Ottawa

My God, my God, what have I done?

A. Satirist, Jan. 10

So Parliament will be dark the next two months. Can anyone say they will miss it? … This country has a lot of important decisions to make: about the economy, the Afghanistan mission, global warming, you name it…

In the present state of perpetual brinksmanship and uncertainty, it is hard for governments to plan for the long term or tackle tough problems like the deficit. Freed from the tyranny of Parliament, we should at last have the “majority” government everybody craves.

Stephen Harper, Jan 11

“The games begin when Parliament returns,” he explained. “The government can take our time now to do the important work to prepare the economic agenda ahead.”

“That said, as soon as Parliament comes back . . . the first thing that happens is a vote of confidence and there’ll be votes of confidence and election speculation for every single week after that for the rest of the year. That’s the kind of instability markets are actually worried about.”

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