Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was due to meet yesterday with the head of the country’s main opposition party, Stephane Dion, in a further sign a general election could be called within days.
Harper had asked to meet the leaders of the three major opposition parties to determine if they would work with his minority Conservative government through the fall.
He met with two of the leaders but Liberal Party leader Dion said previously he would not be able to meet until next Tuesday.
The government needs the support of at least one opposition party to get bills passed.
On Sunday, Dion did not appear to be in the mood for compromise.
“The prime minister wants to see if we have common ground. He has no vision to address the climate change crisis, has no plan to reinvigorate the Canadian economy, which is teetering on the brink of a recession,” he said in a statement.
Jack Layton, head of the leftist New Democratic Party, and Gilles Duceppe, leader of the separatist Bloc Quebecois, both came away from meetings with Harper in recent days convinced the prime minister was determined to go to the polls.
A key adviser to Harper has pointed to Oct. 14 as a likely date for a general election.
Dion said he would also ask Harper why he looked set to break a promise to hold to a fixed date for elections.
In 2006, Harper pushed through legislation setting a fixed election date of Oct. 19, next year, with the caveat that nothing prevented the dissolution of parliament before then.
Harper, whose party won the most seats in the January 2006 election but lacks a parliamentary majority, has complained that legislation is being stalled in the Liberal-dominated Senate and obstructed in the House of Commons, mainly by Dion.
The prime minister has said the political air needs to be cleared to allow the government to deal with a slowing economy and other issues.
Instead of talking about an election, Harper should focus on issues such Canada’s “food safety crisis,” Dion said.
Seventeen deaths, confirmed or suspected, have been associated with an outbreak of listeriosis food poisoning linked to tainted meat produced by Maple Leaf Foods, Canada’s biggest meat processor.
Also, one person has died in the province of Quebec from salmonella poisoning traced to tainted cheese.
Political analysts have said the most likely outcome of an election is another minority government.
An Ipsos Reid poll published on Saturday found 33 percent support for the Conservatives and 31 percent for the Liberals, within the poll’s three-point margin of error.
The NDP had the support of 16 percent of voters in the Ipsos Reid poll, with 10 percent supporting the Green Party.
The Conservatives have 127 of the 308 seats in parliament. The Liberals have 95, Bloc Quebecois 48, the New Democrats 30 and the Greens have one. Three seats are held by independents, and four remain vacant.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number