Toronto: Canada's opposition parties may topple the Conservative government and form a coalition government, officials said today.

The opposition Liberals, New Democrats and Bloc Quebecois are discussing the option despite a national vote last month won by the Conservatives, said Karl Belanger, a spokesman for NDP leader Jack Layton.

Former Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien and former New Democrat leader Ed Broadbent are involved in the talks, Belanger said.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative party won enough votes in the October 14 election to stay in power, but the party has a tenuous hold because it did not win the majority of Parliament's 308 seats.

Opposition members in Parliament said they cannot support the government's updated fiscal plan, introduced by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty yesterday, because it offers no stimulus package to deal with the global economic crisis. The budget update was also criticised by economists.

Flaherty said if the opposition parties vote against the plan on Monday it could topple the government. A vote on a money matter is an automatic confidence vote in a minority Parliament.

The opposition also objected to Harper's plans to scrap public subsidies for political parties. The opposition relies on the subsidies far more than Harper's Conservatives, who have raised twice as much in donations as the three opposition parties combined.

If Harper's government fell, he would then go to Governor General Michaelle Jean and tell her he has lost the confidence of Parliament.

 

Source : PTI