Canada gov't says opposition seeks to block agenda
25 Oct 2006 18:12:10 GMT Source: Reuters
By David Ljunggren OTTAWA, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Canada's minority Conservative government accused opposition parties on Wednesday of trying to block its legislative agenda but played down talk that this might trigger an imminent election. The Conservatives narrowly won the Jan. 23 election but only control 124 of the 308 seats in Parliament, which means they have to cooperate with other parties to govern. Opposition parties, which accuse the Conservatives of trying to impose a right-wing agenda on Canada, say they will vote to scrap Ottawa's high-profile clear air legislation, which was unveiled only last week, because they say it is inadequate. "It's starting to become a question of how much legislation we can get through the House (of Commons elected chamber). The opposition's blocking everything," one aide to Prime Minister Stephen Harper told Reuters. Government minister Rob Nicholson complained on Wednesday that the opposition had also gutted draft legislation to crack down on crime. "I'm very disappointed. We had all the other parties during the election saying they wanted to be tough on crime and then they gut the bill," said Nicholson, whose job it is to push the government's agenda through Parliament. "If they want to put their money where their mouth is, it's up to them to defeat us ... I'll reach out to them, I want to work with them, but we need a little bit more cooperation," he told reporters. Polls show that the Conservatives are slightly ahead of the official opposition Liberals but do not have enough support to win a majority at the next election. Legislators from all parties say they expect the government to be brought down over its budget early next year, triggering a federal vote either in late April or early May. "I don't see an election around the corner," said the Harper aide. The Liberals, who will choose a new leader early in December, also dismissed the idea of bringing down the government in the weeks to come. The party's environment spokesman, John Godfrey, denied charges that the Liberals were seeking to prevent the Conservatives from governing. "You can't just do it (govern) by having an ideological 'You're with or against us' position, you can't do it by threatening to call an election every five minutes. You have to find the common middle ground," he told Reuters. "We will pick and choose the things that work for us." When the Conservatives introduced the clean air bill the Liberals initially said they would vote to send it to the House of Commons environment committee, where they could then propose amendments. But Godfrey said the party had now decided to vote with other parties to kill the bill on the grounds that it is too flawed to be amended.
