Canadian opposition Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff said on Monday he would not support a government that was not doing its work but he sidestepped whether he would topple the minority government.
“I can’t be an accomplice to a government that isn’t doing its work,” Ignatieff told reporters as members of his caucus arrived for meeting that will focus on whether to force an early election.
Yet he would not say whether that means the country is likely to head into its fourth election in five-and-a-half years.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper led his Conservative Party to reelection last October, with more seats but still a minority, requiring the support of at least one of the three opposition parties.
Ignatieff faces the delicate question of whether to risk bringing the government down during fragile economic times and risk suffering the third straight Liberal loss — or to face ridicule for continuing to keep the government alive.
“We’re going to have a good discussion and we’ll make a decision when it suits us,” said Ignatieff, who took over as party leader from Stephane Dion after an abysmal Liberal performance in the election.
Ignatieff said the Liberals had kept the government in power for the past 10 months because the Liberals had put the country’s interests before the party’s interests.
“Welcome to the wonderful world of opposition!” he said when a reporter asked him if he felt damned if he brought the government down and damned if he kept it in power.
The Conservatives triggered the last election but have been arguing strongly that it would be a mistake to have another one now.
“The last thing, the very last thing this country needs is an unnecessary election, less than a year [after] we had the last one,” Transport Minister John Baird said during a news conference in Ottawa.
He said it was a measure of sanity that Liberal Senator David Smith, the party’s campaign co-chairman, had been questioning the need for an election.
Liberal hawks say the government has not moved infrastructure money fast enough, has racked up a large budget deficit without an adequate plan for eliminating it, has mismanaged health issues and has not come adequately to the defense of Canadians in trouble abroad.
Party doves point to the Liberals’ tepid standing in the polls, which mostly put their support at about even with the Conservatives, and to the lack of a coherent campaign narrative to excite the electorate.
The Liberals will meet in Sudbury through today.
The Philippine Department of Justice yesterday labeled Vice President Sara Duterte the “mastermind” of a plot to assassinate the nation’s president, giving her five days to respond to a subpoena. Duterte is being asked to explain herself in the wake of a blistering weekend press conference where she said she had instructed that Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr be killed should an alleged plot to kill her succeed. “The government is taking action to protect our duly elected president,” Philippine Undersecretary of Justice Jesse Andres said at yesterday’s press briefing. “The premeditated plot to assassinate the president as declared by the self-confessed mastermind
Texas’ education board on Friday voted to allow Bible-infused teachings in elementary schools, joining other Republican-led US states that pushed this year to give religion a larger presence in public classrooms. The curriculum adopted by the Texas State Board of Education, which is controlled by elected Republicans, is optional for schools to adopt, but they would receive additional funding if they do so. The materials could appear in classrooms as early as next school year. Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has voiced support for the lesson plans, which were provided by the state’s education agency that oversees the more than
Ireland, the UK and France faced travel chaos on Saturday and one person died as a winter storm battered northwest Europe with strong winds, heavy rain, snow and ice. Hampshire Police in southern England said a man died after a tree fell onto a car on a major road near Winchester early in the day. Police in West Yorkshire said they were probing whether a second death from a traffic incident was linked to the storm. It is understood the road was not icy at the time of the incident. Storm Bert left at least 60,000 properties in Ireland without power, and closed
CONSPIRACIES: Kano suspended polio immunization in 2003 and 2004 following claims that polio vaccine was laced with substances that could render girls infertile Zuwaira Muhammad sat beside her emaciated 10-month-old twins on a clinic bed in northern Nigeria, caring for them as they battled malnutrition and malaria. She would have her babies vaccinated if they regain their strength, but for many in Kano — a hotbed of anti-vaccine sentiment — the choice is not an obvious one. The infants have been admitted to the 75-bed clinic in the Unguwa Uku neighbourhood, one of only two in the city of 4.5 million run by French aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Kano has the highest malaria burden in Nigeria, but the city has long
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