On Oct. 14th Harper and the Conservatives were elected as the governing party in Canada and this time with an even stronger minority. Today, that government gets back to work as the new session of Parliament begins and we will see what the new alignment of the House of Common will look like and what they can accomplish.
The first order of business is to elect a Speaker of the House of Commons. Liberal MP Peter Milliken has been the Speaker in the last Conservative minority, as well as in Paul Martin's minority and the latter part of Jean Chretien's government. He has mostly stood unopposed in this role as even Conservatives and the NDP have embraced him as Speaker. However, in the last session of Parliament he seemed to have lost control of the House and this time around there are quite a few people, from all parties, looking to take his spot.
The Speaker of the House has a lot of different responsibilities, one of the major ones being a tie breaking vote in result of a tie during votes. But this is the only time they can vote on motions and bills brought up in Parliament. So by Harper putting Milliken, a Liberal, as Speaker in the last session that eliminated a Liberal vote in the House. Now that Harper has a stronger minority than last time I'm sure he will look to get a Conservative as Speaker.
And once the Speaker has been chosen, tomorrow the Speech from the Throne will be read by the Governor General Michaelle Jean. It will be the first test that the new Conservatives face as it is considered a confidence motion and must be passed or we will head into another election. All signs point to a Speech from the Throne that will be bipartisan and focus mainly on the economy with other issues as secondary priorities. There will unlikely be any opposition to it, and if there is, it won't be enough to cause any problems.
- DCM
The first order of business is to elect a Speaker of the House of Commons. Liberal MP Peter Milliken has been the Speaker in the last Conservative minority, as well as in Paul Martin's minority and the latter part of Jean Chretien's government. He has mostly stood unopposed in this role as even Conservatives and the NDP have embraced him as Speaker. However, in the last session of Parliament he seemed to have lost control of the House and this time around there are quite a few people, from all parties, looking to take his spot.
The Speaker of the House has a lot of different responsibilities, one of the major ones being a tie breaking vote in result of a tie during votes. But this is the only time they can vote on motions and bills brought up in Parliament. So by Harper putting Milliken, a Liberal, as Speaker in the last session that eliminated a Liberal vote in the House. Now that Harper has a stronger minority than last time I'm sure he will look to get a Conservative as Speaker.
And once the Speaker has been chosen, tomorrow the Speech from the Throne will be read by the Governor General Michaelle Jean. It will be the first test that the new Conservatives face as it is considered a confidence motion and must be passed or we will head into another election. All signs point to a Speech from the Throne that will be bipartisan and focus mainly on the economy with other issues as secondary priorities. There will unlikely be any opposition to it, and if there is, it won't be enough to cause any problems.
- DCM
Comments
ps - i don't know that much about politics but i know that harper eats my cat's shat.
pss - i didn't even read this blog ... there was no point... i don't care much for Steeveie Weenie.
peace and love