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Ignatieff may try to defeat government on June17

The Canadian Press reports, “Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff says the party will decide next week whether to try to bring down the Harper government and plunge the country into a mid-summer election. Ignatieff said he will assess the government’s second progress report on the economy, which he expects to be tabled next week, and decide then whether Liberals will introduce a motion of non-confidence.”

JULY 27 ELECTION?

CTV reported on May 21 that, “The Conservatives are poised to kill off any chance of a spring election by using the parliamentary calendar to delay a possible non-confidence motion from the Liberals. The Tories have told some of their rivals that they will push back the Liberals’ so-called opposition day — their easiest opportunity to table a non-confidence motion — to June 17. Such a move would leave opposition parties with two options: trigger a rare midsummer election with a national vote on July 27 at the earliest, or keep the government alive until later this year.”

NEED NDP AND BLOC SUPPORT FOR NON-CONFIDENCE MOTION TO PASS

Today’s Canadian Press report continues, “Even if they do, Liberals cannot by themselves defeat the government. They would need both the Bloc Québécois and NDP to join them…But the two opposition parties are less keen (to topple the Harper government) now that the Liberals, having edged ahead in opinion polls, are more inclined to pull the plug. Ignatieff said he will not consult the other opposition parties before deciding whether to try to topple the government.”

LIBERALS AHEAD IN THE POLLS

The CBC reported earlier this week that a major EKOS poll, “released Monday exclusively for the CBC, suggests the Liberals would likely squeak into a minority government. …The poll found 33.5 per cent of respondents would vote Liberal. Another 32.3 per cent said they would vote Conservative, and 15.1 per cent said they would vote NDP… Rounding out the poll, the Green party was the party of choice for 10.4 per cent of respondents, followed by 8.7 per cent who favoured the Bloc Québécois.”

ELECTION ISSUES

Canadian Press notes, “Ignatieff listed four issues which will determine the Liberal decision: 1) The ‘major medical crisis’ provoked by the shutdown of the isotope-producing nuclear reactor at Chalk River; 2) The government’s refusal to adopt equal access to employment insurance across the country; 3) The fact that only six per cent of infrastructure funds have actually started flowing; 4) The ballooning federal budget deficit ($50 billion this fiscal year, with a projected deficit over five years of $168 billion).”

The Canadian Press report is at http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/06/03/ignatieff-election.html.

The CTV report is at http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090520/tories_election_090520/20090520?hub=Politics.

The CBC report is at http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/06/01/federal-poll357.html?ref=rss.