbed to C$50.2 billion (US$46 billion) this year, in part to fulfill a promise to G8 partners to boost government spending to help stimulate the global economy.
Both the leftist New Democrats and separatist Bloc Quebecois said they would vote against rolling out the next big chunk of spending.
Although Harper described the government’s multibillion-dollar economic stimulus as the largest per capita of any industrialized nation, the New Democrats and Bloc said it was “inadequate.”
Ignatieff offered Harper time to address his specific concerns about purported delays in infrastructure spending, the ballooning deficit, offering more help to unemployed workers, and healthcare woes.
“But he cannot expect us to continue to support [the government] on the basis of a [fiscal] report and a performance like this,” he said. “Canadians deserve better.”
In the House, Harper urged opposition parties to be “responsible” in uncertain economic times and to support the government or risk scuttling 3,000 infrastructure projects underway or ready to go, as part of the stimulus plan.
Appearing humbled, Harper said he was open to “dialogue” with Ignatieff about policy changes for the next parliamentary session due to start in September.
“But I think demanding major undefined changes [to public policies] in the space of a few days is not a realistic approach, so I would discourage that,” he said.
If Ignatieff’s wish list is not met, the government could face a confidence vote as early as Friday.
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